BigBearFan
09-04-2008, 04:41 AM
More... (http://msn.foxsports.com/cbk/story/4810106/Baylor-Getting-Inside?CMP=OTC-K9B140813162&ATT=99)
Hard to believe that just two years before Baylor made a breakthrough appearance in the NCAA Tournament, the Bears were dealing with NCAA sanctions prohibiting them from playing a nonconference schedule.
The penalty was the result of violations committed under former coach Dave Bliss as the program was rocked by the murder of former player Patrick Dennehy. A teammate, Carlton Dotson, was convicted of the crime.
Scott Drew agreed to take over the program and from vowed to only look ahead. Although the entire Baylor athletic program reeled from the men's basketball scandal, national championships in women's basketball and tennis proved the Bears could compete.
Additional support from the athletic department, under the direction of a new director, Ian McCaw, included a doubling of the compliance staff. Solid prospects, whom Drew didn't hesitate to recruit, were drawn to the hoops program despite its recent troubles.
"I had a friend say, 'Are you really going to Baylor?"' guard Curtis Jerrells related to the Waco Tribune-Herald. "He told me someone got murdered there. But I knew that was in the past and they only had a few scholarship players and I would get the opportunity to play. I'm a competitor, and I love challenges."
Jerrells, Kevin Rogers and Henry Dugat were all top-100 national recruits when they signed in November 2004. Last season they helped Baylor record 20 wins for just the fourth time in history. That trio returns, along with all but one regular, guard Aaron Bruce, giving Baylor a chance to contend in the Big 12 after going 9-7 and tying for fourth last season.
Hard to believe that just two years before Baylor made a breakthrough appearance in the NCAA Tournament, the Bears were dealing with NCAA sanctions prohibiting them from playing a nonconference schedule.
The penalty was the result of violations committed under former coach Dave Bliss as the program was rocked by the murder of former player Patrick Dennehy. A teammate, Carlton Dotson, was convicted of the crime.
Scott Drew agreed to take over the program and from vowed to only look ahead. Although the entire Baylor athletic program reeled from the men's basketball scandal, national championships in women's basketball and tennis proved the Bears could compete.
Additional support from the athletic department, under the direction of a new director, Ian McCaw, included a doubling of the compliance staff. Solid prospects, whom Drew didn't hesitate to recruit, were drawn to the hoops program despite its recent troubles.
"I had a friend say, 'Are you really going to Baylor?"' guard Curtis Jerrells related to the Waco Tribune-Herald. "He told me someone got murdered there. But I knew that was in the past and they only had a few scholarship players and I would get the opportunity to play. I'm a competitor, and I love challenges."
Jerrells, Kevin Rogers and Henry Dugat were all top-100 national recruits when they signed in November 2004. Last season they helped Baylor record 20 wins for just the fourth time in history. That trio returns, along with all but one regular, guard Aaron Bruce, giving Baylor a chance to contend in the Big 12 after going 9-7 and tying for fourth last season.