DETROIT — On Sunday morning, before Braedon Bayer replaced Syracuse starting point guard Frank Howard with the season on the line, before he picked up a steal and block in the closing minutes, Greg Bayer sent his son a short text from his Phoenix hotel.
“I texted him the mantra he’s known all year,” Greg Bayer, Braedon’s father, said: “Stay ready.”
“You know I always am,” Braedon texted back.
Around the Syracuse locker room, players and coaches echoed variations of the same phrase: “Stay ready,” for months. Bayer was caught in the in-between, being told his time could come at any moment but rarely seeing it come to fruition.