The difference is that Jim is really observant and smart about sports!
Yes he is. But, he develops conclusions based more on emotional content than facts. This unfortunately develops into conspiracies. I generally stay away from that.
Harding just said all the coaches and players knew they would need Baxter to be successful. But not Baxter in the beginning. He said also Baxter has gotten comfortable with the game. It just took awhile. That Baxter would eventually come around. In other words he was not ready for prime time.
I’m curious to hear what Jim says about this. I predict the word “nonsense” is used at least once.
Along with 1 000 other words of emotional content using no one in the know. I’m using Baxter’s words along with Rose and other players.
Stop overstating his contributions. He made a couple plays, that was it. Relative to his ability they were good plays but overall his play is not a benefit to the team, it is more detrimental than anything else. If you think BYU is a better team when he is in the game then you don’t know anything about basketball.
So… there ya go.
Those points, rebounds and diving to the floor to secure possession were at the time when PAC was neck and neck with us. They were huge plays. Give him credit when credit is due.
I give Luke credit as he played well down the stretch. The poor guy is so flat-footed that with many of his lay-ups and short shots, he lunges so much that he frequently ends up on the front row after he shoots. He can’t go over the defense so he has to try to lunge around it.
This actually has me laughing out loud at 10:49pm 
Baxter not ready for “prime time,” as opposed to which other guys getting his minutes? Worthington and Nixon, who were sooooo obviously ready for “prime time” this year 
This whole Baxter vs The Bigs Who Can’t Jump “debate” has become a comedy for me–and not just on this board. I am pretty close to some people who are pretty influential–and in a position to know where all the bodies are buried-- and I’ll just say that they have been just as confused as I have been all season. It’s fun to spar back and forth on the board, but I think we have about 95% agreement among smart hoops guys on this board that Rose just totally, completely, hopelessly blew it, and almost made Baxter follow Chatman, FB4, and Jashire out the door. And don’t even get me started on what THOSE 4 guys have in common, because I WILL NOT go there on this board.
I have chosen to ignore Hopper through the years just because he chooses to argue every post, no matter how researched the info is. It’s like he is on an eternal debate team.
Jim gets away with calling him out because from what I gather, they watch games together, Hopper does not connect that we all on this board have not met him and he tries to apply the same banter that he and Jim share. Go Baxter
I’ll have to admit I don’t get the guys who can’t jump. When I was in college I could at least put my wrist on the rim and I’m 5’ 8".
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Ok interesting comments and I have followed this board a long time and my Son (Sundance)gets involved occasionally. I have listened to Hopper a long time and he isn’t the total doof he appears to be and actually sees some good things. I think in his case, he hates to criticize anything about BYU coaches because of the ecclesiastical angle-like criticism of the prophet. The rest of us don’t have a problem with this and don’t have a problem with calling a spade a spade in sports. I’m going out on a limb here, but I don’t think Rose deals well with African-American athletes. Maybe it goes back to his Houston days. A lot of transfers from AA athletes in the last 5 years. Also his judge of talent is somewhat lacking. Hopper uses the excuse that they just weren’t ready yet, but Dastrup, and Baxter were more ready from the beginning than Worthington ever was. How many minutes did Nixon get the first part of the year? How about now? Where could these minutes been better allocated? I’m not a big Seljaas fan. He is an asset when he is hitting his shot, but how often is that? He is a defensive liability, not because he doesn’t try, but because he is usually playing on the front line and it’s a tough place for him. Harding is a much better fit than Zach and he’s just a freshman. I like Emery, he hustles, has a good shot, but on a team Chatman is a better choice in a number of ways, just like FB4 would have been a better choice than a number of players. Finally, give Few the players that Rose has recruited in the last five years and IMO you see a totally different outcome, with possibly Childs, Mika, Haws, Chatman, Dastrup, Emery all playing and all better team players. Hypothetical I admit, but not a bad thought. Few didn’t have the athletes years ago that he does today. He generally had one white kid that could shoot lights out with four other slow kids that could shoot and move the ball around. Gonzaga developed talent and through the success of the program been able to recruit better athletes which leads to better defense. It’s a good plan for BYU to try and develop and it might start with a guy like Mark Pope
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Actually we watch football games together on occasion. I think we may have watched a basketball game but I don’t remember specifically. Hopper has a son who lives about a mile from me. He does know some things about basketball but certainly has a penchant for wanting to argue every little thing and because of that and his stubborness is not able to see the reality of what is going on sometimes and change his opinions. Yes, he defends Rose on everything even though it is obvious Rose has made some really poor decisions over the years, ironically because of his own stubborness and inability to change.
The team is doing better than I anticipated they would but certainly not as well as they could have, which is what we always talk about and lament over every season. The little things seem so obvious and we talk about them extensively before they happen. I don’t know why the coach is so slow to do things, to the point of losing players, but it has to be because of his stubborn ways. It has kept him from becoming a great coach. Though he has a good record is a good coach, just not great.
You don’t remember what Dastrup looked like when he came off his mission 50 pounds overweight. No, he wasn’t ready and he didn’t work hard to lose the weight either. He was also lost when he got into games. So, he wasn’t working hard enough in practice.
Just because you think someone has greater upside potential doesn’t mean he should be in the game. You’re too hung up on the concept of development that you forget the job is to win every game. Dastrup and Baxter have more talent than Worthington but we’re unable to use it early on after coming back from their missions. This meant that their playing time had to be lessened. Had Dastrup stayed around he may have been starting this season.
No what I’m saying is they both had more upside than Worthington at his best, at least for Dastrup in his 2nd year and Baxter from the start and the way things developed, Nixons minutes were wasted minutes, even though he has a lot of heart-he very seldom sees the floor anymore
Hmmmmmmm……Winning with Worthington, sounds like a run for office.
Wait a minute, Worthington plays good defense? A-Nope
Worthington makes good decisions out there? A-Nope
Worthington has a good FT %? A-Nope
Worthington can hit a 3? Who knows, has he ever shot one.
Worthington can dunk? Hmmm 4 years and counting.
So why does he play? Only Coach Rose knows and Coach Hopper knows. Would I keep him on the team? A-Yes but only to spell the starters and only for 6 minutes a game broken into 2 or 3 stints.
Worthington has been so oderisiously bad that BYU had to go with 4 guards and Childs most of the season. And Baxter has been soo good these past 3 games that we all scratch our heads in amazement that Rose took soo long to play him.
Nixon has gone backwards. But, a couple of years ago he looked pretty good. Nobody has a seer stone for that. The first year for Dastrup he was fat and slow. And he didn’t look like he was trying to do anything about it. He lost weight and got better. I agree he should have gotten more playing time. Baxter got playing time early but looked completely lost and so Rose couldn’t put him in. He and Baxter waited until he could do it in practice. I’m fine with that.
I am the grasshopper and I will defend the coach and his inexplicable decisions to the death!!!
Grasshopper is actually wearing a disguise and he is none other than Billy Rose, Dave Rose’s totally anonymous older brother who is living in hiding in the Witness Protection Program somewhere in the world. He eats food storage and wild bees and honey and only has access to a computer and his only contact with the real world is via Cougarfan and his TV.
Careful, you’re going to blow his cover.
It’s okay. But really, if it weren’t for Rose playing Luke early on and getting him playing time, he would not have been able to come off the bench the last 2 games and made those crucial and key offensive and defensive plays to help win the game because Baxter fouled out or just looked lost again. Great job coaching Rose