The Baylor Bears Are Here and They Are for Real

Ever since Baylor beat Utah in their 2nd game of the season, I've felt like Charlie from It's Always Sunny; Baylor is my Pepe Silvia.

After blasting a very good and undefeated Miami team on a neutral court last night, the Bears are 9-0, their best start in the Nicki Collen era. It's time to talk about the Bears, what they're doing that's special, and why this team deserves much more buzz as one of the very best in the country.

Offensive Decisiveness

There are a plethora of teams that look to replicate pro style offense, but few have the personnel, the consistency, and the buy-in to make it work. Baylor will run sets in the halfcourt of course, but much of their offense is coming through flow and intuitive play out of transition. You have to understand spacing, play with pace, and work to be a constant threat.

The collective level of self-awareness in this group stands out to me at such a high level. Every player has a firm understanding of what they're good at, how they're guarded, how they can take advantage of that, and how to amplify their teammates.

That's special.

Baylor is 3rd in the country in assisted shot rate per Her Hoop Stats, 70.7% of all made field goals assisted on. That's indicative and a byproduct of the ball movement this team has built the offense around. If there's an advantage to be gained from the action you're a part of, you take it. If there's no traction, you swing the ball, and with quickness. Holding the ball is a rarity in the Bears' offense.

They move the ball with pace, purpose, and precision (26th lowest turnover rate in the country).

They have the talent and creativity to attack advantages and mismatches, but the know how, buy in, and collective playmaking to maximize and capitalize on them.

It was incredibly fun watching Miami toggle through multiple coverages last night defensively, and Baylor responding each time. They couldn't contain Baylor's guards man up. If they sent extra pressure the backline wasn't able to keep up with Baylor's ball movement. When they went zone, the Bears moved the ball, moved bodies, and picked them apart.

Guard Play

Top to bottom, Baylor may have the best guard rotation in the country with respect to versatility, talent, and effectiveness.

Jada Walker has been the team MVP in many regards for me. She's a tenacious on-ball defender, excellent at getting over and around screens as well as playing the passing lanes. She scraps.

She is essential in instilling the principles mentioned in Baylor's offense.

Walker pushes the break, but also toggles the speed and tempo when it's needed. She'll often initiate and start sets or actions and immediately get the ball whirring even if she isn't often the person who ends a play. How you start a possessions is so instrumental in how you finish it, even if it doesn't show up as immediately on the box score.

She toes the balance of scoring aggression and pass first playmaking, maintaining enough focus from the defense on her to get the most out of her vision. She's been a willing and effective player off the catch, shooting a career high 38.1% from deep. She cuts well, she willingly screens. She is vital.

I've been so impressed with Sarah Andrews. It's worth noting that she's still rounding into form after off-season injury, but the process has been fantastic.

Jaden Owens (now at TCU and thriving), was great for Baylor last year, and in a semi-akin mold to Walker, but I'd quantify them as fairly different guards. Walker is a bigger scoring threat and is more comfortable as a halfcourt player. It would take many guards time to get accustomed to play alongside a new lead, but Andrews has morphed her game well to share duties and play off of Walker.

She's getting the cleanest looks of her career playing off of her, but has still mixed in her blend of dynamic shotmaking in early offense and the deep bag that makes her an All-Big 12 level performer. Her usage is a bit lower than last year, but she's been even more efficient, is playing expertly off the ball, and has honed in her playmaking reads.

Her finding this balance is a large driver of making the offense as supreme as it is, and is even better for her pro prospects in the future.

Yaya Felder might be my favorite player to watch in college basketball. She is the ultimate off the bench change-up guard, an absolute lightning rod in transition, scoring 6.1 fastbreak points per 100 possessions (92nd percentile) per CBB Analytics.

For reference, Felder had the third highest usage rate in the country last season at Ohio, sitting at 39.4%. The talent was never a question for me, a wildly creative and punctual playmaker, and a dynamic off the dribble and at the rim scorer. She can do it all. I knew she could play, and would play, but wasn't sure what it would look like at Baylor.

She deserves so much credit for honing in her role to become one of the very best bench players and guards in the country.

Felder is having the most efficient season of her career (66.5% true-shooting, at 56.1% last season).

On top of that, she is vastly improved as a defender. This team switches a lot, and they rarely soft switch (cede gaps and space); being able to have guards who can play up positions and play with strength is essential. Felder has done that in droves. She's been feisty in the passing lanes with active hands and I've really enjoyed her off-ball rotations as a whole.

This is a fantastic guard trio, one that really compliments one another despite their differences in skill set.

Frontcourt Versatility

The Bears do not routinely play a true post player (6'3 Madison Bartley is the closest), their tallest player often only 6' or 6'1 on the court. While lacking a true post can be considered a weakness, it hasn't been a problem for the Bears; it's been a strength.

While that could change moving forward, it is highly worth noting that this team isn't built to play in that fashion, and has handled some of those tests incredibly well (will of cours ebe worth tracking moving forward into conference play).

Baylor's frontcourt brings that same decisiveness the guard group brings, but in different packages.

Dre'Una Edwards most often plays the 5, and has the handle and playmaking vision to play as a sort of post hub, using screening, quick passes, and inverting the offense (playing the bigs outside) to open up cutting lanes and force smaller off-ball defenders to be taggers in ball screen coverages.

Her first quarter against Utah was one of the best stretches of play anyone has played in the country, period.

Darianna Littlepage-Buggs, Bella Fontleroy, and Aijha Blackwell all bring the quick decisions; whether it's attacking off the bounce, roaming and staying open in pockets, or moving the ball with swing passes, they thrive. They're an undersized group, but they are remarkably skilled and use their quickness and connectivity to take advantage of slower footed bigs and less decisive defenses.

The offense is phenomenal from this team, currently 9th in the country (117.9 Offensive Rating), but it's the defense that makes this team special for me. 

Their positioning is sublime. They play with a high level of physicality (Blackwell and Edwards have been tremendous defending bigs) and their help principles in tandem have been on point. They overwhelm with their length and frenetic activity. It's not an easy defensive style to maintain, but through the first month and a half of play, they've done that and done it well.

Rim protection is a key piece of defense, but it's not the only piece of defense, and it can be done away from the rim. Baylor uses their length, timing, and speed to deter drives from happening, deny post entries, and outright blow up plays before they can touch the paint.

All four maintain frontcourt rotation players do things very well defensively, but Littlepage-Buggs deserves her own highlight. Hands down, she is one of the best and most versatile defenders in the country. She is the skeleton key in Waco.

She sheds screens like few can at her size.

She plays with tremendous functional strength.

She's incredibly long, knows how to use her length, and has really started to find a verve as a defensive playmaker. They put her on anyone and everyone, and she is more than game.

How will this team fare as they get deeper into their schedule? Time will tell, but with the marquee wins they do have over damned good Utah and Miami teams, as well as what they've shown overall, they have comfortably shown themselves as a legitimate Final Four contender.

Their first Big 12 conference game is slated in just under two weeks, the 30th against Texas. It'll be a fascinating matchup of Texas' size and dribble drive offense against the more pro style approach from Baylor. 

Do not sleep on the Bears as one of the top flight teams in the country; you might get backcut, fumble the ball and spark a transition play, or get picked apart with precise passing.