A View From the Hill: Books and Brotherhood
1/7/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 7, 2012
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
As Baylor's grim-faced, bearded enforcer, Quincy Acy is not afraid to "get in people's grill" and challenge his teammates to step it up.
But it has more to do with passing test scores in the class room than scoring points on the basketball court.
"He probably solves problems away from us that we never even see," said Tim Maloney, director of basketball operations for a fourth-ranked Baylor team that's off to a program-best 14-0 start going into Saturday's 12:45 p.m. game at Texas Tech (7-6, 0-1). "(Acy) is one of those guys that work in the dark, which is the greatest of guys, because he's not looking for a merit badge for himself. I know he went to one kid and told him, `Hey, this is how we do it, this is how we're doing it.'''
And guess what? It got done.
In a year when the Bears are having unprecedented success on the court, ninth-year head coach Scott Drew is prouder of what his players have done off the court. Baylor had six players post GPAs of 3.0 or higher in the fall semester and had the best cumulative GPA in program history at 2.77.
Drew is quick to give credit to high-character student-athletes who "come from families that have stressed the importance of academics," along with the work of a student-athlete services staff led by Bart Byrd and the day-to-day supervision of Maloney and assistant Jared Nuness.
"But at the end of the day, it's the student-athletes that are taking the tests, doing the homework," he said. "And not only are they doing what they need to do, they're excelling at it, because they understand the importance of being good in everything they do. They've all been blessed with intelligence and a great mind, and they're striving to use that to be successful when they're done playing."
With a pair of potential NBA Draft lottery picks in sophomore Perry Jones III and freshman Quincy Miller, Baylor has arguably its best collection of talent ever. But just as they've done on the court, they've checked their egos at the door.
"When new guys come in, sometimes they have a big head," said senior guard Fred Ellis, a December 2010 graduate who is expected to finish a master's degree in sports management in May. "But these guys came in knowing, `I'm going to listen to the older guys that have been through it.' At the end of the day, you've got to realize that they're 18, 19 years old. So no matter how touted or talented they are, they're still kids. . . . They want to fit in, they want to have fun. So if we show them the right way to do things, they'll follow suit."
Charlie Melton, who's been the team's strength coach since 2003, said he saw a different resolve after a disappointing 18-13 season that saw the Bears miss the postseason for the first time in four years.
"That's not what anybody wanted," Melton said. "And once we knew Perry was coming back, everybody had a new direction. We had the ability to move forward and put that behind us."
It started with the summer workouts in the weight room, when Acy, Ellis and fellow seniors J'mison "Bobo" Morgan and Anthony Jones led the way and held the players accountable. Morgan and sophomore transfer Brady Heslip both dropped 20 pounds, while a surprise leader emerged.
"Quincy Miller came in, just loud, chatty, tons of swag," Melton said. "He's the only freshmen that I've had take over the team huddle: `Guys, this is what we're going to do today, let's break it down on this.' And guys kind of gave him that power, because he's so charismatic, so energetic. Everybody knew we had a chance to do some really good things."
"Books and Brotherhood" also came out of this summer, when Maloney met with the players and developed accountability groups and set up boundaries.
"We put it to them and said we're going to have you guys figure out a discipline routine, figure out a set of standards and circumstances, because you're going to control this," Maloney said. "You're going to control your academic lives. It's not going to be our merit badge that we get because you do well, it's going to be about you. And they took it. It wasn't anything that any of us did. It was them. And they've really done some incredible things."
With the players forming their own "Kangaroo Court," punishment was doled out for any missed class or tutoring session. They had to run 17 sideline-to-sideline reps in a minute. And instead of just the guilty party, everyone in the accountability group had to run.
"It was up to the older guys, the seniors, the captains, to get on them, `Hey, man, go to class, go here, because I'm not about to run for you,''' Ellis said. "Nobody wants somebody else running for them."
Maloney said he knew the program was working when he saw a player like Jones III get upset over making a B on a test.
"Guys started taking pride in it," Ellis said. "It's like a competition to see who can make the better grades. And it's working, because guys actually like going to class and they're doing their work. So it's pretty cool."
And while you can argue whether there's a direct correlation with success in the class room, the results on the court would say otherwise. Facing a challenging schedule that include road trips to BYU and Northwestern and neutral-site games against West Virginia, Mississippi State and Saint Mary's, Baylor is one of just four remaining undefeated Division I teams in the country.
"Do I say that the weight room and focus on academics guarantees you an undefeated season? No," Maloney said. "What I guarantee is you end up becoming much closer to your potential or going past your potential. . . . If you're always programmed into I've got to be the best I can be right now, I've got to be dialed in, then that becomes your paradigm."
"If you're disciplined enough to go to class every day and do your work," Acy said, "I feel like it will transfer on the court. . . . Ekpe (Udoh) always emphasized that everything is business, on and off the court. If that's passing a test in the class room or playing well in a big game, you've got to be prepared."
Former players like Udoh and Tweety Carter set the tone with leadership on and off the court. But this year's team is taking it to another level entirely.
"I think we're always influenced, and peer pressure is so critical from ages 16 to 22," said Drew, who has had 20 of 21 seniors earn their degrees. "To see your peers emphasize, and more importantly to do the right thing, that influences you and it sticks out in your mind. Because it's one thing to study, it's another thing to actually see someone study or see someone get their degree."
