Back to the Future: The Reinvention of Saint Mary's and Baylor

If there were a takeaway from the early days of this 2026-27 college basketball season, it would be that sometimes you can teach an old dog new tricks. Here at Basket Under Review, we have already covered the new Illinois offense, and Houston stunningly playing some drop coverage in stretches in early games.

Honestly, the examples of teams tweaking things are pretty endless. Louisville has 90 paint points and 66 points from deep after scoring over 41% of its points from 3-point range last year. Houston and UConn have unusually high transition rates, and the Huskies' national title contest against Michigan was 10 possessions faster than last year's matchup. West Virginia is 147th in offensive possession length after head coach Ross Hodge previously had only bottom-25 units in that statistic throughout his career.

Yes, a lot of this data is because of some low-leverage buy games that let these coaches try new things. UConn won't be running like Alabama, and better rim protection will push Louisville to revert somewhat to its 3-point-happy ways. But a lot of this data is not nothing. Teams are constantly evolving to find new edges in their playstyle.

However, a couple of programs are actually re-evolving. Both have been consistent winners over many years and have gone back to some old tricks to try to find a new spark in 2026. And that's pretty fascinating in its own right. Let's dive into these re-engineered groups.

Saint Mary's

From 2008 to the start of this season, Saint Mary's has attempted at least 30 threes and made at least 13 of them just 23 times, or just over once per year. The Gaels have now hit both marks in back-to-back games. Their 20 threes made against North Dakota State last week was a new program record, and their 35 threes attempted against Nevada the next game is tied for the third-most the program has ever had.