WACO, Texas -- Aaron Bruce has been through the difficult
times at Baylor. Now the senior guard from Australia wants to go
out winning games.
"From struggling to be competing, to striving to be in games,
now our whole focus has changed," Bruce said. "We're looking at
winning games, tougher games and tournament games. You see that
just in the way we prepare. Look around the locker room, guys
believe."
While still relatively young, with Bruce the only senior who
plays significant minutes, the Bears return all five starters and
four other lettermen from last year's team that won an
opening-round game in the Big 12 tournament and had a 20-point lead
against Texas.
Baylor wasn't able to hold on for a postseason upset over
Longhorns, who made it an NCAA regional final, but that loss
provided plenty of offseason motivation.
"Everybody felt we should have won that game. ... We still are
hungry, everybody's working hard, two times harder," forward Kevin
Rogers said.
"The way we ended the game against Texas, it gave us a hunger
and a drive during the offseason not to let that happen again,"
coach Scott Drew said. "With that, we did accomplish a lot of
firsts, the first postseason win, only the second all-tournament
player and the most wins since 2000-01. ... We're heading in the
right direction."
Drew is going into the fifth year of what has been one of the
most daunting rebuilding projects. He took over after former coach
Dave Bliss' shameful resignation after a scandal sparked by the
slaying of former player Patrick Dennehy by a teammate.
There were NCAA penalties for wrongdoing uncovered during Bliss'
tenure that forced the Bears to deal with depleted rosters and
limited schedules. Drew and his players had to pay the price even
though all the violations occurred before any of them arrived.
Finally last year, Baylor got to play a full regular season with
a full roster under Drew and went 15-16. The Bears still struggled
with a 4-12 record in the Big 12, but only four of those losses
were by more than 10 points.
"Last year we lost a lot of close games," Drew said. "At
least we had close games. The last couple of years we didn't have
that."
The last time the Bears won more games overall was 2000-01, when
they were 19-12 and went to the NIT. That was their only postseason
appearance the past 17 seasons.
Bruce and Co. want to make that two postseason appearances -- and
are confident they can.
"We all have a sense of urgency about this year. A lot of guys
have been here a long time," said Bruce, a fourth-year starter and
steady influence. "We are sick of having potential. We're ready to
put up some wins. We're determined and focused."
With Bruce (11.3 points per game, 2.7 rebounds per game),
juniors Curtis Jerrells (15.0, 4.7) and Henry Dugat (11.7, 4.2) and
sophomore Tweety Carter (8.7, 1.8), the Bears are deep at guard.
They've only added to that strength with LaceDarius Dunn, a 6-4
freshman expected to have an immediate impact.
Don't be surprised to see as many as four of those guards on the
court together at any time.
"We're going to put our best players out there," Drew said.
A guard-heavy lineup could be more likely, at least in the
nonconference portion of the schedule, after starting center
Mamadou Diene had to undergo surgery to repair a chronic stress
fracture in his ankle. The 7-foot center could be out until after
Christmas.
With Diene missing, the only 7-footer is sophomore center Josh
Lomers (4.0, 2.6).
The most experienced frontcourt player is Rogers (12.8, 7.6).
Senior forwards Richard Hurd and Mark Shepherd had only one start
between them last season, and freshman Penny Thiam played only four
games. Thiam got a medical hardship after tearing his ACL and still
has four seasons of eligibility left.
Despite the setback with Diene's injury, Drew believes this
season will be "the most realistic chance" for the Bears to get
into a postseason tournament.
"The first two years, we were just trying to fill the team. The
third year we had half a season," Drew said. "Now, to me, things
are getting back to a normal basketball sense. It's the first time
since we've been here we feel like we have the experience necessary
to win some of those close games."