Baylor basketball is coming off a season that would qualify as a rough one by Scott Drew’s standards. The Bears finished 16-16 in the regular season, then opened the College Basketball Crown Tournament with a win before losing to Oklahoma.
That backdrop makes the conversation around Baylor this offseason a lot more interesting. College basketball analyst Andy Katz included the Bears on his list of 10 potential dark horse Final Four teams heading into the season, putting Baylor alongside Big 12 peers TCU and West Virginia.
The roster looked different by the end of last season than it did at the start. Cameron Carr, who led Baylor with 18.9 points per game, is gone to the NBA.
Five-star freshman Tounde Yessoufou also moved on after one year in Waco, entering the NBA Draft before returning to college basketball and landing at St. John’s for this season.
Obi Agbim graduated as well, leaving Baylor without three of its four double-figure scorers from a year ago.
Still, the Bears did keep one key piece in Isaac Williams, who was easily the most improved player on the roster last season. That retention mattered, but it was only part of the picture. Drew also brought back seven players from last season’s team after losing his entire roster ahead of the 2025-26 season, giving Baylor a much stronger base to work from this time around.
Then came the portal additions. Penn State’s Kayden Mingo, Liberty’s Brett Decker Jr., Yale’s Isaac Celiscar, and UAB’s Evan Chatman are all expected to play important roles. Baylor also added a freshman group that has real weight to it, headlined by Dylan Mingo, who originally committed to North Carolina before choosing Baylor and joining his brother Kayden, and Elijah Williams, the son of Monty Williams and a top-40 prospect.
The fit on paper looks cleaner, too. Last season, Baylor spent too many nights fighting through cold stretches from beyond the arc and getting pushed around on the boards as games wore on.
That should be less of a problem this time. Decker Jr. shot 47% from three-point range and gives the Bears an instant perimeter threat, while Isaac Williams and Isaac Celiscar can also stretch the floor.
Inside, Baylor gets a major lift from Juslin Bodo Bodo, who was expected to start last season before an early season-ending injury wiped him out for the year. He brings shot-blocking and gives the Bears a much tougher presence in the paint. Caden Powell is back as well thanks to the new five-for-five rule, and he’ll back up Bodo Bodo while providing energy off the bench.
The challenge now is putting it all together. But with the returning pieces, the portal help, and a freshman class that adds more talent, Baylor has enough in place to make Katz’s dark horse label feel at least worth paying attention to.
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Baylor Already Has A Five-Week Standout Fans Need To Debate
Baylors first five games have already given fans plenty to sort through, because the Bears have had more than one player make a case for being the teams early-season standout. The offense has leaned on different strengths at different points, with Gavin Freeman piling up catches at a national-best pace and Nate Bennett filling in effectively when DJ Lagway was sidelined, while Lagway has since come back and looked strong enough to keep the conversation going. Even the special teams have entered the picture, with punter Palmer Williams drawing notice for the kind of field-position work that often gets overlooked until a game turns on it.
What makes the debate interesting is that Baylors standout so far depends on what a fan values most: volume, reliability, or impact in key moments. Freemans production has been impossible to ignore, Bennetts stretch kept the offense steady through injury, Lagways return added another layer to the offense, and Williams has quietly been one of the more effective weapons on the roster. With the season still young, the Bears have already built a pretty good argument that there is no obvious answer, only a few very different ones. [Read more 🡒]
Baylor Just Gave Fans A Real Reason To Dream Big 12 Title
Week 5 in the Big 12 only sharpened the sense that this league is wide open, and Baylor did its part by turning in the weekends most convincing statement. While Iowa State had to sweat out a 45-42 win over West Virginia, the Bears handled Arizona State in a way that stood out even in a slate filled with notable results from BYU, Texas Tech, Houston and Arizona.
For Baylor, that kind of performance matters because the conference race already feels crowded and unsettled. No team has separated itself yet, which means every strong showing carries extra weight, and the Bears now have a result fans can point to as proof they belong in the title mix rather than just the conversation. [Read more 🡒]
Baylors Season Outlook Just Shifted In A Big Way
Baylors strong showing against Arizona State has changed the feel around its season in a hurry. What looked like a difficult stretch now lines up much more cleanly for the Bears, and the path ahead appears favorable enough that a 7-1 start is no longer just wishful thinking. For a team trying to build momentum in the Big 12, that kind of early surge can reshape everything from confidence to conference positioning.
The broader picture around the league only adds to the intrigue. UCF has been trying to navigate a season hit by multiple quarterback injuries, while Texas Tech has been a slow starter that often looks better after halftime but still raises questions about closing games out. Baylors challenge now is simpler to say than to accomplish: take advantage of the opening in front of it before the schedule turns and the margin for error gets smaller. [Read more 🡒]