Okay, so I decided I wanted to really dig into Baylor’s basketball recruiting for the 2023 class. Not just casually reading headlines, but actually trying to follow the whole process myself, you know, keep my own little log.
Getting Started
First thing I did was just simple searching online. Like, typing in “Baylor basketball recruits 2023” and stuff like that. You get a bunch of hits, some news articles, some forum discussions. I spent a good bit of time just reading through the noise, trying to get a feel for who the coaches were even looking at early on. It’s a bit messy at the start, lots of names floating around.
I checked the official team athletics page too, but usually, they don’t post much about recruiting targets until someone actually signs. Still, worth a look just in case, right? Sometimes they have press releases about signings later on.
Digging Deeper
After the initial searches, I realized I needed more consistent sources. So, I started paying attention to some specific sports news places, especially the ones that focus heavily on college hoops recruiting. You kinda learn which writers or sites seem to have better info over time. I wasn’t paying for any super premium stuff, just using what was publicly available.
Social media was another rabbit hole. Following reporters who cover Baylor or Texas basketball recruiting helped. You see lots of rumors fly around there, though. The tricky part was figuring out what was real interest versus just noise or a player mentioning Baylor once. It takes patience, lots of it. You see a name pop up, then you try to see if it pops up other places too.
How I Kept Track
I’m not super fancy, so I just used a basic spreadsheet on my computer. Simple stuff. I made columns for things like:
- Player Name
- Position
- Height/Weight (approximate, this changes!)
- High School/Previous School
- Offer Status (Did Baylor actually offer?)
- Visit Dates (if I saw info about official or unofficial visits)
- Commitment Status (The big one: Committed, Decommitted, Signed, or Committed Elsewhere)
Every time I saw a significant update – like a confirmed offer, a scheduled visit, or especially a commitment – I’d add it to my sheet. It wasn’t perfect, but it helped me keep things straight in my own head.
Following the Targets
Then it gets interesting. You start noticing the same few names mentioned over and over. Those are the guys Baylor seems serious about. I’d try to find highlight videos – just searching their name and “highlights” usually does the trick. Gives you a feel for their game, even if it’s just highlights.
Reading articles about their recruitment journey was key. Sometimes they’d mention their top schools or when they planned to decide. It felt like putting puzzle pieces together. There were definitely moments where I thought Baylor was a lock for a kid, and then he’d announce he was going somewhere else. That’s just how recruiting goes. Frustrating sometimes, but part of the fun, I guess.
Pulling It All Together
As the cycle went on, especially into late 2022 and early 2023, things started solidifying. Commitments started rolling in. I’d update my spreadsheet, marking guys as ‘Committed’. Then you wait for the official signing periods. That’s when you really know who’s coming.
Seeing the class fill out slot by slot was pretty satisfying after tracking it for months. Comparing my little list to the official announcements when they finally came out felt like I’d done my homework right.
It was a bit of a time sink, honestly, just keeping up with it all. But as a fan, it was cool to follow the journey from rumors and early offers all the way to seeing the signed players ready to join the team. Gives you a bit more appreciation for what the coaches go through, trying to build a roster year after year.
