NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: SECOND ROUND - BAYLOR VS DUKE

March 23, 2025

Scott Drew

VJ Edgecombe

Norchad Omier

Lenovo Center

Baylor Bears

Media Conference

Duke - 89, Baylor - 66

THE MODERATOR: We're going to begin the Baylor press conference.

Coach, can you start with an opening statement.

SCOTT DREW: First, I'd like to thank God for the opportunity to coach this team and be a part of their lives.

Second, I want to thank Baylor for the opportunity to do that.

Third, I want to thank the NCAA and Raleigh for putting on a great event and the hospitality and kindness.

The last game is never easy if you like the guys you were with all year. Our staff really was blessed to be with a great group of guys. Faced a lot of adversity, but they were always very coachable and respectful and did a great job representing Baylor University and Baylor basketball.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Coach. At this time we'll open up the floor for questions for student-athletes.

Q. Norchad, I saw you coming out of a timeout maybe with about seven or eight minutes to go, and Duke had a 19-point lead. You looked like the emotion was starting to get to you. What has this season and your time at Baylor meant to you?

NORCHAD OMIER: Basketball has changed my life, if I'm being honest. Coming to Baylor is probably one of the best things I've ever done. I wouldn't change that for anything.

The way the coaches care about you, the teammates, like they make you grow spiritually, mentally, physically, like the relationships I've built here. I mean, I don't know if it's bad to be happy right now, but I'm happy that I came to Baylor and meet all these amazing people.

Q. VJ, I think you all had a 24-23 lead in the first half, right there in the game. What changed that allowed Duke to get some separation?

VJ EDGECOMBE: First and foremost, I'm just blessed to be on this stage, blessed to be a part of the team. I just want to thank the Man above for that.

To answer your question, Duke is a well-executed team, well-coached team. They play hard. They made shots. We had a ton of mistakes, and they separated.

Basketball is a game of runs, and they went on a run. They went on a pretty big run, and that's what caused it, to be honest with you.

Q. VJ, I was talking to Rob in the locker room, and I asked him what it was like spending this freshman season with you. He was very grateful for the opportunity. Can you just talk a little bit about what it was like playing with Rob this season?

VJ EDGECOMBE: I could go on and on all day, but I just love Rob with all my heart. That's my roommate. Rob is a great person.

You all may not know it, but I know that Rob is a great person. He's a great player, but a better person for sure. I'm just thankful to have a great point guard like that beside my side the whole time, so yeah.

Q. Norchad, I'm curious, because there will be a lot of roster turnover with seniors and such, I'm curious what the message will be to players following in your footsteps and what they're going to find at Baylor University and what your lasting memory is going to be?

NORCHAD OMIER: Can you repeat that? I'm sorry.

Q. I'm just curious as to what mostly your lasting memory of your time on campus is going to be and playing for this program and what players following in your footsteps coming behind you are going to find with this program?

NORCHAD OMIER: Anybody in the recruiting class, anybody that want to come to Baylor, I'm going to tell them come to Baylor if you want to grow like a person. I mean, everybody going to grow like a basketball player, and Baylor is the right place for both.

It's never going to be a wrong decision going to Baylor. I said at the beginning I would not change it for anything.

Q. VJ, kind of a similar question. What has this season meant to you here at Baylor? How do you approach maybe the next few weeks in terms of making a decision about your future?

VJ EDGECOMBE: I'm going to be honest, I don't know how I'm going to approach the next few weeks. But my time here at Baylor, I'm going to be honest, it's the best place. I wouldn't trade the experience or anything for nothing in the world, not for a National Championship, nothing like that, not for a 30-win season.

Like I said, we faced a bunch of adversity, and I've had this great group of guys around me the whole time, coaching staff, players, managers, everyone. So I just want to thank them.

Like Norchad said, you're going to grow spiritually here. That's why I went to Baylor is to grow as a man. I promise you basketball won't stop. I want to approach life after that, I want to be the best person I can be and stay connected to God. If you want to stay connected to God, come to Baylor for sure.

But I can't tell you how my next few weeks are going to be.

THE MODERATOR: That's all the time we have for the student-athletes. Gentlemen, you're excused.

NORCHAD OMIER: God is good.

THE MODERATOR: At this time, we're going to open up the floor for questions for Coach. Let's go right back in the front.

Q. Scott, I could see the pride on your face as they're talking there. It's a ballgame there in the first half. Just how proud of the way you all competed were you?

SCOTT DREW: If you go into a game and you say you're going to out-rebound somebody 18-3 on the offensive glass and only going to have five turnovers, you'd probably feel pretty good about that.

We're up 24-23, I believe, going into the eight minute media. Second half it's pretty close, 36-42. That last eight minutes, I beat myself up as a coach. Should have done some different things, burned all the timeouts, played Norchad, try to run longer offense.

But Duke's a great team. Coach Scheyer's done a great job. You make mistakes, they make you pay. Steph Curry was 7 for 8 today and 6 for 8 yesterday, so I don't know if he's transferring to NC State, but he was pretty good the last two games here.

Q. Coach, I'm curious, I believe I asked you before, but what sort of lessons do you think that you'll take away from this season? Obviously it's fresh right now, but I'm just curious as to going forward what that's going to look like? I guess you'll have to meet with your staff and figure it out.

SCOTT DREW: I think, first and foremost, I think this is a transition period for a lot of coaches and staffs trying to figure out just how to implement and run the best program with the current climate and rules.

Obviously with us our depth hurt us this year. That's something that you definitely always want to have more rather than less. That would be probably first and foremost.

From there, part of the men we've attracted to our program, they represent the university, they do what they're supposed to do and how they're supposed to do it. When we go to hotels and people comment the professionalism, the kindness. A lot of times tournaments will say, we're cheering for you because your guys are so professional and kind and nice.

Again, life is short. I'm not going to work with people I don't want to be around. So we're blessed to have great young men as far as evaluation and how to implement offense, defense, and everything in just a year. You're constantly adjusting, fine tuning, and trying to come up with the best ways to be successful.

That's what we'll do because it's hard to get to postseason. It's hard to win in postseason. But our goal is to not be done playing right now. We've got to figure ways to do that.

Q. Coach, there was a lot of emotion in the locker room from the guys. Can you just talk about how special this season was and this group of guys was?

SCOTT DREW: I think the last few years we've been really blessed with -- last year we had two first rounders. We had two two-way guys that are playing in the NBA. A lot of guys become successful.

I think just the way they carry themselves and represent the university. We don't get a lot of calls at 4:00 a.m. We don't get a lot of people complaining on the road about how they are.

At the end of the year, if there's no tears, it means you didn't really put your heart into it. We always talk about emptying your cup, and that's all do is empty your cup. I know our staff feels like we emptied our cup this year, and a lot of our players feel the same.

Q. Scott, you addressed it a little bit yesterday, but Duke, how hard they are to guard because, I mean, their big guys are skilled. Just how tough was that today.

SCOTT DREW: I think you look at it, and the analytics showed they didn't have any weaknesses. Size and length always beats less, if you don't have size and length and everything's equal.

They're blessed because they have size and length and skill. They have really good players. Coach Scheyer's done a great job of putting together a roster that blends, plays well together. A lot of them play professionally because of that.