NCAA Champion Baylor in a thriving team with a modified roster | WGN Radio 720

Paradise Island (AP) in the Bahamas — Baylor coach Scott Drew said it could take some time to blend the modified roster after the 6th-placed Bears lost four starters in the national championship. I knew.

Instead, the Bears rolled Battle 4 Atlantis. They were in a group of teams including Maui Invitational Champion Wisconsin and 5th Duke in the 1st Gonzaga takedown and thrived during Thanksgiving Week after remodeling in the off-season.

If each continues to orbit upwards, that’s a good starting point.

“It’s kind of like a date,” Drew said of his two transferes, James Akinjo, as his new point guard. “You just start dating someone, you have to understand things. When you’ve been married for a few years, you know what your wife likes and dislikes. We will continue to carry out that process. “

Bears’ left starters include Jared Butler’s 1st Team Associated Press All-American, Davion Mitchell’s 3rd Team All-American and 9th overall NBA Draft Topic, and Massio Teag’s 2nd place scorer. ..

Drew turned to Akinjo, who had previously stopped in Georgetown and Arizona. A talented freshman transfers Kendall Brown and Jeremy Sochan arrives. Returnees like LJ Cryer and Matthew Mayer played a bigger role. And Baylor (7-0) continues his final big win against Michigan State University in the Atlantis title game with Akinjo as MVP.

Baylor has won 13 consecutive wins in the Indianapolis bubble, dating back to last year’s title run.

“No one cares who scored, they all played pretty hard and defensive,” said Spartan coach Tom Izzo. “It was nice to see. Unfortunately, I had to look at them from the negative side.”

Maui Invitational relocated to Las Vegas, Wisconsin is Texas A & M, No. 12 Houston defeated St. Mary’s with the youngest team in decades. Badger (5-1) has lost six seniors and is back with two starters and twelve underclassmen. The average age of starting members on the first night was 19.8 years, down from 22.6 years last year.

The driving force was Johnny Davis, a sophomore, who averaged 23.7 points in three games and became a Maui MVP with 6.7 rebounds. Davis averages 7.0 points as a reserve for freshmen, but plays the game for about 32 minutes as the main character.

After defeating the Cougars, Wisconsin coach Greg Guard said, “Everyone else is learning to watch the group mature and grow in front of them.”

Then there was Blue Devils (7-0), who defeated Gonzaga in Las Vegas on Friday in a caliber match in late March. Duke wasn’t able to compete in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1995 last season, but was reloaded with a surge from top recruit class, veteran boost from Marquette transfer Theojon, and veteran co-captain Wendellmoor Jr. ..

The group could take first place in the AP Top 25 for the final season of the Hall of Fame Mike Krzyzewski on Monday.

“Since the off-season, we’ve been coming in every day to stay consistent and practice well,” said star freshman Paolo Banchero. “One isn’t a bad habit … So, when you’re accumulating such days, coming every day, and being consistent, you’ll be able to win and fight in a big game like this.”

Gonzaga’s UPSIDE

The Gonzaga-Duke battle took place three days after Zags reminded them of their turnaround by dominating the second UCLA in Las Vegas. The performance included 56% shooting with the No. 1 national recruit Chetholm Glen among the four players with at least 12 points.

“That’s the beauty of our system. Anyone can step up at any night,” said Mark Few. “And this team is not very selfish.”

Big moment

The holiday week tournament includes several classic moments that begin with Dayton defeating Fourth Kansas at Mustafa Amzil’s buzzer beat shot at ESPN Event Invitational at Walt Disney World. It was.

Also, No. With the wild opening round game of Battle 4 Atlantis between 19 Auburn and No. 22 UConn, the Huskies claim victory in the 115-109 extra time, which feels like a match in the NCAA tournament on the second weekend. bottom.

The rise of Smith

Holmglen and Bancello are the hottest among the top freshmen, but Auburn’s Javali Smith is off to a strong start on his own.

The 6-foot-10 McDonald’s All-American stands out as a pick for Atlantis’ all-tournament, balancing his outdoor shooting with the task of returning to a series of baskets. He scored an average of 19.3 points against UConn, Loyola Chicago and Syracuse. This includes winning 15 to 26 (58%) in the last two times.

“I want him to be a perfect player,” said Auburn coach Bruce Pearl. “I want him to be inside and outside. I want him to keep multiple positions. And I just want him to influence the victory. That’s all he cares about.”

Spartan cleanup

Izzo’s Spartans had a tough victory over UConn in the Atlantis semi-finals, but against the surge in Baylor’s second half, Izzo won the tournament performance that promised “some changes.”

His concern: 51 turns over in 3 games and he’s mentally tough.

“We’re going to do a few different things,” Izzo said. “Because it’s easy to get better physically … It’s a little difficult mentally.”

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Las Vegas AP basketball writer John Marshall contributed to this report.

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Follow Aaron Beard on Twitter at https://twitter.com/aaronbeardap

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Other Associated Press Basketball: https: //apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://ift.tt/2IjWTTo and https://twitter.com/ AP_Top25



NCAA Champion Baylor in a thriving team with a modified roster | WGN Radio 720

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