America, meet Ja’Kobe Walter

Baylor freshman shines in debut, helps Bears topple Auburn. Plus, notable results from Tuesday, Bill Self is super rich, and much more.

Author

Sean Paul
November 08, 2023

If college basketball continues to produce thrillers like Monday and Tuesday night, it’s gonna be tough to ever watch anything else.

But hey, that’s why you subscribe to the Daily. We’re here to serve up everything that mattered from the day before. But as a reminder, starting next week we won’t be doing it for free any longer. It’ll cost a whopping $1 per week.

Let's dive into what happened on Tuesday.

1. Baylor finds its way past Auburn

Another season, another Baylor freshman who can light up the scoreboard. Must be nice to be Scott Drew.

Not that the Baylor coach was smiling ear-to-ear throughout Tuesday night’s 88-82 comeback win over Auburn. The No. 20 Bears needed a 22-10 run over the final eight minutes to overcome an eight-point deficit for a win in their opener, a a result of improved shot-making and some timely defense.

“They are who I thought they were,” Drew said. “But it’s a race to the end of the season. It’s not where you start, it’s where you finish.”

Tell that to Ja’Kobe Walter. The 6-5 freshman — the top shooting guard in his class, like Keyonte George was last season — was incredible from his first shot. He hit an off-balance, contested triple from about 27 feet to introduce himself to college basketball fans, and finished with 28 points, the most by a Big 12 player in their debut since 2007.

He’ll be a highlight reel for Baylor all season. But this wasn’t all Walter, either.

Auburn looked in control for most of the game. Guards Chad Baker-Mazara and KD Johnson were perimeter pests in spurts, and bigs Johni Broome and Dylan Cardwell dominated the paint, leading to 11 first-half Baylor turnovers.

Then, Yves Missi happened. The 6-foot-10 Baylor freshman sparked the comeback by stealing an in-bounds pass, and flushing it at the other end to give Baylor a 79-77 lead. Next possession, Missi swatted away a shot, leading to another basket from the Bears.

Toledo transfer guard RayJ Dennis also did his part. He started slow (seven turnovers, all in the first half), but scored seven of his 15 points over the final three minutes for Baylor.

In a physical game, both teams looked evenly matched (maybe the Tigers should be ranked?). Both shot 43% from the field, went 9-19 from deep, have NBA-caliber talent. The difference was during crunch-time Baylor made bigger plays and took better shots..

The freshmen were the story, though.

It was noticeable which two players had five stars next to their names in the recruiting world. Those two — Walter and Auburn’s Aden Holloway — stole the show for different portions of the contest.

Holloway has a different gear, his start/stop ability is next level and he knows when to fully accelerate. He scored 14 of his team-high 19 points in the second half. But he and the rest of 2023-24 freshmen might just be chasing Walter.

2. Vandy stumbles, Michigan shines, and other results

Baylor and Auburn was Tuesday biggest game, but hardly the only notable result. Here’s the best of the rest.

Presbyterian 68, Vanderbilt 62
Sure, Vandy played without its best player, Tyrin Lawrence and rising big Lee Dort, but an SEC team should still beat a middling Big South squad. It just forgot to guard Crosby James, who scored all 11 of his points in a two-minute flurry that turned the tide for the Blue Hose. This is going to be a result that hinders the Commodores come Selection Sunday.

Michigan 99, UNC Asheville 74
One of the biggest off-season questions: Is Michigan any good? Guess so. Olivier Nkamhoua (25 points) and Dug McDaniel (career-high 22) led the way against the Big South favorites. Michigan looked big, athletic and quite comfortable on defense.

Creighton 105, Florida A&M 54
An easy one in Omaha. It’s hard to start the season better than what the eighth-ranked Bluejays did with their 18 3-pointers. A sneaky name to watch: Isaac Traudt, who scored 13 off-the-bench. He’ll carve out a legitimate role for this team.

Indiana 69, Florida Gulf Coast 63
Indiana was on the brink against FGCU, a team without its best player, Isaiah Thompson. The Hoosiers had a clear size advantage, but their floor spacing was a mess, which meant Xavier Johnson and Trey Galloway never had room to create. Additionally, Indiana showed serious lapses late, including three turnovers and a barrage of missed foul shots. Mike Woodson has to address those issues.

Iowa 110, North Dakota 68
Some things never change. Iowa topping 100 points on 1.36 points per possession? Seems like we can write that every season. The game was never in question, and six Hawkeyes reached double-digit points. Will having a lower-set of expectations benefit Fran McCaffrey this season?

Maryland 68, Mount St Mary’s 53
The Terps were the least impressive of the Big Ten teams in action. They uncharacteristically shot 3-16 from distance in the win, so I expect things to change.

North Texas 83, Northern Iowa 77 (OT)
After years of plodding along, North Texas scored 83 points. Is Ross Hodge bringing a different approach to the Mean Green? Maybe. They stood tall defensively in big moments, and made big shots when it mattered against one of the Missouri Valley’s top teams.

St John’s 90, Stony Brook 74
Welcome back to high-major hoops, Rick Pitino. The Johnnies ran, they were efficient, and they won. We’ll see a lot of the same under Pitino this season.

Georgetown 94, Le Moyne 57
Georgetown comfortably wins the opening game of the Ed Cooley era, with a 37 points win over a new D-I team.

Fort Wayne 82, DePaul 74
Whereas Georgetown fans have reason for excitement, DePaul fans don’t have that luxury. The Blue Demons allowed a late 11-2 run from the Mastadons to blow the game late. DePaul’s talent simply doesn’t stack up with most of the Big East.

3. Tuesday night’s other big stars

That’s probably enough fawning over Ja’Kobe Walter. There were other players who had good nights as well.

  • Ignore the “brick” in Jhamir Brickus’ name. He tossed up some buckets in Tuesday. LaSalle’s a senior guard scored 18 points on an efficient 6-11 shooting in La Salle’s nail-biting win over Drexel.

  • Joel Soriano had made ZERO threes in four seasons of college … before yesterday. Soriano scored 22 points and grabbed 11 rebounds and hit two triples for St. John’s.

  • Crosby James from Presbyterian went off late in the contest for the Blue Hose — rattling off 11 consecutive points, putting the game from even at 38, to Presbyterian up 11. He single-handedly tilted the game in Presby’s favor.

  • How is North Texas replacing Tylor Perry? Aaron Scott looks the part. Scott started all last season, but looks much improved on offense, scoring 26 points on 8-of-15 shooting.

  • Purdue Fort-Wayne lost a majority of its scoring from last season, so Quinton Morton-Robertson took full advantage of his opportunity on Tuesday. “QMR” scored 24 points on 8-of-14 shooting vs. DePaul.

  • Is Trey Alexander an under-the-radar Big East POY candidate? Well, he started the season right. The junior guard scored 20 points on 8-9 shooting in the Bluejays’ easy win over Florida A&M.

4. Bill Self now the sport’s highest-paid coach

Kansas coach Bill Self is a Hall of Fame coach, and regarded as perhaps the best active coach. He’s now the highest-paid, too. He’ll make $13 million during the 2023-24 season, which includes money from COVID-related deferred compensation.

Self, 60, signed a lifetime contract with the school in 2021 that was a five-year contract with an additional year added at the end of every season. This new deal adds an additional five years, and keeps the rolling additional year.

It also has a clause that stipulates that Kansas cannot fire Self for cause “due to any current infractions matter that involves conduct on or prior to,” his deal.

Not that Kansas would seriously consider that.

"Bill Self is undoubtedly the most consistent coach in college basketball, and a restructuring of his contract terms were long overdue," athletic director Travis Goff said. "In an ever-changing collegiate athletics environment, our strong commitment to Coach Self positions KU basketball to maintain and enhance its status as the most storied program in the country. Over his 20 years at KU, our men's basketball program has been a primary source of positive alumni engagement, strong university enrollment, and revenue that has helped fund all other Kansas Athletics programs and invest in all 500 student-athletes every year. With him and his staff at the helm of our basketball program, the future of Kansas Athletics has never been brighter."

Self’s Jayhawks are the No. 1 team in the AP poll and one of the favorites to win the 2024 NCAA Tournament.

5. Bama boosts its roster with Naas Cunningham

Only two years ago, Naas Cunningham was the top player in the class of 2024. Now he’s ranked 49th in the 247 Sports composite.

Not sure Alabama cares that much, though.

Cunningham committed to Nate Oats’ program on Tuesday, giving the Tide a player who could easily be a 5-star talent.

At 6-foot-8, Cunningham’s wiry frame and athleticism is a perfect fit for the up-tempo system Oats deploys. He’ll need to improve his shooting and add some muscle to fully develop into a key rotation cog as a freshman, but the talent is evident.

If Oats can get Cunningham to re-discover the form that made him the number one recruit once upon a time, Alabama may have found a steal.

Cunningham joins Aidan Sherrell, another 4-star recruit in the Tide’s 2024 class.

Other 2024 recruiting news:

The Owls’ encore

The 2023 Final Four darling is back at it. Tonight we’ll see if Florida Atlantic can recapture its form from its 35-4 season with a “neutral” site showdown vs Loyola-Chicago in Chicago. Wing Alijah Martin is questionable, and FAU lost both “secret” scrimmages he missed. The Owls will face a hungry Ramblers team, coming off a hugely-disappointing first-season in the A-1O. It’s an intriguing game. (7 pm ET)

Other games to watch (all times ET)

  • Arizona State vs Mississippi State, 9 pm

  • Troy at Ohio, 7 pm

Bragging rights

Which Big East team had the better Monday night: UConn or Marquette? Sounds like a Rob Dauster topic if I’ve ever heard one.

Links as you settle in after two days of college hoops binging.

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