Transfers step up for Baylor, Creighton in March Madness

DENVER (AP) —There’s some good-natured debate over which is the better Baylor —Scheierman or the Bears.

Some answersarrive on Sunday whenBaylor Scheiermanand No. 6seed Creighton take on third-seeded Baylor in the second round ofthe NCAA Tournament.

One thingboth schools can agree on: the importance of a transfer stepping into fill a missing piece for an otherwise-solid program. There areschools that use the transfer portal to get good quick. Then thereare schools like Baylor (23-10) and Creighton (22-12) that use theportal to stay good for a while.

The Bearsbrought in two players in Jalen Bridges (from West Virginia)andCaleb Lohner (BYU)tofill in holes and try to make a run to a second titlein three seasons.

ForCreighton, the big addition was Scheierman, the highly sought-afterplayer who left South Dakota State and chose to stay close to home(he’s from Nebraska).

He’sdefinitely on the radar of Baylor coach Scott Drew.

“Love hisname,” Drew cracked. “Hopefully, this Baylor does better than thatBaylor tomorrow.”

Scheiermanmade a big impression in a first-round win over North CarolinaState, sealing the game with a late basket and blowing a kiss tothe crowd in celebration.

Safe to sayhe has settled into his new surroundings.

“Ever since Istepped on campus, the guys have taken me in and treated like I’vebeen there all along,” said Scheierman, who was the 2021-22 SummitLeague player of the year at South Dakota State. “The processcoming in has been smooth and the chemistry on the team is verygood, and at a very high level right now.”

The same canbe said at Baylor (the school).

When Bridgeswas considering a new program for this season, he had a definitivechecklist with warm weather, winning culture and family atmosphereleading the way.

Check, checkand check with the Bears.

“It was kindof easy to see myself here because they played in a way that fitsmy style,” said Bridges, who is averaging 10.2 points 5.6 reboundsthis season. “I just try to do my best to make a play.”

Same withLohner, who appeared in 62 games with BYU before joining Baylorthis season. He scored a season-high 13 points in a first-round winover Santa Barbara on Friday.

“For me, (thetransfer portal) has been awesome,”Lohner said. “One ofthose situations that all lined up and I’m really grateful andblessed to be in a spot like this.”

At SouthDakota State, Scheierman was counted on for his scoring (morespecifically, his 3-point shooting).

At Creighton,he has plenty of company. The Bluejays have big manRyan Kalkbrennerandguard Trey Alexander to help carry the scoring load.

“Coming in, Iknew my role is going to be much different than it was in SouthDakota State and I was accepting of that,” Scheierman said. “I knewthat if we put everything together and we made a deep run that itwould eventually help all of our individual goals pan out.”

Sharing thesame name as the school the Bluejays are about to play has been “alot of fun,” Scheierman said.

Along withit, a bit of confusion.

“The past 24hours the coaches have been saying Baylor a lot and it’s kind ofthrown me off a little bit,” Scheierman cracked. “I didn’t reallyfollow them a lot growing up and what-not. Obviously, I always knewthat we had the same name, but at the end of the day, it’s justanother basketball game.”