the leftovers: baylor, betrayal, and beyond

＂A memoir by a former member of the Baylor University men’s basketball team, reflecting back on his love of the sport, years of training, and the team of leftovers that survived a murder and scandal to build a program leading to Baylor’s 2021 NCAA Division I National Championship＂--

Matt Sayman is the head boys’ basketball coach at Grapevine Faith High School in Grapevine, Texas. His teams have become well known for their offensive accomplishments, including leading the nation in three-point field goals made each of the last two years.

Matt was a three-year letterman at The Colony High School in The Colony, Texas, where he played under head coach Tommy Thomas. He was also a two-year Team MVP, elected Honorable Mention All-USA by USA Today, and a McDonald’s All-American nominee as a senior. He was the ninth-ranked recruit in the state by Texas Hoops and also received District 5-5A MVP following a stellar senior season.

Matt received a full athletic scholarship with Baylor University, where he played all four years and broke the Baylor career record for games played (118). He earned his B.A. in communication and media studies, then played professionally in Iceland for a season, winning the Icelandic championship for Njardvik in 2005.

Matt served as director at Point Guard College (PGC Basketball) for six years and is currently director of events for MGBasketball camps.

Matt lives in Keller, Texas, with his wife Jana and their two sons, Landon and Cade.

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David L. Thomas is the author or cowriter of more than a dozen books. He collaborated on two New York Times bestsellers: Wrestling for My Life with Shawn Michaels and Foxcatcher with Mark Schultz. He also cowrote All In with Gene Chizik, a Wall Street Journal national bestseller, and SEAL of God with Chad Williams, with more than 100,000 books in print.

David worked thirty years in sports journalism, beginning at age thirteen as a sportswriter. He spent more than twenty years combined in the national award-winning sports departments of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and The Dallas Morning News, both of which were annually voted among the nation’ top ten sports sections.

A lifelong Texan and graduate of the University of Texas at Arlington, David lives near Fort Worth with his wife Sally. They have two children, Ashlin and Tyson.