It was an interesting season for Baylor to say the least.
Coming off sanctions, Scott Drew's squad didnt get to play a
game until January, and their first win didn't come until
February 1st. But with that behind them and one of the
biggest recruits in school history coming to campus, the Bears
could be in for one of the country's surprise seasons.
Collegehoops.net:
You have a major stud recruit coming in with Demond Carter, but
discuss the incoming guys for a bit. Who will make the
biggest impact?
Scott Drew: Demond
Carter is the most highly touted Baylor newcomer, as he was a
McDonald’s All-American. Also, he was unofficially the leading
scorer in high school basketball history. He has already played
a tremendously competitive schedule in high school and should be
able to adapt to the college level fairly quickly. Our other
two newcomers are Djibril Thiam and Josh Lomers who will have a
chance to contribute immediately as well.
CHN: How will you deal with
the graduation of the two seniors?
SD:
We lost two seniors in Tommy Swanson and Kevis Shipman, with
Tommy Swanson being the lone starter to graduate. Tommy
hopefully will be playing basketball professionally or overseas
next year.
CHN: What
do you expect the strengths and weaknesses of
this year’s team to be?
SD: The strengths to our basketball team should be
in our backcourt beginning with Aaron Bruce who will be a junior
and has played significant minutes now for two years, including
his freshman year in which he was an All-American. Curtis
Jerrells also was a freshman All-American last year at the guard
position along with Henry Dugat who received a lot of playing
time in addition to McDonald’s All-American Demond Carter. The
weaknesses to our basketball team will still be our experience
level with nine of the players being freshman or sophomores on
the team next year.
CHN: Talk for a moment about which of your guys deserve more credit for working
hard in practice, in the workout room, and being leaders off the
court:
SD: Our team is tremendously blessed with every player
doing a great job in practice and getting themselves and their
team better. Last year Richard Hurd, Mark Shepherd, and Carl
Sims were all instrumental in helping prepare our team for the
season. Their competitive nature also helped us to continually
improve everyday in practice.
CHN: Who helped you must to reach the level of
success you’re at now?
SD: The coach that helped mentor me the most
was my Dad. Coach Homer Drew is currently the 12th
all time winningest active coach in Division I basketball. He
is not only an excellent basketball coach, but a tremendous
father and taught me many life skills that hopefully I can pass
on to our players.
CHN: What are your realistic goals and
hopes for this season?
SD: As most teams, our goals start with trying to
maximize our team’s potential and hopefully that leads to
postseason success.
CHN: Thanks for your time coach.
More 2006 College Preview: Head Coach
Interviews
