Cougars Take on #21 Baylor in First Road Game

Baylor (4-1, 0-0)
College of Charleston (2-2, 0-0)
Ferrell Center
Tipoff at 9pm EST on ESPN3

Hope everyone had a fun Thanksgiving and a productive Black Friday. Now you all can spend the rest of your weekend sitting around in your sweatpants and watching college basketball (BCS standings are locked and the NFL is tomorrow people). Unfortunately I was unable to attend Thanksgiving dinner at the Wojcik's house with the rest of the team but I'm sure I was with them in spirit as they flew into Texas yesterday.

This blogger spent Thanksgiving cheering on another Baylor product, Robert Griffin III and my Redskins, but now I'm shedding the RGIII jersey and have clothed myself in unwashed College of Charleston maroon. I got a really good look at the Baylor Bears from my time at the Charleston Classic and if you follow my shamelessly plugged Twitter page you know that I put them in high regard. They just have SO many weapons on their team.

Pierre Jackson will go tit-for-tat with Andrew Lawrence in a battle of the SoCon and Big 12's best point guards. Brady Heslip is a lights out three point shooter that the Cougars can't afford to leave open as he dances around screen after screen. The reason Heslip is able to get so many wide open looks is because defenses tend to get sucked in while guarding the Bears' massive front court duo of 7-footer Isaiah Austin and 6-9 Cory Jefferson. This might be a game in which we miss Trent Wiedeman a little bit. Hell I kind of miss David Wishon.

And really that's where the Cougars will have to hope and pray they can survive. Having Trent at least gave us a puncher's chance. Without him, Willis and Adjehi will both be seriously overmatched in size under the basket. Theo and Matt coming off the bench doesn't provide any more matchup solutions. If our forward rotation can at least neutralize Austin and Jefferson, then our guard and bench play will have to outplay that of Baylor.

Anthony Stitt, Nori Johnson and Anthony Thomas may be the x-factors for this game. Sitt will likely be matched up against AJ Walton, who will pressure the sophomore guard when he shoots but can't keep up with him when he drives to the basket. Anthony Thomas (assuming he stays at the 3) will have physical advantages against whichever guard in Baylor's three-guard lineup he is faced with. Thomas stepped up big in the last half of the Boston College game and he needs to stay aggressive offensively because he might have the weakest defender on him. Nori is the first offensive option off the bench. If he finds himself against Baylor's second string he might be able to get some good looks from three.

Willis mentioned in the game preview that facing the tough schedule that the Cougars have to start the season will pay dividends in conference play. It teaches the team what they need to work on sooner than if the schedule was a bunch of cream puff teams early. This is going to be a real tough road game for the Cougars against a top-tier national program. Right now all we can hope for is development from the players and smart team play. Anything else is just gravy. Go Cougars!