College basketball keeps changing the rules, and Scott Drew keeps getting pulled into the center of the conversation.
The sport is already dealing with NIL chaos, an overflowing transfer portal, NBA draftees returning to school, and a potential NCAA tournament expansion. That constant churn has pushed some of the game’s biggest names to speak up, with Arkansas’ John Calipari, Michigan State’s Tom Izzo, Kansas’ Bill Self, and Saint John’s Rick Pitino all voicing their frustration with where things are headed.
Dusty May added another layer to that conversation this past week when he left Michigan to become the head coach of the Dallas Mavericks. May pointed to the wear and tear of the college game as part of the reason for making the jump, and that kind of move only sharpens the question around coaches like Drew.
If the current direction of NIL and the transfer portal keeps rolling the way it has, it may not be long before Drew is thinking along the same lines.
Few coaches have had to absorb the turbulence of the modern college game quite like Drew. Baylor’s 2025-26 season forced him to adjust again, and the roster overhaul from 2024-25 made that even more obvious. The Bears lost 0% of their scoring from the previous season, which turned the offseason into one of the biggest tests of Drew’s career.
Even with Cameron Carr developing into a first round draft pick, the season still ended with a sour feeling for Drew and Baylor. What followed looked a lot like a coach trying experiment after experiment and still not getting the outcome he wanted.
That is where the NBA becomes part of the discussion. A move to the league would put Drew in a setting where basketball is the whole job, and it would also give him a place where his analytics-heavy approach fits naturally.
Drew has built his reputation on chasing high-percentage shots and on constructing lineups based on plus/minus distribution of value. That style has been a hallmark of his Baylor tenure, and it looks a lot like the blueprint that has recently won at the NBA level.
The 2023 Denver Nuggets, the 2024 Boston Celtics, and the 2025 Oklahoma City Thunder all won championships with play styles that line up with what Drew has been preaching in college for years.
Still, Baylor basketball and Scott Drew have been tied together for so long that it is hard to picture one without the other.
He has been linked to other jobs before, most notably Kentucky in 2024 and North Carolina in 2026, but he has kept choosing Baylor. That pattern has held even as the college game has gotten messier and more demanding.
Drew has also shown he is willing to adapt. The James Nnaji experiment this past season did not work, but it did show that he is still willing to take a swing. Baylor’s NBA draftee experiment was a failure, yet it also served as another example of how he keeps trying to build around the changing landscape.
He has already asked for more NIL support to keep the roster competitive, and he has stayed in Waco while other opportunities came and went. For Baylor fans, that is reason enough to believe he is still invested in the long haul.
Baylor is not done chasing conference and national titles, and Drew is not done with Baylor. As college basketball keeps shifting under everyone’s feet, he remains the one steering the ship.
In Other News...
Baylor Is Suddenly Back In A Familiar Portal Backcourt Debate
A familiar portal question is already taking shape for Baylor, with another backcourt target drawing interest from multiple high-major programs after a quiet freshman year at Illinois. Mihailo Petrovic entered the transfer portal after limited playing time, and his name has surfaced as a possible fit for teams looking to add depth and another ball-handler without having to remake the top of the rotation.
For Baylor, the appeal is pretty easy to see. The Bears are among the schools reportedly monitoring him, along with Texas Tech, Providence and Pittsburgh, and the fit would come down to how the staff wants to shape the backcourt around its current pieces. If Baylor wants more flexibility and insurance behind its primary guards, Petrovic could slide into a useful role, but he is not the kind of addition that settles the bigger roster questions by himself. [Read more 🡒]
Baylor's Backfield Suddenly Carries A Bigger 2026 Concern
Baylors ground game already had some room to grow after finishing 13th in the Big 12 last season, and the path forward looked clearer once Bryson Washington headed to Auburn. The Bears are expected to lean on Dawson Pendergrass, Caden Knighten and Michael Turner to help reshape the backfield in 2026, a group that gives the offense some intriguing upside if it can hold together.
What makes the outlook more complicated is that two of those projected lead options are working back from lower body injuries, which adds an immediate layer of uncertainty to a unit that needs stability as much as production. If Baylor is going to climb in the leagues rushing hierarchy next fall, it may not just come down to talent, but to how quickly that trio can get on the field and settle into roles. [Read more 🡒]
Former Baylor Linebacker Is Coming Home For A Bigger Game Day Role
Baylors 2026 radio broadcast team is taking on a more familiar feel, with longtime announcer John Morris adding former Bears linebacker Geff Gandy as color analyst and Bryson Jackson as sideline analyst. For Gandy, the move brings him back to his alma mater after a broadcasting run that included six seasons calling Texas State football, giving Baylor fans a new voice in the booth who already knows the program from the inside.
Gandy said the opportunity felt like coming home, and it marks another turn in a Baylor story that has already included a playing career, a post-football return to finish his degree and a second life in media. What makes this one notable is how it came together: Morris reached out personally, and Gandy is stepping into a role that should put him front and center for a program he has already spent decades around in one form or another. [Read more 🡒]