Baylor coach Scott Drew opted to say no Kentucky’s present on Thursday after consulting alongside along with his family, sources knowledgeable CBS Sports activities actions. It’s the second essential opening Drew has turned down this cycle; He was Louisville’s first choice in March, nonetheless he decided to stay with the Bears after the personal school earned a significant enhance in NIL sources.
The selection further boosts Baylor’s program. The Bears have among the many finest profitable percentages in sports activities actions over the earlier 5 years and want to recharge after a 24-11 season that ended with a loss throughout the second spherical of the 2024 NCAA Match.
The Baylor boss staying put will even keep the Bears near the best of the Enormous 12 pecking order. The league expands to 16 teams this yr with the additions of Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah. The bears have a prime 10 incoming recruiting classin keeping with 247Sports, led by five-star prospect and potential No. 1 resolve VJ Edgecombe, which ought to keep up them in rivalry for the conference title and previous.
Drew moreover accredited an NIL plan in Kentucky that was poised to technique $6 million throughout the subsequent 12 months, in keeping with a provide.
So, the look for Kentucky continues. It stays to be seen if Billy Donovan could possibly be a viable objective; He’ll nonetheless coach the Chicago Bulls until subsequent week on the earliest. UConn’s Dan Hurley has moreover been publicly well-known as a attainable objective, nonetheless the two-time nationwide champion, Northeast native and East Coast resident, has given no indication that he would take into consideration leaving the sport’s prime program for Lexington.
“Yeah, yeah, I don’t suppose that could be a precedence,” Hurley acknowledged Monday night time time after his Huskies gained their second straight nationwide championship when requested if he would take into consideration leaving school. “My partner, it’s best to ask him to answer that.”
Drew has compiled a 446-244 report at Baylor since taking on this technique in 2003, turning it proper right into a juggernaut after taking the job when it was on the point of collapse as a program beneath scandal. This method has beloved fairly just a few firsts beneath his route over the earlier 20 years, along with 5 Sweet 16s, three Elite Eights and a 2021 Closing 4 look that ended with its first males’s basketball nationwide championship.