Chad Baker in his own words

[aztecpaulg]

Here's a small portion of the interview we did with him for those not on Twitter

[aztech]

We lose Schakel to graduation and in comes Baker to replace him. Amazing!


This may end up being the best team in years going into the post season. Despite all their talent, the question is how soon can they jell as a team during the season? Big test for the coaching staff.

[standiego]

Like his attitude

Most are predicting that Trey( PG ) and Matt ( the 2 or 3) are definite starters . With Nathan also likely to be a starter at the 5 , or the transfer from Portland

So that means what guys step up to be starters at the 2 , 3 or 4 position . Keshad , Che , Chad , KD , Adam , AG , Lamont, Joshua ...

Coaches have a variety of guys that can play multiple positions will be interesting to watch the battle for PT . But we also realize starting is not as important as being there during the clutch times during the games .

Hopefully all the guys are here for at least SS 2 . Especially the newer players and the freshmen from last year as they did not get the benefit of full summer / fall practices to learn from the coaches

As we have also learned- key is knowing the defense as well as the offense- Plus staying healthy

[jdaztec]

We appear to be loaded this year. Dutch has more tools than ever, we will see how he uses them.

[tecsonthebeach]

The Aztecs have 13 players who are going to expect playing time (Or 12 if Demarshay is encouraged to redshirt and does so).
It will be interesting to see how that shakes out.

[standiego]

Dutcher has reloaded after we lost a major part of our offense from last season - Matt , Jordan and T-Go - think we lost more then any other school in the MW

We did get a Major transfer in Matt B - and Trey Comes back at PG - So that gives us two solid starters in addition of Nathan at the 5 with the transfer from Portland or Joshua as back ups or maybe Joshua helps at the 4? Multiple options

Where Matt starts depends on what guys step up from the group of Keshad , Che, KD , Adam , Chad , AG , Lamont to give us the best group of 5 on the court as a unit . Could take some time to get the guys playing together but could be some interesting battles during practice

While we did reload .

Both Nevada and CSU are getting almost all of their people back and have added more - So they along with their returning coaches do have their frame work pretty well set up and could work on some advanced things . Nevada has a great backcourt and CSU has Roddy and a very high quality guard .

OOC will be very important for ratings and then the exact way the unbalanced MW schedule looks - road trips especially to the Mountain schools

[tonatiuh]

Ok, I see you shortened his name as his full name is Chad Baker-Mazara. He is 6'7" and played at Duquesne University in 2020-21. And, apparently from his stats
he can shoot very accurate. He is 43.8% overall from the floor, 41.7% from threes, and an 81.3% from the free throw line.

More info at: goaztecs.com/news/2021/6/22/mens-basketball

[Gundo]

Losses:
Matty Mitch - 6'6 240 MWC POY 4 year, SDSU system guy
Jordan Schakel - 6'6  200 4 year, SDSU system guy
Go-Go Gomez - 5'9 160 1,000+ scorer, fish out of water at SDSU

Gains:
Trey Pulliam - 6'3 180 PG returns with more confidence and a 2 years under his belt, proven starter 
Joshua Tomaić - 6'10 235 C returns with actual in game experience, and doubled his output vs Maryland
Matt Bradley - 6'4 220 All Pac-12 player at CAL 
Chad Baker - 6'7 190 A-10 Freshman of the Year at Duquesne 
Tahirou Diabate - 6'9 225 93 NCAA games, 70 starts, hustle guy at Portland 
Jaedon LeDee - 6'9 235 4-star player Ohio State & TCU all-academic (Red Shirt)
Demarshay Johnson - 6'10 215, 3-star HS player, raw talent/unproven, dad played professionally (Possible Red Shirt)
Freshman - Che Evans, Keith Dinwiddie and Lamont Butler - will get a full summer in the program, and a year under their belts

In some ways, the Aztecs may have gotten better than last year with this years team. We have more length, height and scoring potential. 

[aztech]

Jun 24, 2021 2:08:18 GMT -8 Gundo said:

Losses:
Matty Mitch - 6'6 240 MWC POY 4 year, SDSU system guy
Jordan Schakel - 6'6  200 4 year, SDSU system guy
Go-Go Gomez - 5'9 160 1,000+ scorer, fish out of water at SDSU

Gains:
Trey Pulliam - 6'3 180 PG returns with more confidence and a 2 years under his belt, proven starter 
Joshua Tomaić - 6'10 235 C returns with actual in game experience, and doubled his output vs Maryland
Matt Bradley - 6'4 220 All Pac-12 player at CAL 
Chad Baker - 6'7 190 A-10 Freshman of the Year at Duquesne 
Tahirou Diabate - 6'9 225 93 NCAA games, 70 starts, hustle guy at Portland 
Jaedon LeDee - 6'9 235 4-star player Ohio State & TCU all-academic (Red Shirt)
Demarshay Johnson - 6'10 215, 3-star HS player, raw talent/unproven, dad played professionally (Possible Red Shirt)
Freshman - Che Evans, Keith Dinwiddie and Lamont Butler - will get a full summer in the program, and a year under their belts

In some ways, the Aztecs may have gotten better than last year with this years team. We have more length, height and scoring potential. 

Lots of very good incoming talent. I do like that they're experienced which should make it easier for the staff to coach them into our system, unlike wide-eyed frosh.

[standiego]

We lost a lot of scoring - when our 3 starters Matt M , Jordan and T -Go graduated - also three point shooting , experience and FT % .

Yes we did get the best transfer - in Matt B but it could take a while for the guys to work together as a unit .

Nevada and CSU both have almost their whole team back . Nevada had great Guards and CSU has Roddy and their Quality guard

. With so many guys back they can already start working on refining their team ,

We may need to do more work on team basketball on both ends of the court - teaching the system with the new guys - and also guys we had last year that will now need to adapt to a starting role

So it may not be a big surprise if either Nevada or CSU is picked ahead of us - Both of their Experienced coaches also did quite well with their teams last year .

Most would put them and the Aztecs as the top tier teams .

[aztecttcas]

Write it in pen that Lamont, Trey, Bradley, and Mensah are the starters.

[sdcoug]

Jun 24, 2021 12:29:23 GMT -8 aztech said:

Jun 24, 2021 2:08:18 GMT -8 Gundo said:

Losses:
Matty Mitch - 6'6 240 MWC POY 4 year, SDSU system guy
Jordan Schakel - 6'6  200 4 year, SDSU system guy
Go-Go Gomez - 5'9 160 1,000+ scorer, fish out of water at SDSU

Gains:
Trey Pulliam - 6'3 180 PG returns with more confidence and a 2 years under his belt, proven starter 
Joshua Tomaić - 6'10 235 C returns with actual in game experience, and doubled his output vs Maryland
Matt Bradley - 6'4 220 All Pac-12 player at CAL 
Chad Baker - 6'7 190 A-10 Freshman of the Year at Duquesne 
Tahirou Diabate - 6'9 225 93 NCAA games, 70 starts, hustle guy at Portland 
Jaedon LeDee - 6'9 235 4-star player Ohio State & TCU all-academic (Red Shirt)
Demarshay Johnson - 6'10 215, 3-star HS player, raw talent/unproven, dad played professionally (Possible Red Shirt)
Freshman - Che Evans, Keith Dinwiddie and Lamont Butler - will get a full summer in the program, and a year under their belts

In some ways, the Aztecs may have gotten better than last year with this years team. We have more length, height and scoring potential. 

Lots of very good incoming talent. I do like that they're experienced which should make it easier for the staff to coach them into our system, unlike wide-eyed frosh.

That's the aspect I think many forget. Tomiac picked up our system very fast because he's been around the block. Bradley & Diabate will pick up our system (on both ends) SIGNIFICANTLY quicker than any of the younger guys, such as Dinwiddie & even Butler last year. It'll take weeks not months not to assimilate into our culture & system. Baker's still relatively young & stepping up in weight so he may take a little more time, but this is a VERY experienced & veteran team. They're not going to need a lot of time to learn to play together. 

I tend to agree with Gundo in that, assuming we're healthy, on paper this team is already better than last year's team, even losing Jordan & Matt (Gomez isn't a big loss at all). Bradley is THAT good. The depth is absolutely insane. UNR are CSU are both going to be very good, but they don't have nearly the depth we do. CSU is 7, maybe 8 deep with guys that can help them. UNR maybe 8 deep. We're 10+ deep with guys who can make a difference. Over the course of a full season that matters.

Lunardi may not always get it right, but he's usually smarter than the average scribe. He has us as the MWC's AQ for a reason. 

[zollner]

Nice to see Duquesne mentioned on this board. My Pops was the 1st basketball All-American from Duquesne. His first year after graduating from Duquesne he won the PA. state high school basketball championship coaching Homestead High School. He also played for the Original New York Celtics. He Won several world championships by winning the Chicago World Tournament, pre NBA. He played for and coached the Ft. Wayne Pistons who would join the NBA when it was formed. There is much more NBA history would go on but don't want to bore people with too much basketball history that is not related to the Aztecs.

[missiontrails]

Jun 25, 2021 9:14:15 GMT -8 zollner said:

Nice to see Duquesne mentioned on this board. My Pops was the 1st basketball All-American from Duquesne. His first year after graduating from Duquesne he won the PA. state high school basketball championship coaching Homestead High School. He also played for the Original New York Celtics. He Won several world championships by winning the Chicago World Tournament, pre NBA. He played for and coached the Ft. Wayne Pistons who would join the NBA when it was formed. There is much more NBA history would go on but don't want to bore people with too much basketball history that is not related to the Aztecs.

Hey, I can't speak for the others, but I like stories like that. Wouldn't bore me at all. And my first memory of Duquesne is that I thought it was pronounced "Du-kes-knee" when I first read the name as a kid. I still couldn't tell you where it's located (tho I DO know how to Google it before any of you smartasses reply)

[missiontrails]

Jun 24, 2021 14:44:04 GMT -8 standiego said:

We lost a lot of scoring - when our 3 starters Matt M , Jordan and T -Go graduated - also three point shooting , experience and FT % .

Yes we did get the best transfer - in Matt B but it could take a while for the guys to work together as a unit .

Nevada and CSU both have almost their whole team back . Nevada had great Guards and CSU has Roddy and their Quality guard

. With so many guys back they can already start working on refining their team ,

We may need to do more work on team basketball on both ends of the court - teaching the system with the new guys - and also guys we had last year that will now need to adapt to a starting role

So it may not be a big surprise if either Nevada or CSU is picked ahead of us - Both of their Experienced coaches also did quite well with their teams last year .

Most would put them and the Aztecs as the top tier teams .

That's what the pundits thought about our team two seasons ago when we had three new transfers in the starting lineup. 30 wins later.....our season was cut short by an annoying pandemic.

[zollner]

Jun 25, 2021 9:14:15 GMT -8 zollner said:

Nice to see Duquesne mentioned on this board. My Pops was the 1st basketball All-American from Duquesne. His first year after graduating from Duquesne he won the PA. state high school basketball championship coaching Homestead High School. He also played for the Original New York Celtics. He Won several world championships by winning the Chicago World Tournament, pre NBA. He played for and coached the Ft. Wayne Pistons who would join the NBA when it was formed. There is much more NBA history would go on but don't want to bore people with too much basketball history that is not related to the Aztecs.

Pittsburgh PA, Nickname is the "Dukes" They use to make a beer named Duquesne along with Iron City. Iron City tasted much like the Monongahela River where all the run off from the steel mills was dumbed. JMO

[zollner]

Jun 25, 2021 9:43:22 GMT -8 missiontrails said:

Jun 25, 2021 9:14:15 GMT -8 zollner said:

Nice to see Duquesne mentioned on this board. My Pops was the 1st basketball All-American from Duquesne. His first year after graduating from Duquesne he won the PA. state high school basketball championship coaching Homestead High School. He also played for the Original New York Celtics. He Won several world championships by winning the Chicago World Tournament, pre NBA. He played for and coached the Ft. Wayne Pistons who would join the NBA when it was formed. There is much more NBA history would go on but don't want to bore people with too much basketball history that is not related to the Aztecs.

Hey, I can't speak for the others, but I like stories like that. Wouldn't bore me at all. And my first memory of Duquesne is that I thought it was pronounced "Du-kes-knee" when I first read the name as a kid. I still couldn't tell you where it's located (tho I DO know how to Google it before any of you smartasses reply)