If Baylor coach Scott Drew ever wrote a book, he could call it The Hard Way to 100.

With Saturday’s heart-stopping 64-62 win over Missouri, Drew made it an even 100 wins in seven years at Baylor. While such a milestone might not mean a great deal to some coaches, it should to Drew.

It would be difficult to find a coach in any era of college basketball who had to overcome so many obstacles to raise a program to respectability.

Baylor coach Scott Drew celebrates Saturday after a 3-point shot. The 64-62 win gave Drew his 100th win at Baylor.
Rod Aydelotte/Waco Tribune-Herald

Drew knew he was taking a leap of faith when he left the family business at Valparaiso for Baylor. Looking at the state of Baylor’s program, most coaches wouldn’t have seen just one red light. They would have seen enough red lights to fill New York City.

The program was on probation and one player had murdered another. How could any coach think he could recruit and build a team with so much negativity surrounding the program?

With an off-the-charts positive attitude, Drew found a way. He found foreign players like Aaron Bruce and good Texas high school players like Curtis Jerrells who had been overlooked by some schools. He was fortunate to land highly-sought Texas players like Kevin Rogers and Henry Dugat, and delved into Louisiana to find Tweety Carter and LaceDarius Dunn.

Without these players paving the way, Baylor wouldn’t have looked as attractive to Ekpe Udoh, a defensive wizard who wanted to leave Michigan for a place where he could develop his all-around game.

Now, the program is thriving. If the No. 22 Bears beat Texas Tech tonight at the Ferrell Center, they’ll achieve their school-record third straight 20-win season. After breaking a 20-year NCAA tournament drought two years ago and reaching the NIT finals last year, the Bears are well on their way to another date at the big dance.

“A 20-win season is one of those benchmarks for a program’s success,” Drew said. “If you can do it three straight times, it shows you’ve not only been good but consistently good. Every coach knows you’re only as good as your players, and we’ve been able to bring in good players.”

Drew’s best team?

With Udoh leading a superb defense, many Big 12 coaches believe this is the best team Drew has put on the floor at Baylor. Picked 10th in the Big 12 preseason coaches poll, Drew should be a candidate for coach of the year.

“Scott has had some good teams in the past, but this is probably his best,” Texas Tech coach Pat Knight said. “They’ve got two all-conference players in Ekpe Udoh and Tweety Carter. They’ve got all those big guys who are long and athletic. Everybody would like to play a zone like Syracuse’s. But you’ve got to have the players to do it, and Baylor can play zone as well as anybody.”

Even at notoriously tough Gallagher-Iba Arena, Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford knows he’ll have his hands full with the Bears on Saturday.

“They’ve got all the pieces to the puzzle — scorers, rebounders and shot blockers,” Ford said. “They lost some good players inside from last season, but when you replace them with a guy like Ekpe Udoh, a lottery pick, it never hurts. They’ve done a really good job of putting that team together.”

Drew has won 100 games and lost 100 at Baylor. There’s a near perfect symmetry to his record.

During his first four seasons, Drew finished 36-69 as he went to war with depth-starved teams. At one point during his first season, the Bears were down to five scholarship players. During his third season, Baylor’s whole nonconference schedule was wiped out due to NCAA sanctions.

Starting with the breakthrough 2007-08 season, the Bears have done a complete reversal with a 64-31 record.

Even during that stretch, the Bears have struggled through some rough times like last year’s 5-11 Big 12 regular season finish. But since last year’s Big 12 tournament, the Bears have been on a remarkable 26-7 run.

These are some of the best times in Baylor men’s basketball history, and the story isn’t nearly over yet.

jwerner@wacotrib.com

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