WACO, Texas -- Baylor's nonconference slate has transitioned from the Bears playing a who's-who list of college basketball powers to something that more resembles preseason exhibition games.
The fourth-ranked Bears tip off Sunday against John Brown University of the NAIA Sooner Athletic Conference. Baylor still has a highly-rated strength of schedule, though it will fall a few notches during its current run of less-competitive games in the leadup to Big 12 action.
Baylor will be playing its second game in two different venues in less than 24 hours. The Bears defeated Jackson State 82-57 on Saturday at Abrams Gym in Fort Hood, Texas.
But the Bears are committed to playing games at Fort Hood after spending time at the U.S. military post in team building two years ago. Baylor coach Scott Drew gave his postgame interview after the win over Jackson State at about 7:30 Saturday night. His message to the team and fans was simple.
"Don't stay out late," Drew said.
It's a challenging turnaround, though the level of competition doesn't rise to the level that Baylor faced earlier in nonconference play.
The Bears defeated then-No. 24 Michigan State and then-top-10 opponents Oregon, Louisville and Xavier.
But Jackson State fell to 3-8 with the loss to Baylor, despite the fact that the Tigers hadn't played a top-25 opponent until they met the Bears.
Next up for Baylor is John Brown. The Golden Eagles enter with a 9-4 record, but they haven't defeated a NCAA Division I opponent so far this season. Most recently, Oral Roberts throttled John Brown 95-63 on Dec. 10 in Tulsa, Okla.
Part of the explanation for Baylor's foray into competition against an NAIA opponent is that John Brown coach Jason Beschta is a former graduate assistant at Baylor. He earned a graduate degree in pedagogy from the school and served on Drew's staff early in Drew's tenure with the Bears.
"As a coach, you like to see your former staff do well and they've done such a great job," Drew said.
Guard Ricky Roberts leads John Brown in scoring at 14.8 points per game and averages 2.9 assists. The Golden Eagles have three guards who average double digits in scoring.
However, it's likely John Brown will struggle to score inside against Baylor's zone defense and its long, shot-swatting forwards. John Brown forwards Benjamin Smith and Miguel Martinez are the only Golden Eagles players taller than 6-5 to play significant minutes so far this season and they combine to average 13.5 points.
Baylor 6-10 forward Johnathan Motley is pouring in 16.8 points per game and he's close to averaging a double-double at 8.4 boards. Jo Lual-Acuil, a 7-0 newcomer at forward, has blocked 44 shots in 10 games.
The Bears are also experimenting through nonconference with a rotation of 10 players. Guards Manu Lecomte, Al Freeman, Jake Lindsey, King McClure and Chuck Mitchell have been moving the ball as well as shooting it proficiently from beyond the 3-point arc. Baylor is shooting 35 percent from 3-point range so far this season with 6.3 connections per game.
"Any given night it can be anybody showing up," Freeman said. "That's the great thing about our team this year is that you don't know if I'm going to go off, Mot's going to go off, Manu's going to go off."
