Baylor Basketball: Quincy Acy Is the Bears' Most Underrated Player

As much fun as the NCAA tournament is, it is never comforting to watch the seniors for the losing team take one last spot on the bench.

A few cover their heads in towels, hoping that they could have one more game in their beloved uniform. Others are unable to hold back tears and the thoughts of what could have been. Some just simply stare with a deadlocked expression into the stands, creating fodder for the television broadcast.

With Baylor’s loss to Kentucky in last weekend’s Elite Eight game, the Bears’ group of three seniors was suddenly faced with the reality of never donning a Baylor uniform again. The most unfortunate aspect of that is that, in the four years that one man played for the Bears, he never got the recognition that he deserved.

For those that do not know of one of Baylor’s most beloved basketball players, the fact that he had more dunks than field goals for a majority of his career may sound like a description of a dominating center. That inference is only affirmed once one sees the tape of those monstrous dunks that he threw down on a daily basis.

The reality is that Quincy Acy is not a 6’10’’ giant who can get to the basket with ease; he is a 6’7’’, 235 lbs. small(ish) forward with the heart of a champion and the motor of a high-end sports car. Yet, with all of the misdirected criticism of teammate Perry Jones III in the past two years, Acy has gone relatively unnoticed.

“He’s a cage-rattler. We knew that. …I never saw him hit a 15-foot jump shot, and he does that in the first four minutes of the game,” said Xavier head coach Chris Mack after the Musketeers' loss in the round of 16, via the Associated Press.

He was not a highly touted player coming out of high school, earning only a 62 rating according to ESPN recruiting analysis. However, it seems as though the scouting report filed on June 25, 2008 was prophetic in nature. “He has the potential to be an excellent player with skill development,” wrote the ESPN analyst, and that statement was spot on.

Taking a look at statistics only, Acy steadily increased his points and rebounds per game as he saw more playing time on the court. He went from 5.4 points and 3.6 rebounds a game his freshman year to 12.4 points and 7.6 rebounds in his junior year.

Now, take a look at that in perspective. Surrounded by players such as Ekpe Udoh, who now plays for the Milwaukee Bucks, LaceDarius Dunn, who averaged almost 20 points per game over a 36-game span, and Perry Jones III, who is projected to be a lottery pick in the upcoming NBA draft, Quincy Acy never had the national spotlight on him or carried the role of star player.

Yet, it did not matter to him that other players were receiving more attention than he was. All that mattered was what he could do for his team.

At the times when the Baylor Bears lacked leadership this season, it was Quincy Acy, the battle-tested senior, who stood up and took charge of his team. Watch a replay of any Baylor tournament game and one will see just how strong of an impact Acy and his attitude had on his teammates.

He never took his eyes off of the team’s goal and, after becoming the go-to guy in post-game press conferences, was never afraid to hand out compliments to his teammates. “I think I got a little of that magic from him,” Acy said after being asked how he “picked up the slack” for the sniper Brady Heslip in Baylor’s win against Xavier.

The career of Quincy Acy has not been overtly storybook as some might say, but one thing is for certain: Baylor Nation will sorely miss the irreplaceable attitude, play and work ethic of the senior forward from nearby Mesquite, Texas, even if the rims in the Ferrell Center will not.

The good news for Baylor fans is that this will probably not be the last time Quincy Acy takes to the basketball court. Chad Ford wrote in Acy’s NBA draft report that there are quite a few NBA scouts interested in him and see him as a late first-round pick.

The man named the Big 12’s 2011 Best Athlete by Sporting News even has his own catchphrase, “Fear the beard,” in reference to his rather impressive facial hair that has become a moniker at Baylor basketball games. Yet, no matter how intense or scary Quincy Acy might look in pictures, he is not one to fear off the court.

Baylor head coach Scott Drew put it best when he said, “Baylor fans have been blessed, the nation’s been blessed, and [Acy] is a better person than a player.”