No Big 12 team will sport more talent on its roster than Baylor. That’s a bold statement given Kansas, Texas, Missouri and others in the league.
But the Bears have the goods. Their nasty frontcourt has seniors Anthony Jones and Quincy Acy, two guys who’d rather dunk on you than anything else. Senior center J’Mison Morgan provides size and sophomore Perry Jones is the best of them all, a tantalizing mix of size and skill at 6-10 that he could eventually be the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft.
They’ll have point guard issues at times – A.J. Walton? Brady Heslip? Gary Franklin? Pierre Jackson? – but the frontcourt is enough to make Baylor a preseason top 20 team.
Yet the news that prize recruit Quincy Miller – one of the top five recruits in the class of 2011 – is showing no ill effects from a torn ACL last year might be the best news of all. Someone’s got to score from outside and open up things for the big guys down low.
“He’s about 80 to 85 percent,” Baylor coach Scott Drew told Jeff Goodman of CBSSports.com. “And he looks pretty good.”
The 6-9 wing will be the top scoring option on the outside. He’s aggressive, quick and doesn’t shy away from his shot. (It sounds like departed senior LaceDarius Dunn, but it’s doubtful Miller will shoot that much.) The upside of being injured? He worked on that shot, too.
“Quincy’s improved his shot,” Drew told Goodman. “That’s really all he could do while he was out and rehabbing.”
Miller isn’t the only defense-stretching option. If Franklin isn’t the point guard, he’s a prime candidate to score in bunches.
But it’s no secret that Miller’s the key. If he’s healthy, the Bears might just take all that talent and win the Big 12.
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