Scott Drew reveals how assistant turnover impacted transfer portal recruiting, thanks staff

When the transfer portal window opens in college basketball, it can be a stressful time for head coaches, something that Baylor head coach Scott Drew knows all too well. Recently, the Bears head coach spoke on how stressful this year’s window was, given all the coaching moves the Bears had to endure.

“Yeah, 100%,” said Drew when asked if transfer season is stressful during a recent press conference. “And that’s where really it’s all hands on deck. Because now you got, how many people in the portal, and now you’re trying to not only see who’s a Baylor fit, but you gotta watch the X and O’s film— like how would they fit into our basketball system as well as our culture.

“So, that just takes time to navigate and go through. I know for those coaches that were here… they didn’t get much sleep during that period of time. And now, with the new staff being on boarded, I know they’re anxious, excited, and ready to go. But definitely; we wouldn’t have been successful during that time period without those guys doing double duty.”

It was a wild offseason for Baylor and Drew, especially given that he was linked to the job opening at Kentucky. Ultimately, the Bears head coach declined the position, and the Wildcats went in another direction. Fortunately, all that fall season activity did not impact Baylor’s ability to recruit out of the transfer portal too much. Drew was able to bring in some quality talent out of the transfer portal, such as former Miami Hurricanes forward Norchad Omier.

Jeremy Roach, Norchad Omier withdrawing from NBA Draft, will play at Baylor

Baylor received some big-time draft news on Tuesday; college basketball insider Jon Rothstein revealed that two of Scott Drew’s transfer portal acquisitions from this year’s off-season have withdrawn from the 2024 NBA Draft. Norchad Omier and ex-Duke Blue Devils guard Jeremy Roach will be suiting up for the Bears next season.

Drew has been excited and anticipating working with is transfer acquisitions, and had this to say about Omier.

“Well I think his toughness, strength, size, I mean the guy’s a beast,” Drew said. “I think Charles Barkley was a really good rebounder at 6’4.5 and you can’t measure toughness and heart, and he has a lot of that and then he has size and athleticism. Speaking more to his rebounding right now, I mean Rico Gathers was an unbelievable rebounder and he wasn’t 6’10, he wasn’t 7-feet (tall).”