Waco Paper

[50's PONY]

Bears are roadkill for SMU

By JOHN WERNER Tribune-Herald staff writer

Friday, December 17, 2004

DALLAS Not even Tim Bush's first appearance in a Baylor uniform could save his team from getting demolished on the boards Thursday night.

With Bryan Hopkins breaking out of a shooting slump and everybody crashing the boards hard, SMU blew away the outmanned Bears, 77-43, before 3,698 fans at Moody Coliseum.

SMU's 34-point win was the most lopsided in the 175-game series history between the two teams dating back to 1917. After playing their first four games at home, the Bears (2-3) hope their shoddy showing against SMU (4-3) isn't a sign of things to come on the road.

"They were bigger, stronger and more athletic than us," said Baylor coach Scott Drew. "To win on the road, we've got to play perfect and the other team can't play great. Well, SMU played great tonight."

After hitting just 10 of 46 treys in SMU's first six games, Hopkins buried five of 10 over Baylor's zone to finish with a game-high 26 points. The 6-0 guard also led both teams with nine rebounds, five assists and four steals.

"I got a lot of open looks against their zone and I felt good shooting the ball," Hopkins said. "I had been doing a lot of extra shooting in practice and it paid off."

With Hopkins stretching Baylor's defense, SMU's big men found plenty of open lanes to crash the boards. The Mustangs, who lead the Western Athletic Conference in rebound margin, outrebounded the Bears by a whopping 23-7 in the first half and finished with a 34-22 edge.

"If we don't rebound better than that, we're going to get crushed," Bush said. "That was embarrassing. It all comes down to effort. How hard is it to box out?"

After sitting out two semesters following his transfer from LSU, Bush scored his first basket on a hook shot 22 seconds into the game and finished with 15 points, three rebounds and two blocked shots in 35 minutes.

Tommy Swanson added a career-high 19 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Coming back from a sprained ankle in Baylor's Dec. 4 loss to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, freshman guard Aaron Bruce scored a season-low five points and committed a season-high six turnovers with just one assist.

"That wasn't a typical Aaron Bruce night," Drew said. "He missed a lot of practice after spraining his ankle and his mobility wasn't 100 percent."

With Bush hitting eight early points, the Bears traded baskets with the Mustangs for a 12-12 tie with 14:49 left in the first half.

The Mustangs took the lead for good with an 11-0 run to open up a 23-12 edge. They did nearly all of it inside, as Derrick Roberts scored on a pair of drives, Justin Isham grabbed a rebound and scored, and Hopkins turned a steal into a layup.

The Mustangs continued to dominate the Bears throughout the first half, piling up an 11-3 edge on the offensive boards. SMU outscored Baylor, 24-10, in the paint in the first half.

Eric Castro, a 6-8 senior center, had a strong night for the Mustangs with 16 points and five rebounds.

"We do a lot of rebounding drills in practice with a bubble on the rim," Castro said. "We always try to have three or four guys going to the glass. We're a much better rebounding team than we were last year."

The Bears will make a quick turnaround when they face Southern Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Ferrell Center.

John Werner can be reached at jwerner@wacotrib.com or at 757-5716.


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——BU hosts fan forum——

[DallasDiehard]

Interesting alternate point of view.
Kind of feel bad for Baylor - they've got a long road ahead.

[Stallion]

don't feel too sorry for them because they have laid the foundation to have an outstanding team better than we have. Drew's 2004-2005 class is outstanding

[DallasDiehard]

How?

"Uh ... son, you're a terrific player, and I want you to play for me. You get to join a team that's in complete disarray and is going to get smoked in every conference game. And you get to live in Waco, where you're not allowed to have any fun, and it's 100 miles from any city with paved roads. Interested?"

OK, I'm exaggerating. A little. But Coach Drew must be the most charismatic guy on the planet to get players to join him down there.

[True Colors]

However you want to slice it, Baylor's basketball recruiting has been on a spectacular roll. The Bears were able to complete their entire 2005 signing class during the early fall period in November, and that group includes several top 100 national signees(Kevin Rogers, Henry Dugat, Curtis Jerrells). BU also signed a 6'10 international prospect who had been offered by Notre Dame, UCLA and Pitt.

Baylor is also one of the first programs in the country to secure a top 50 national commitment from the class of 2006 by getting Demond Carter. He committed to the Bears over interest from Georgia Tech, Kentucky, Kansas, Texas, OK State, and several other high majors.

National rankings for Carter:

Scout - 6th best point guard nationally, #47 overall
Rivals - 9th best point guard nationally, and #46 overall
hoopscoop - #41 overall

Several other top 50 national players from 2006 have already been to the campus in Waco for visits(Donald Sloan, Damion James, Josh Lomers, etc.)

The current season is indeed bleak for the Bears, but the future is bright.

TC