IS HE P.J. TUCKER OR DENNIS RODMAN?
3/19/2021 10:32:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Mark Vital Does All the Dirty Work for Top-Seeded Bears
By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
Whether he is playing "The Villain," "Glue Guy" or even "Baby Rico," Mark Vital does all the dirty work, things that don't always show up in the boxscore.
As Baylor junior guard Davion Mitchell puts it, "Nobody wants to see Mark Vital on him."
"Mark can switch on to guards, bigs. He just tries to make it hard for anyone," Mitchell said of the 6-5 redshirt senior forward, who's averaging 6.0 points and 6.8 rebounds per game going into Friday's 2:30 p.m. game between top-seeded Baylor (22-2) and 16th-seeded Hartford (15-8) in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. "He's a guy that moves his feet, uses his chest . . . plays hard every possession."
That's never been in doubt, even when ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla tweeted, "It's painful for me to say this, but this is not the same Mark Vital of last season."
All that did was add fuel to a guy that seems to have a motor that never stops or even slows down. Vital had a game-high 10 rebounds in a 77-69 win over No. 9 Kansas and provided two highlight-reel moments, hustling down the court to block a Dajuan Harris dunk and then throwing one down himself off an alley-oop pass from Jared Butler.
"I was always told, don't give up on a play," Vital said of the blocked dunk. "Two things are going to happen – you either block the shot or you get dunked on. My mindset was I'm going to chase him down and hope for the best. If he dunks it, congratulations to him. That's just part of basketball. But, I'll jump every day and twice on Sunday."
While he's typically giving up four to six inches when he's battling on the boards, Vital leads the team and ranks fifth in the Big 12 with 6.8 rebounds per game. The four ahead of him are 6-10 West Virginia center Derek Culver, 6-8 Kansas forward Jalen Wilson, 6-11 TCU center Kevin Samuel and 6-10 Texas forward Jericho Sims.
"I've got to have a mindset that I'm 6-9," said Vital, who has averaged 10.4 rebounds over the last seven games, matching his season high with 15 against Iowa State, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State. "First off, it's God-given talent. I have freak of nature athleticism. Because of my size, I've got to be one of those guys that's just relentless. I go against guys that are 6-9, 6-8, and I make them look bad. It's all about heart and toughness."
In the past, Vital's been compared to 6-5 forward P.J. Tucker of the Houston Rockets or even Hall of Famer Charles Barkley, a 6-6 forward and 11-time NBA all-star.
But then, he heard Fraschilla and other veteran ESPN analysts refer to him as "Young Rodman," comparing him to Dennis Rodman. The 6-7 forward led the league in rebounding seven-consecutive years, was an NBA All-Defense first-team pick seven times and won five NBA championships.
"They listed him at 6-7, but when I watched a lot of videos and documentaries, they say he's more like 6-5, 6-6," Vital said of Rodman. "Rodman's always been one of my favorite players since I was a kid. He rebounds, plays defense, he runs the floor. When I actually watch Dennis Rodman play, that's me. That's literally me, I'm like the 2.0 of him."
Just without the dresses.
"No, I will never wear a dress," Vital said.
A lot of Vital's game is just who he is. He wants to be the "hardest player in the country." But, it's also the role that he plays for a Baylor team that needs him to be that "glue guy."
"He might go hard and take two guys out and block you out. And now, someone else gets the rebound," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "it doesn't show as Mark Vital's rebound, but it affects the team. That's why he's such a valuable player for us is he does a lot of things that might not show up in the stat box. They call them 'glue guys' and other things like that, but basically he's a winner."
When Baylor won its first conference championship in 71 years, Vital said all he could do was drop to his knees and cry, "because I was so happy not just for myself, but for Coach Drew."
"Ever since I had been here, people have said that Baylor can't win conference and that Coach Drew wasn't a good enough coach," Vital said. "When we won, all I could do was laugh at them and and be like, 'We told you.' Coach Drew just had so much faith in us not just winning conference, but winning in general. I just had to drop to my knees and cry, because it was like a weight lifted off my shoulders, and I know it was a weight lifted off his shoulders."
After last year's NCAA Tournament was canceled because of COVID-19, Vital said he is "ready to rock and roll." The Bears are ranked third in the nation and the top seed in the South Region that includes Ohio State, Arkansas, Purdue and Villanova.
"I'm ready to prove to the world that our team is the best in the nation," he said.
Whenever the Bears' run ends, Vital is confident about taking the next step and playing professional basketball, whether it's in the NBA or overseas.
"I'm not one of those guys that if I don't make it to the NBA, I will just shut down and be like, I'm gone," he said. "I'll just fight and keep fighting to get to wherever I need to go. I know it's going to be a struggle. I might get drafted, I might go undrafted. At the end of the day, I know God's got me. That's just my mindset. I'm very confident. And if somebody needs a Rodman on their team, they'll pick me up."
Baylor Bear Insider
Whether he is playing "The Villain," "Glue Guy" or even "Baby Rico," Mark Vital does all the dirty work, things that don't always show up in the boxscore.
As Baylor junior guard Davion Mitchell puts it, "Nobody wants to see Mark Vital on him."
"Mark can switch on to guards, bigs. He just tries to make it hard for anyone," Mitchell said of the 6-5 redshirt senior forward, who's averaging 6.0 points and 6.8 rebounds per game going into Friday's 2:30 p.m. game between top-seeded Baylor (22-2) and 16th-seeded Hartford (15-8) in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. "He's a guy that moves his feet, uses his chest . . . plays hard every possession."
That's never been in doubt, even when ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla tweeted, "It's painful for me to say this, but this is not the same Mark Vital of last season."
All that did was add fuel to a guy that seems to have a motor that never stops or even slows down. Vital had a game-high 10 rebounds in a 77-69 win over No. 9 Kansas and provided two highlight-reel moments, hustling down the court to block a Dajuan Harris dunk and then throwing one down himself off an alley-oop pass from Jared Butler.
"I was always told, don't give up on a play," Vital said of the blocked dunk. "Two things are going to happen – you either block the shot or you get dunked on. My mindset was I'm going to chase him down and hope for the best. If he dunks it, congratulations to him. That's just part of basketball. But, I'll jump every day and twice on Sunday."
While he's typically giving up four to six inches when he's battling on the boards, Vital leads the team and ranks fifth in the Big 12 with 6.8 rebounds per game. The four ahead of him are 6-10 West Virginia center Derek Culver, 6-8 Kansas forward Jalen Wilson, 6-11 TCU center Kevin Samuel and 6-10 Texas forward Jericho Sims.
"I've got to have a mindset that I'm 6-9," said Vital, who has averaged 10.4 rebounds over the last seven games, matching his season high with 15 against Iowa State, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State. "First off, it's God-given talent. I have freak of nature athleticism. Because of my size, I've got to be one of those guys that's just relentless. I go against guys that are 6-9, 6-8, and I make them look bad. It's all about heart and toughness."
In the past, Vital's been compared to 6-5 forward P.J. Tucker of the Houston Rockets or even Hall of Famer Charles Barkley, a 6-6 forward and 11-time NBA all-star.
But then, he heard Fraschilla and other veteran ESPN analysts refer to him as "Young Rodman," comparing him to Dennis Rodman. The 6-7 forward led the league in rebounding seven-consecutive years, was an NBA All-Defense first-team pick seven times and won five NBA championships.
"They listed him at 6-7, but when I watched a lot of videos and documentaries, they say he's more like 6-5, 6-6," Vital said of Rodman. "Rodman's always been one of my favorite players since I was a kid. He rebounds, plays defense, he runs the floor. When I actually watch Dennis Rodman play, that's me. That's literally me, I'm like the 2.0 of him."
Just without the dresses.
"No, I will never wear a dress," Vital said.
A lot of Vital's game is just who he is. He wants to be the "hardest player in the country." But, it's also the role that he plays for a Baylor team that needs him to be that "glue guy."
"He might go hard and take two guys out and block you out. And now, someone else gets the rebound," Baylor coach Scott Drew said. "it doesn't show as Mark Vital's rebound, but it affects the team. That's why he's such a valuable player for us is he does a lot of things that might not show up in the stat box. They call them 'glue guys' and other things like that, but basically he's a winner."
When Baylor won its first conference championship in 71 years, Vital said all he could do was drop to his knees and cry, "because I was so happy not just for myself, but for Coach Drew."
"Ever since I had been here, people have said that Baylor can't win conference and that Coach Drew wasn't a good enough coach," Vital said. "When we won, all I could do was laugh at them and and be like, 'We told you.' Coach Drew just had so much faith in us not just winning conference, but winning in general. I just had to drop to my knees and cry, because it was like a weight lifted off my shoulders, and I know it was a weight lifted off his shoulders."
After last year's NCAA Tournament was canceled because of COVID-19, Vital said he is "ready to rock and roll." The Bears are ranked third in the nation and the top seed in the South Region that includes Ohio State, Arkansas, Purdue and Villanova.
"I'm ready to prove to the world that our team is the best in the nation," he said.
Whenever the Bears' run ends, Vital is confident about taking the next step and playing professional basketball, whether it's in the NBA or overseas.
"I'm not one of those guys that if I don't make it to the NBA, I will just shut down and be like, I'm gone," he said. "I'll just fight and keep fighting to get to wherever I need to go. I know it's going to be a struggle. I might get drafted, I might go undrafted. At the end of the day, I know God's got me. That's just my mindset. I'm very confident. And if somebody needs a Rodman on their team, they'll pick me up."
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