Q&A: Baylor reporter provides early glimpse of new-look Bears ahead of top-10 matchup with Gonzaga at Spokane Arena

Sixth-ranked Gonzaga returns one of the most experienced rosters in college basketball, bringing back four of its five starters from a team that advanced to the Sweet 16.

What would the inverse of that look like?

Meet eighth-ranked Baylor, the team traveling to the Arena on Monday for the first top-10 matchup of the 2024-25 college basketball season.

The Bears had two players selected in the first round of the 2024 NBA draft, Ja’Kobe Walter and Yves Missi, and lost two others, Jalen Bridges and RayJ Dennis, to the professional route, meaning Scott Drew’s team is replacing four of its five starters from a year ago.

That said, Baylor should hardly be unfamiliar for college basketball purveyors, adding two of the most notable players from the transfer portal and signing a top-10 freshman prospect expected to make contributions from the start.

Brice Cherry, a sports editor at the Waco-Tribune Herald who also covers Baylor men’s basketball, answered five questions to help us get a better feel for the Bears ahead of Monday’s heavyweight matchup in Spokane.

Q: Gonzaga is the first of five high-major/Top 25 opponents Baylor will play during the nonconference schedule. Knowing what the Bears are up against in the Big 12, why is Scott Drew willing to test his team at this level in nonleague play?

Cherry: Drew is fond of trotting out statistical nuggets and tidbits that highlight the success of his program, and here’s one he has repeated often: Baylor is the only school in the country to be a top three seed in each of the past four NCAA Tournaments. One reason Baylor has been able to lock down those types of high seeds is because of the nonconference schedule Drew is willing to play.

Last season, Baylor played neutral-site games against the likes of Auburn, Michigan State and Duke, and though the Bears went 1-2 in those contests and went into the NCAA tourney with 10 losses, they had enough quality wins and a strong enough RPI to warrant a No. 3 seed for the Big Dance.

“If you don’t play a challenging nonconference schedule, you can’t have those opportunities,” Drew said on Baylor’s opening day of practice in September. “At the same time, we play in the toughest league in the country, so you’ve got to get yourself ready for it.”

Q: Three straight Baylor teams, including the one that beat Gonzaga in the 2021 national championship, finished the season top five in adjusted defense. The next two failed to crack the top 15. What would you credit the slippage (by Baylor standards) to?

Cherry: College basketball has changed. With the rise of NIL and the transfer portal, rosters are more fluid from year to year. I have actually compared it to junior college basketball, where teams are turning over almost their entire team from one season to the next.

Those stingy Baylor defensive teams benefited from several of their key guys having played multiple seasons together. The impact of that continuity can’t be overstated.

That said, those teams also leaned on some guys who just happened to be tenacious individual defenders. Guys like Mark Vital, a junkyard dog of an undersized frontcourt player, and Davion Mitchell, who won the NCAA’s Defensive Player of the Year honor in 2021 while earning the nickname “Off Night” for shutting down other teams’ top scorers.

If Drew can uncover a few more of those kinds of rugged defenders in his highly ranked recruiting classes, Baylor’s defense could rise again.

Q: What are realistic expectations for VJ Edgecombe and what would constitute a successful season for the standout freshman?

Cherry: Another of Drew’s favorite trivia tidbits: Baylor is the only program in America to have four top-20 NBA draft picks in each of the past four drafts. It’s a pretty safe bet that Edgecombe will stretch that streak to five.

In fact, there’s a chance that Edgecombe could be even better than the top-drafted Baylor player in each of those past four drafts: Davion Mitchell, Jeremy Sochan, Keyonte George and Ja’Kobe Walter. And those guys were really, really good players for the Bears.

Edgecombe’s athleticism is off the charts, and his ability to finish over bigger defenders should make him a SportsCenter favorite. What Drew likes best about him is his humility and his work ethic, as he seems to be coachable enough to take criticism in stride.

Considering that Edgecombe ranked third in scoring at 16.5 points per game on the Bahamas National Team this summer, a squad that featured NBA players Buddy Hield, DeAndre Ayton and Eric Gordon, it would be a bit of a surprise if he didn’t put up at least 15 a game on this seemingly balanced Baylor squad.

Q: Jeremy Roach (Duke) and Norchad Omier (Miami) are entirely different players. That said, which of the two transfers do you think will be more important to Baylor if the Bears hope to make a deep run in March?

Cherry: It’s really a great question. It’s quite possible that the guy who’s more valuable over the course of the regular season and the guy who’s most valuable in March are different dudes.

Omier’s consistent rebounding should be extremely valuable for the Bears, who return only one frontcourt player in last year’s backup center Josh Ojianwuna. Omier has averaged a double-double in each of his previous four college seasons at Arkansas State and Miami. So, he’s a huge addition in that regard.

But I tend to believe the conventional wisdom that guard play is magnified in March. As such, Roach is the right answer. While both Omier and Roach have played on Final Four teams, only Roach has played point guard on a Final Four team. Having faced the glare of the spotlight and the pressure that accompanies playing at Duke, Roach should be well-equipped to handle lead guard duties at Baylor.

Q: What will be the keys to victory for Baylor on Monday and how do you see things playing out?

Cherry: These early-season top-10 matchups are a lot of fun, but clearly both Baylor and Gonzaga will be very different-looking teams a couple of months from now. This stacks up as a Final Four-type game, and that’s a lot to ask of teams that really haven’t played together yet as well as several players who will be making their college debuts.

Here’s the fire, kid, get ready to run into it.

For Baylor to win on the road, the Bears might need Edgecombe to replicate the kind of debut that Ja’Kobe Walter had in his first college game last season. Walter hit four 3-pointers and all 10 of his free throws on his way to 28 points in a hard-fought 88-82 Baylor win over Auburn. Could Edgecombe turn in a similar hot-shooting performance in his opening scene? That would certainly help the Bears’ chances of winning at Spokane Arena.

Both teams will be breaking in some key transfers – Michael Ajayi (and Khalif Battle) for the Zags; Omier, Roach and Cal transfer Jalen Celestine for the Bears. An X-factor for Baylor both for this game and the season at large could be the health of Langston Love, who has endured injuries in each of his previous three seasons. Love was having a career year as a steady sixth man for the Bears last year when he suffered an ankle injury late in Big 12 play. The Bears have brought him along slowly in practice, but they’re hopeful he’ll be good to go on Monday night.

Mark Few and Scott Drew are good friends, but they’re both plenty competitive and I’m sure both guys want nothing more than to beat their buddy. Ultimately, I suspect it’ll be a close game that comes down to a big play (or big mistake) here or there. The home-court edge might end up making the difference for Gonzaga.