How Good Is Baylor Basketball With the Addition of Dylan Mingo?
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Plainly, Baylor was a bottom-feeding basketball team in the Big 12 last season, never finding the signature wins they needed to secure an NCAA tournament bid.
The 17-17 outcome was very uncharacteristic for a Baylor team in the Scott Drew era. But the program seems to have changed the offseason approach.
Scott Drew has constructed a solid roster with a mix of returning players and transfer portal additions. Highlighting the list of players is the number one-ranked point guard, Dylan Mingo.
With how the team stands now, the Bears boast a defensive backcourt, some glass-cleaning stretch forwards, a seven-foot center, and a bench with some serious three-point shooting.
Obviously, it is hard to know how good the team will truly be before they take the floor in the fall. But here are some early predictions:
Make the NCAA tournament?
Under Scott Drew, the Baylor Bears have been a college basketball powerhouse, making the tournament 14 times and not missing back-to-back years since 2006 and 2007.
The Bears should absolutely go dancing in 2027 and hopefully make it out of the first weekend, making their first sweet 16 since the national championship run in 2021.
Win the Big 12?
With the landscape of college basketball right now, there will almost always be a team with deeper pockets and more talent. Other Big 12 teams have generally outperformed Scott Drew, who has struggled to navigate the current era of college basketball.
The Big 12 Conference has only gotten more competitive with the addition of teams like BYU and Houston, along with the constant presence of star-studded programs like Kansas and Texas Tech.
This Baylor team should have a tremendously improved conference record; this team will hopefully not suffer multiple losses to teams like TCU and Iowa State. But this team is still far from being the Big 12 favorite, and a conference title will be a long shot for the Bears.
More question marks
No doubt, Dylan Mingo makes this team better, but injury history and inexperience raise questions around the star point guard. Whether or not Baylor improves their record, makes a March Madness run, or is a ranked program will hinge on how Mingo can perform at the next level.
What will starting Juslin Bodo Bodo be able to provide? Can Isaac Williams, Kayden Mingo, and others take big steps in their game? How much does bringing back Jerome Tang matter? Only time can tell for these questions around the Bears, but it will be another exciting season.
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Bennett is an undergrad student at Baylor University, studying journalism on the sports track. He is from the DFW area and grew up playing and watching sports, which inspired him to pursue sports writing.
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