Baylor’s Nicki Collen: Bears are ‘a work in progress’ despite win over Duke

Baylor coach Nicki Collen knew her team could be something special this year even before the Bears went to Paris to tip off their season against Duke last week.

After a win over the Blue Devils, the Bears moved up nine spots to No. 7 in the AP Top 25 this week, but the work was done in the offseason. Baylor players spent a lot of time this summer bonding and playing basketball.

Collen is mixing in a veteran group with talented transfer Taliah Scott.

“I think it’s a group that has ability to put the ball in the basket,” Collen said in a phone interview Monday.

Scott joins a veteran core that has established a great culture around the program. She averaged 26.5 points in the Bears’ two wins last week. Scott, now at her third school, started at Arkansas and then transferred to Auburn before coming to the Bears.

“We have a good locker room and we have a good practice setting,” Collen said. ”Kids compete on the practice floor, they’re coachable.”

Even after a win over Duke, Collen knows the Bears, who improved to 16-1 when not playing in the U.S, are still a work in progress.

“How we share the basketball was a strength of our last three teams,” she said. “Be balanced and share the basketball. We had assists on 75% of our baskets the last few years and we’re not doing that right now.”

The Bears returned four four-year players, which is unusual in this day and age with the transfer portal. Jana Van Gytenbeek, Darianna Littlepage-Buggs, Kyla Abraham and Bella Fontleroy have all been through Collen’s system.

The Bears will be tested over the next month before the start of conference play. They play at UNLV this week and then face Iowa on a neutral court as well as rival Texas. That game will be nationally broadcast.

“We do it to have unique opportunities to play neutral site games to make money,” Collen said. “I wish we’d play Texas home and home because of our fan bases and experience we have with each other, but it makes more sense to play them at Fort Worth. The opponents we choose to play challenge us in different areas.”

Conference supremacy

The Power Four conferences have gotten off to strong starts. The SEC only had one loss through the first week — Tennessee to N.C. State. The Big Ten wasn’t far behind with only two losses and the Big 12 had three. The ACC had nine. They also had strong showings in the poll Monday. The Southeastern Conference has eight teams in the Top 25, including four in the top 10. The Big Ten is next with seven schools in the poll. The ACC has five and Big 12 four.

Key games this week

No. 3 UCLA vs No. 11 North Carolina, Thursday. The basketball powers will play in Las Vegas in a WBCA Showcase. Fairfield and USF are also in the two-day event.

No. 18 Notre Dame vs No. 13 Michigan, Saturday. This Shamrock Classic will be a rematch of last season’s second-round NCAA Tournament game the Irish won 76-55. It will feature two of the most talented players in the country in Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo and Michigan’s Syla Swords. The game will be played at Wayne State Fieldhouse in Detroit.

No. 2 South Carolina at No. 9 Southern California, Saturday. The Gamecocks will head west to face the Trojans in a home-and-home series dubbed “The Real SC”. Saturday’s game will be played at Crypto.com Arena and next year’s game will be played in Greenville, South Carolina.

No. 17 TCU at No. 10 N.C. State, Sunday. The Wolfpack continue their difficult nonconference schedule facing the Horned Frogs, who added transfer Olivia Miles from Notre Dame this offseason.

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