BYU Basketball, one month in.....where we stand

Basketball
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6-0 and rankings all over the place.
Ken Pom #10
T-rank #21 T-Rank - Customizable College Basketball Tempo Free Stats - T-Rank (barttorvik.com)
AP #21
Coaches #21
Bracketology, Lunardi, 8 seed
Bracketology, Andy Katz, 6 seed

Before the season, most ratings had BYU almost dead last in the Big 12, #13 of 14 teams. For the record, I had BYU middle of the Big 12 pack and a dance invite, just on our core group of players.
Today, national ratings have “woken up” to BYU’s record and the way we beat 2 P5’s in Vegas and the dismantling of ASU.

Am I comfortable with a #19 ranking? Nope. We still have aways to go at the point. Hall is raw but we see glimpses of his talent, so the point is run by committee. The plus side is just how Stewart has grown up from last year into a solid #2 point. he looks like he is having a ton of fun out there, surrounded by a bunch of utility players.

There are two aspects of a great team that BYU is still missing, 1- a rock solid floor general, weirdly BYU has several shooting guards as the main leaders. Johnson and believe it or not, Knell (go back and look at our last few games and tell me Knell is not a leader out there). 2- We can’t drive to the hoop to save us and THAT is a big problem when our shots don’t fall. Gonzaga became a perennial top 10 team with their philosophy of “Drive to Dish”. BYU’s character is more of “Pass around to find the open 3”. It has worked very well so far but then, We have played undisciplined teams (SDSU is very disciplined but we caught them young)

Our other challenge is at Center. With Foos hammy, we don’t know when he can go. Khalifa is about 80% and Atiki continues to play inconsistent, so that is a potential challenge.

Our NC St game exposed a lot of things to work on. Their press caused several turnovers.
1- Hall’s 4 TOs are unacceptable.
2- BYU had 3 assists in the first half and 30something points, 2nd half- 57 points and 20 total assists so we have to get off to a good start

Our win also show cased what we do best.
1- our rebounding is OFF the Charts good
2- sharing the ball, as an example, Robinson had a game PB 23 points but he also had 3 assists, Waterman-15 pts and a whooping 6 assists. Khalifa, 9 total boards and 4 assists in his 1st real BYU game against a beast of a man, Burns Jr., all 6’9 and 275 lbs ( really we are going with 275??? try well over 300 lbs of beast man with a soft touch). Pope was genius to double him throughout the game as he and Morsell (who I think is an NBA talent) were real challenges out there.

Do I think BYU is top 25? It really depends on if BYU can keep our big men healthy. Do I think we can dance? Absolutely.

Is the future bright for BYU? one word…Chandler.

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Right now, the only concern is Foos hamstring. The press was finally broken and we hit a bunch of 3’s off it and made them stop doing it. We should be ready for it with Fresno. Everyone is overlooking Fresno. Are they that bad?

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Future:
Collin Chandler- 5 star 6’4" combo guard, top 40 national recruit.
Brooks Bahr 4 star 6’4" combo guard
Isaac Davis 4 star 6’7" power forward, with emphasis on “power.” He is an absolute UNIT. Think Fouss with a better vert and wildly more mobile. Nice midrange jumper. He will only get stronger with D1 weights and conditioning and can be a super dominant player.

All 3 of these guys are solid LDS kids. Chandler comes off his mission this coming spring. I think Bahr is mission first and I think Davis is gonna play right away, but I might have those two mixed up.

There are many reasons Fish and I were screaming from the rooftops for BYU to hire Pope away from UVU before he took SEC or ACC money. He could lead us into the power conference hoops promised land.

2 Likes
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What land are you referring to?

If he gets back in time for the conference…I am not that concerned…but his absence will make a plus as long as he comes back healthy…he is going to take a beating…the longer he is off the stronger he will be when he gets back…and the better for the team…depth and quality will improve with his return.

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In the Fresno game, Hall had 0 turnovers, played a smart game

BYU assists 66% of the time, ytd. #9 in the nation.

We did a lot of things right in the Fresno game hitting our long shots on a neutral court, continued outrebounding the other team. and turning them over.

BYU acted like a top 20 team in last night. We played so well that Ken Pom bumped us all the way up to #6 (means nothing to me because when BYU runs into teams like Kansas or Texas, their bench players are much more athletic and they can “turn it on” just like downing a pizza) but it still means that BYU is doing a LOT of things right.
Watching, anticipating.

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On Channel 2 Sports they interviewed Johnson after the game.
What he basically said that last year, most of the team really didn’t know each other. But after spending the summer and fall camp together, they have learned where players are going to be, how the ball is going to be passed and where the other players like the ball.

He ended up saying “it has been a lot of fun so far with this team, we all get along and like each other, makes for some basketball”. Paraphrasing here.

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Perfect sense. There are no entitled players on this team. No one has a greener light than another (although, when Robinson got hot, he demanded the ball and everyone obliged). You get maybe one or two games a season like Robinson’s where you know the ball is going to fall no matter what you do, so you got to feed the beast.

Not a lot of teams would of hung with BYU last night. They were on Flame mode and poor FSU could not buy a layup. Enjoy because we will be on the other end of the shoe in a game or two in the Big 12

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My question is why can’t Pope recruit a legit Center (around 7 ft)? Seems Utah brings in guys all the time, but Pope likes the small ball. Not sure what he sees or doesn’t see.

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Matt Haarms and Atiki? Burgess is now up on the hill…my impression is he was the key big man recruiter.

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Players have to want to be at BYU with extra stuff like the HC.

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I’m talking about Pope. A college hoops team needs a great coach with time to build a program and a rep as a consistent winner to continue to recruit at a high level. Coach Pope Just in the last two years:
Jaxson Robinson top 50 national HS player.
Collins Chandler top 50.
Isaac Davis top 100.
Brooks Bahr top 100.
That’s 2 top 50 and 2 top 100 National HS players signed in TWO YEARS. And two from Texas, where the talent pool is big and deep. That’s the type of recruiting that takes a good but not great team to the next level and the “promised land,” meaning Dancing EVERY year and occasionally threatening for a final 4.

1 Like
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a great read by Robby McCombs on BYU
Buy, Sell, Hold: Answering BYU Basketball Questions (msn.com)

Buy Sell or Hold on BYU.
He gets very specific on why he thinks BYU is a Dance team.
How BYU will fair in the Big 12
What BYU’s strengths and weaknesses are.
Why Ratings don’t mean much until you’ve played someone.