By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
            With eight scholarship players last season, and sometimes even fewer, first-year Baylor head coach Nicki Collen couldn't really turn to the bench when players got fatigued or made mistakes.
            They say that the bench is one of life's greatest teachers, but Collen just didn't have that option in a 28-7 season that included a Big 12 regular-season championship and a second-round loss to South Dakota in the Bears' 19^th NCAA Tournament appearance.
            Entering her second season at Baylor, Collen has options after bringing in three freshmen, junior college signee Catarina Ferreira from Eastern Arizona and a quartet of Division I transfers – forwards Erika Porter (Illinios) and Dre'Una Edwards (Kentucky) and guards Jana Van Gytenbeek (Stanford) and Aijha Blackwell (Missouri).
            "I think it makes accountability easier," said Collen, who started official practices on Monday. "Sometimes, it's hard when you don't even have enough bodies to really pull somebody out. . . . Having more bodies gives you a lot of versatility, a lot of different options. I think we can go big, we can go small. And I think we can be equally good. Just a little more in the bag to play with."
            Missing, of course, are a pair of WNBA first-round draft picks in All-American NaLyssa Smith and Queen Egbo, who was named to the Lisa Leslie Award Final Five in 2021 as one of the nation's top centers.
            Collen calls 6-3 freshman forward/post Kyla Abraham "just the baby version of Queen right now."
            "She can run and rebound and is a little lost," Collen said of Abraham, who was ranked No. 10 at her position in the latest recruiting class.  "When she puts it all together, she's going to have that same kind of rim protection and athleticism (as Egbo). She even has the crazy move in the post that I kept trying to get Queen not to do, and I'm already trying to get Kyla to not do."
            The inside rotation also includes fifth-year grad student Caitlin Bickle and sophomore Kendra Gillespie as returners, along with Porter and Edwards, who averaged 16.8 points and 8.4 rebounds last season for the SEC championship Kentucky team.
            "I hope this is a compliment, but (Edwards) is like the old guy at the park that just knows how to play," Collen said. "She can be out-sized by four or five inches and just use her legs to get position and finish at the rim. She can pick-and-pop, she's a really good screener. She's like the guy that you pick up at the gym that can do all things, but maybe doesn't look like the most athletic or the tallest or the anything."
            The Bears also have position versatility, Collen said, with players like 6-0 freshman Bella Fontleroy and Blackwell being able to swing between guard and forward spots. Although she played guard at Missouri, Blackwell averaged 14.9 points and ranked second nationally with 13.1 rebounds per game.
            "There are some people who would come in and think they know so much," said Fontleroy, the Gatorade Player of the Year in Missouri. "There has not been a single day that I haven't learned something new, whether it's terminology or even something as simple as where a teammate wants a pass off of a certain screen. It's definitely been a learning curve. So, just getting acclimated has been a big change, but I'm loving it so far."
            One of just five returning players from last year's team, former UCLA transfer Jaden Owens has the advantage of already going through that learning curve.
            "I think it's because Coach Nicki is very clear with what she wants," said Owens, one of the best on-ball defenders on the team. "It's never a mind game. She tells you what it is, and that's it. She doesn't beat around the bush. I have a very high comfort level with her, and I think she has a comfort with me, where she tells me what it is. I want to say it's easy to play for her, because she doesn't have a hidden agenda."
            Even with all the change – Bickle is the only player that has been at Baylor for more than two seasons – the expectations are the same. Baylor has won 12-consecutive Big 12 regular-season championships and haven't missed the NCAA Tournament since 2003, the year before the freshmen were even born.
            "I don't think you put on a Baylor uniform and not feel pressure," Collen said. "I know I didn't take this job and expect to not feel pressure. Nobody wants to be a part of the team that breaks the streak of conference championships. I think we wear that. . . . And I think our players do feel that pressure. But, would you rather play for a place with no expectations? I think that's why they came here, because they want to compete for championships."
            Baylor will open with an exhibition game against Southwest Baptist on Nov. 3 before tipping off the regular season with the first of four-straight at home, hosting Lamar on Nov. 7.
            "I don't think of, I want to replicate what last year's team did," Owens said. "I think we're a new team this year. If we don't have the same pieces as last year, there's no reason to be the same. There's always going to be pressure. I always think there's a target on our back with our name being Baylor. But, I don't feel pressure. We just need to come on and do the best that we can as a team. That's all that matters."