HOUSTON — When Baylor University head men’s basketball coach Scott Drew looks at his Sweet 16 team, he sees a kind of chemistry that any coach would feel lucky to have.

The veteran backcourt of Tweety Carter and LaceDarius Dunn can bury long-range three-point shots or nail clutch free throws like they were born to do it.

Ekpe Udoh can block shots into the third row, and Quincy Acy can throw down dunks that will shake the house.

The Bears, including (from left) Quincy Acy, LaceDarius Dunn, A.J. Walton and Tweety Carter, play Saint Mary’s in the regional semifinals today in Houston.
Rod Aydelotte/Tribune-Herald

Drew has star players who don’t mind sharing the spotlight. He has role players who occasionally steal the show. He has versatility, balance and the kind of experience that pays off at crunch time.

Seven years after taking over a scandal-ridden program, Drew has assembled the best Baylor men’s basketball team in 60 years.

For a team that was picked 10th in the Big 12 coaches poll, the Bears have exceeded everybody’s expectations.

“Coaches bring in as good of talent as possible and hope they’re going to mesh,” Drew said. “But there really is no good rhyme or reason why you have good chemistry. Give all the credit to the players for having great chemistry and upperclassman leadership.

“When you like your teammates, you’re going to fight harder for them.”

After defeating Sam Houston State and Old Dominion in New Orleans, the No. 3-seeded Bears will face No. 10 Saint Mary’s at 6:27 tonight at Reliant Stadium in Houston.

“The joy we’ve seen around campus is different from what we’ve seen in the past,” Carter said. “It means a lot when you can bring something like this to the program. So we just want to continue to do that and get better as a team and a family.”

Drew always has given most of the credit for Baylor’s success to the players as they’ve reeled off a school-record three straight 20-win seasons.

The campaigns included a breakthrough NCAA tournament appearance in 2008 and a run to last year’s NIT championship game.

This year’s team tied for second in the Big 12 and set a school record with its 27-7 mark.

Since arriving at Baylor, Drew and his staff made it clear they were going after top 100 national recruits — even if the odds didn’t look very good.

“If you’re going to compete with Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma and other Big 12 schools, you’ve got to have players equal or better to what they have,” Drew said. “So the first thing we had to do was bring in those type of players.”

During his first few months at Baylor after moving from Valparaiso, Drew went international. He got guard Aaron Bruce from Australia and center Mamadou Diene from Senegal.

But he really pulled off a coup in the recruiting class of 2005, when he stayed in Texas to haul in Top 100 national recruits Curtis Jerrells, Kevin Rogers and Henry Dugat.

Down in Louisiana, a youth from tiny Reserve noticed that Drew was bringing in some highly touted recruits.

As the all-time leading scorer in prep basketball history with 7,457 points, Tweety Carter could have gone just about anywhere. But he wanted a small school environment similar to Reserve Christian School.

Carter hit it off with Drew and his staff from the start, and he verbally committed to Baylor at the beginning of his junior year in 2004.

“Baylor was a perfect opportunity for me to be part of something special and change a program, like I did at Reserve Christian,” Carter said. “If I had stayed and played (at Louisiana State University), I would have been home all day.

“I wanted to get away and really focus on basketball.”

Baylor head coach Scott Drew hugs Carter during senior day ceremonies March 6 at the Ferrell Center.
Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald

Landing Carter was a major event for Baylor — he was the first McDonald’s All-American in school history. When he arrived on campus, Baylor coaches quickly found that Carter’s infectious personality attracted recruits.

“He was a national name since he was the leading scorer in high school basketball,” Drew said. “But he’s also one of those people that other basketball players identify with because he’s such a good kid.

“A lot of the players on the team today are here because when they came on their visit, they spent time with Tweety.”

After Carter signed with Baylor in 2005, Dunn quickly followed his fellow Louisiana native across the border. They knew each other since Carter’s high school team beat Dunn’s Excelsior Christian School in the state semifinals.

“I just loved to play with him,” said Dunn, a native of Monroe, La. “I also had a certain vibe for coach Drew. I just love the energy he brings — not just on the court, but off the court as well.”

During his early years of building the program, most of Drew’s best recruits were guards.

That situation gave a false impression that he preferred guard-heavy teams at the expense of big men upfront.

But Drew was simply signing the best players he could find.

He always tried to go after big men. Drew barely missed securing Dallas South Oak Cliff forward Darrell Arthur, who chose Kansas over Baylor at the last minute in the spring of 2006.

Fortified frontline

But the Bears signed 7-foot Josh Lomers, a top 50 national recruit out of Boerne, in the 2006 class to give the team some upfront muscle.

Drew won another recruiting battle over Texas A&M when Houston Yates 6-foot-10 forward Anthony Jones verbally committed before his senior year in 2007-08.

Drew added two more key players to the mix in the summer of 2008.

Looking for a program with a faster offensive style after two seasons at Michigan, Udoh chose Baylor over Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, schools that were closer to his hometown in Edmond, Okla.

Once again, Carter played a key role.

Forward Ekpe Udoh said point guard Tweety Carter was a big factor in his decision to transfer to Baylor.
Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald

“Coach Drew is a great recruiter with the stuff that Baylor brings to the table,” Udoh said. “But for me, it was really just Tweety. When I first got here, Tweety and I hit it off immediately.”

Signing with Baylor after his senior year, Acy joined Baylor the same time as Udoh. In the 2009 class, Drew brought in Little Rock (Ark.) Hall High School point guard A.J. Walton, a valuable reserve on this year’s team who will likely take over at point guard after Carter leaves this year.

Recruiting tactics

Drew has won many battles, but the competitive world of recruiting has never been a smooth ride.

He upset coaches in the Big 12 in 2006, when a flier that circulated from Baylor to recruits pointed out that the Bears had signed a McDonald’s All-American (Carter), while former Texas Tech coach Bob Knight and former Texas A&M coach Billy Gillispie hadn’t signed one that season.

Drew apologized to Knight and Gillispie and quickly withdrew the flier from circulation.

Drew also raised some eyebrows when he hired AAU coach Dwon Clifton on his staff in 2008.

Clifton coached No. 1 national recruit John Wall in AAU basketball in North Carolina. Wall signed with Kentucky and is a candidate for national player of the year during a phenomenal freshman season.

Despite some setbacks, Drew said, his staff will go after the best players they can find.

He proved that last November by signing Duncanville forward Perry Jones, the No. 3 recruit in the country and the second McDonald’s All-American in school history.

Jones verbally committed to Baylor as a freshman and stuck with it.

“We’re one of those people that if we see a good basketball player, we’re going to recruit them,” Drew said. “We’re not going to say, well, he’s not going to come to our school. It’s our job to recruit elite players and bring them to our school. If we do that, we’re going to be successful.”

Drew hopes future teams will have the chemistry, leadership and drive that’s landed Baylor in the Sweet 16.

“This is a program full of guys who love each other and will fight for each other,” Carter said.

jwerner@wacotrib.com

757-5716

* * *

Scott Drew wins at Baylor

2004 —8

2005 —9

2006 —4 No nonconference schedule

2007 —15

2008 —21 NCAA first round

2009 — 24 NIT runner-up

2010 — 27 Sweet 16

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