March 2004

[The following is an insider's recap of the 2003-2004 Baylor men's basketball season and the staff and student-athletes that made up a seemingly mediocre, but in-reality extraordinary "little team that could." A version of this story, written by Heath Nielsen, was published in Dave Campbell's Insider Report.]

It's hard to describe how Baylor's first-year men's basketball staff--hungry go-getters that happened to be the youngest coaching squad in major college basketball--and a short-handed team stocked with walk-ons overcame some unprecedented adversity and proved to everyone, myself included, that with hard work, team play, and believing in one another you can succeed.

It is well known what happened to the Baylor basketball program last summer. It has been well documented how deep the hole in which the Bears found themselves was on Aug. 22 when Scott Drew was introduced as our new head coach.

The Baylor family had mourned the loss of Patrick Dennehy. All those that follow Baylor basketball had watched in shock the events of the summer. The tragedy. The sense of loss. The uncertainty. And finally, the Drew hire and the arrival of hope. Then the sense of beginning. And the cautious optimism.

Nearly all outsiders who weighed in on the subject during the preseason dismissed Baylor basketball as having no chance to be competitive.

The team's losses were severe, and have been well documented. In addition to losing Patrick, and after President Sloan benevolently granted a blanket waiver to the entire team, the top three returnees - Lawrence Roberts, John Lucas III and Kenny Taylor - transferred as did incoming freshman Tyrone Nelson.

Baylor began the season with seven scholarship players and plans to add enough walk-ons to be able to practice five-on-five drills. Coach Drew eventually accumulated six walk-ons, and though roster changes continued most of the season, the Bears suited up between 10 to 12 players each game. The number of scholarship players varied from five to seven throughout the season, and the rotation (R.T. Guinn, Carl Marshall, Matt Sayman, Tommy Swanson, Harvey Thomas and Terrance Thomas) was forced to play high numbers of minutes.

I remember the happiness and relief in the locker room after the season-opening win over Texas Southern. And the frustration following tough non-conference losses, like to Texas-Pan American. And the pure joy and exhilaration that erupted at Reed Arena after the Bears' improbable road win over Texas A&M.

Baylor followers will surely remember the passion and heart displayed by the team's walk-ons, a handful of young men (affectionately referred to as the "hit squad" by the coaching staff and made up of Will Allen, Nino Etienne, Robbie McKenzie, Turner Phipps, Ryan Pryor and Joe Simmons) who not only won the hearts of Bear fans in the Ferrell Center during the early season with their spirited and inspiring play but who worked tirelessly through the conference schedule preparing and practicing against the regulars.

In early January five scholarship players and the walk-ons played Purdue, the 21st-ranked team in the nation, to the final minute; perhaps the gutsiest performance I've ever seen. In late February a Baylor team of seven scholarship players fought back from a 12-point second-half deficit against sixth-ranked Oklahoma State before falling in the final seconds. An amazing performance.

Over the season's final five games, the Bears notched one road win (at Texas A&M) and narrowly lost four other games by a total of 18 points (including a 70-foot 3-point shot at the buzzer). They earned the respect of every team they played.

I know I'm far from alone in my admiration for this staff (Drew and assistants Matthew Driscoll, Mark Morefield, Jerome Tang, Stephen Brough and Paul Mills) and team. I saw it all year long in the actions and on the faces of fans inside the Ferrell Center. Overall the attendance numbers were down from previous years, but those that were in attendance--fans that became more enamored with this scrappy team with each charge taken and with every dive across the floor for a loose ball--showed a genuine appreciation for what the Bears were accomplishing (the thousands that stayed after the narrow loss on Senior Night and cheered Matt, R.T., Terrance and the team are a great example). The admiration was echoed in the media as Coach Drew's name was mentioned in Big 12 Coach of the Year discussions.

Not only did seven players return following the events of the summer to don the Green and Gold. Not only did they defy the odds and play competitive basketball--they never gave up. This team won games; they played ranked teams to the buzzer. They hustled and scrapped and played their hearts out for a young coach who believed in them--and who refused to settle with just "playing out the year." The team everyone had dismissed made noise, and caught people's attention. Reporters from every corner of the nation came to Waco to watch the Bears and do stories on Coach Drew and this team that was exceeding all expectations. Baylor's overachievers were featured in the USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, the Washington Post, to name just a few.

I had the pleasure of witnessing first-hand the reaction of opposing fans in arenas across the Big 12 Conference during the season as they leaned off of railings or walked courtside and made a point to congratulate Coach Drew and to tell him how impressed they were with he and the Bears' accomplishments and the program's recovery from the off-season events. I saw two ESPN Regional television commentators--veteran Dave Armstrong and former Notre Dame and North Carolina head coach Matt Doherty--make their way to the door of Baylor's locker room in order to congratulate Coach Drew and express how impressed they were after the Bears took sixth-ranked Oklahoma State to the final minute.

I've been employed at four universities, and handled the publicity for dozens of teams. I've worked with programs that have compiled lots of wins. I've been a part of championships squads. I've worked with bowl teams, and teams that have played in NCAA Tournaments. But I've never been as impressed with a group of young men as I have been with the 2003-2004 Baylor Bears.

I can't wait to hang a photo of this year's Baylor basketball team on my wall. I look forward to the coming years when visitors to my office may ask me about my biggest thrills or highlights of working in college athletics. I plan on pointing out the photo, and telling them about the 2003-2004 Baylor basketball squad. And explaining to them how a team that finished 8-21 was one of the greatest teams I ever saw play.