Noah Boyed Signs with Baylor

McCook Community College’s seven-foot center Noah Boyed signed his national letter of intent Monday and will continue his basketball career next year at Baylor.

Boyed the sophomore from Monchy, St. Lucia, made the announcement Monday at the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center. He thanked Coach Jacob Brandl for giving him the chance to play at McCook and he thanked teammates, friends and several instructors who were on hand for Monday’s announcement, including math instructor Susi Bolt and English instructor, Dr. Cassandra Pfeifer.

“McCook is a part of my life, I’ve been here like, forever,” he said.

Boyed arrived on campus in January of 2021 then redshirted the 2021-2022 season.

“It’s definitely been a journey for Noah from a guy who really hasn’t’ played a lot of basketball ever – to playing basically a year and a half at the college level and then to sign with a pretty historic program like Baylor,” said Brandl. “It is just pretty special.”

Boyed visited Baylor over the weekend and made the decision.

“I just feel like Baylor is the best fit for me,” said Boyed. “I really got good vibes from the coaching staff and the people at Baylor.”

The Bears were pre-season ranked No. 20 in the NCAA preseason poll and have started the season 3-0 with wins against Auburn, John Brown and Gardner-Webb. Baylor is picked to finish fourth in the Big 12, coming off a 23-11 record a year ago and have appeared in the NCAA Tournament eight times in the previous nine years.

“It’s a huge deal for Noah and says a lot about him and his character and for our program as well,” said Brandl.

In addition to the Baylor scholarship offer, Boyed also received offers from Nebraska, Ohio State, Kansas State, Cincinnati, California, and Northern Illinois. He was also recruited by: Kansas, LSU, Florida International, Washington State, and Alabama-Birmingham.

When he arrived in McCook, he admits it took him awhile to adjust to the culture. He spent the summer of 2021 working out and attending various camps including one in Lincoln run by Isaiah Roby, the former Nebraska and NBA player who spent time with Dallas, Oklahoma City, San Antonio and New York.

“Obviously you have plans and dreams, but that didn’t necessarily mean playing Division I,” Boyed said. “But from where I was, I just knew McCook would be a great starting point, would give me some opportunities and get me as far as I could,” he said.

After eight months in McCook, he and Coach Brandl decided Boyed would redshirt. When the other players showed up on campus in the fall of 2021, he said it was an adjustment for Boyed getting used to playing competitively at the college level even if it was just in practice.

“So then my goal was to start as a freshman the following year and my focus was just to keep getting better,” he said. “Just work and go in and do what I have to do.”

He started in 27 of 31 games as a freshman averaging 10.9 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. He shot 56.7 percent from the field. He had 19 games scoring in double figures including eight of his final nine games of the season. He scored a season-high 21 points against then No. 5 College of Southern Idaho on Nov. 25. He also had 14 games of double-digit rebounds with his best coming Feb. 18 at Scottsbluff when he pulled down 18 boards against Western Nebraska.

“He’s come such a long way, we’re obviously extremely proud of him. He’s a unique individual. He’s in the gym every day,” Brandl said. “He asks questions and is very self-aware and he knows what he needs to get better at. He realizes his best basketball is still ahead of him and he works extremely hard – plus he is such a humble guy.”

Boyed led all Region IX south players in rebounding and was fifth in shooting percent. Over his final nine games of the season, he averaged 14.1 points and 10 rebounds per game. For the season he scored 339 points with 263 rebounds and 46 blocked shots. He was named honorable mention for Region IX and tabbed for the all-Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference team.

Over the summer he was named to the FAB 50 list of junior college freshmen through JucoRecruiting.com and also selected to the JUCO Advocate showcase July 7-9 in Houston where he played for a number of coaches and recruiting services.

Brandl said while Boyed was going through the recruiting process, the coach was unaware about all the looks that he was getting and the offers.

“He’s such a humble guy. Most guys would have told everybody or blasted it on social media,” Brandl said. “I finally found out about all the offers when I actually asked him.”

Through four games this season, Boyed is averaging 12.5 points and 5.5 rebounds per game. He is shooting 55.9 percent from the field and 70.6 percent from the free-throw line (He shot 50.4 percent from the line last year). He has scored at least 11 points in three of his four games this year with his high of 18 coming in the opener at Garden City Nov. 1 when he also posted his best rebound numbers of the year with eight.

While the team has started the season 1-3, Boyed said the team is still expecting to win, win the region and go to the national championships.

MCC has just two games left before the holiday break and they are both this week. On Tuesday MCC hosts Dodge City Community College in a men’s only game at 7 p.m. at the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center. On Saturday MCC hosts Northeast Community College (Norfolk) in a men’s only game at 3 p.m.

Up-to-date information about MCC basketball including schedules, statistics, rosters and photos can be found on the MCC Athletics website, www.mccindians.com.