I agree with Jim on this issue. Rose has a long track record of not giving playing time to those bench players who have more upside than his regulars and then we see those players exit the program. It is no secret that Rose is feeling the heat of losing players, lack of good recruiting, and losing. He is also getting no help … from his assembled coaching staff of telling him what he needs to hear. They have no experience except coaching under Rose. Baxter and Harding and Colby should have been playing more the whole season. Baxter wasn’t ready to play against the bad teams at the first of the schedule but he is now against LMU and GU??? Garbage!! How did he get ready … playing against Worthington in practice … or coached up by our experienced staff?? Totall garbage! He only needed to have game experience and allowed to find his own way on the court. He needed minutes and confidence. He finally got them after Rose got exposed by GU for playing the stiff, Worthington … who will be coaching this team next year!!! Another really bad decision by Rose.
Hopper, you were saying that Mangum was the best QB and Wilson wasn’t as good! If it was up to you … Tanner would have played the whole year as the starter. Unfortunately, Grimes probably thought the same thing and until Sitake started coming under fire, he decided to make the change. If Wilson had started the whole year BYU would have won at least 2 more games. 9-4 would have been just fine. Come on … you are being more exposed as a non qualified commenter on all things athletic at BYU or anywhere else … the more you talk about football and Wilson and Roses basketball follies.
But Thawk, Gbax told the media he wasn’t ready earlier in the season and that the game has slowed down for him recently. So it was smart of Rose to not play him earlier. You see, you actually get ready by sitting on the bench and listening to the wise words of the Grasshopper as he whispers in your ear in the Marriott Center, “You are not ready, my son.”
You have no clue for athletes and sports. It’s a good thing you and your clammering clam klans don’t coach at BYU nor anywhere else. And, I hope the powers to be don’t knuckle under to the pressure of the same thinking alumni funders.
You put players on the floor that can run the offense and defense without hesitating where they are supposed to be. By his own admission, Baxter said he wasn’t able to do that until recently. Worthington could.
But, here’s the real truth. Had he been forced to play unprepared, he would have mentally caved. Go back and watch some of the old games. You will see him in the wrong spots giving up easy baskets. Then, going to the bench he was hanging his head. You don’t put players in to fail. That destroys their confidence. Baxter has also mentioned how his confidence in practice has grown and transferred to the game now.
I know ignorance is bliss. But please leave the coaching and the playing to the coaches and players.
Hawk:
Ready=6’9”, 40 inch vert, 7’3” wingspan, second fastest runner on the team, and a good ball handler and outside shooter. That’s all the “ready” you need to start or at the very least get major minutes from DAY ONE at Duke or NC or at any other real program.
BYU hardly ever gets a kid like this.
Dave Rose played with Clyde the Glide, for %#%£€ sake!! Now he recruits a kid with the same measurables and sits him for 20 games? Haha pure genius.
Read my statements above. You fit the clammering clam klan. Haven’t a clue. Not everyone is ready to use their talent after not playing for 2 years. Dastrup wasn’t ready either. In Dastrup’s case, Rose did wait too long to play him more minutes. And then tell him he won’t be needed because Mika was going to play his minutes. Then Mika bolted to Italy where it didn’t work out. Baxter is a completely different situation.
There are so many holes in your theory grasshopper it isn’t even worth exposing.
Worthington has never been ready. Let’s go back and watch some film together and I will dissect and destroy any notion you have that he was ready. Baxter had all the tools and honestly, you need to lose the whole “ready or not” mantra. He was ready by virtue of his skill set being so much higher than Luke’s… end of discussion.
Do you know why some programs are just really good year in and year out? Because the coaches can evaluate talent and they play that talent into readiness. What is your take on Harding? I guess he was “ready”? Well, where is that readiness now? You see, there are so many variables involved that your comments are meaningless. You have to go with the talent and get it as many minutes as possible as soon as possible. Our coaching staff doesn’t do that and it ruins every season. Are you sick of BYU going to the NIT consistently yet? I am.
You are a coach from the peach basket days of the game…
Baxter said everything that was politically correct in his interview. Was he supposed to say that he thinks he should have played more?? With Worthington playing against the terrible teams we lost against at the beginning of the year … why not lose with the kid that has 10 times the upside of Worthington?? Good coaches would do that! Good players will adjust their game and figure it out. Did Baxter suddenly learn to dunk and jump? Listen, if BYU and it’s season starting “starters” were great on defense … I could see about 15% of your theory hopper. They were terrible and Baxter May have been just as bad on defense but he will just accidentally block 2 more shots a game than Child’s or Nixon or Worthington. He will also just accidentally get 4 more dunks than anyone but Child’s … he should have played. Wilson should have started the season and despite my complaining about that decision from before the first football game of the year … you stubbornly wanted Tanner to be the QB for the whole season. Who thinks Tanner should have played at all now?? Wilson is a probable All-American and he would have started at many schools who finished higher than BYU. The sooner our BYU coaches in the major sports realize that freshman can be better than older players … just like other top rated programs around the country … the better off we will be. Can you imagine if the freshman in the soccer, Womens VB, men’s VB, both track teams … the list goes on … weren’t allowed to start or play big time minutes … how that would impact those much higher rated programs?? Top 10 ranked teams at BYU are filled with freshman who are allowed to play and get experience from day one. Not Rose … I have a feeling Sitake has caught on.
Doesn’t matter if he had all the tools two years ago. He hadn’t played or thought about it for two years. Then, he had to get back into shape. Get his balance, quickness, jumping and shooting back. And he was slow to pick up the offense and defense. Happens to most returnees.
Then, there are the facts he and coach have said. You have nothing except your desire to argue 
Well, even if he was only half “ready” why hold him out until he was ready enough to have 4 blocks and 25 pts and shoot 2/2 from 3 pint land?? A half “ready” Baxter was about 2.5 times more efficient than Worthington.
Funny one Larimer!!
Grasshopper, you can argue your perspective but you can’t argue thawk’s logic and reasoning.
Game, set and match. You got owned.
It is a bit ironic that Hopper is questioning the coaches and Dr’s on the Wilson operation since he never questions them on issues that he should … but stops on a medical issue where Wilson has said that it bothered him for 2 years. Hopper believes Baxter that he didn’t want to play or wasn’t ready … but won’t believe Wilson. Hopper needs to see a medical professional and who might be able to give him a read on himself.! 
And tonight he has 5 points. What happened? If you can’t understand then you are in the right profession and should stay out of coaching.
No one said I didn’t believe Wilson. I said it must not have bothered him all that much the way he was playing. Baxter is entirely different situation. Baxter hadn’t played for 2 years. Are you saying that there is no such thing as mission rust? He knew he wasn’t ready and playing would have hurt the team this year up until just recently. Wilson’s surgery won’t hurt the team this year. Apples and oranges.
He clearly wasn’t ready and they brought him in way too soon this season. I think he should go back to the bench and Luke W. should be starting again because after last nights game, Luke is clearly the more ready player. Hahahahahaha
………foul out in less then 2 minutes. And that’s the REAL truth right there
Oh boy we are wasting our time on educating you. None of the starters had more than 28 min in this blowout. Baxter only had 21. He did have 5 pts which was 2 more than Worthington. Bax had 7 rebounds which was 6 more than Worthington and a block which is more than anyone else on the team. He also opened up Child’s by keeping double teams off him which Worthington can’t do. Advantage Baxter again … should have played from the beginning!!
If we only had Dastrup, Toolson, Chatman and Mika still on this team … without Rose … sweet 16 or better!
Preach baby! Reality is…that Worthington has not regressed as some would point out, Baxter is just running away with his talent…When guys get swatted on ESPN, they re-evaluate. How many guys are not diving now that Baxt will posturize them? I know with Luke, everyone would be licking their lips, goin, Oh yeah…reminds me of a scene from “Waterboy”, you all know it.
I am actually jacked up that BYU is playing well enough to win a few games. This season is very interesting all of the sudden.