Feel bad for Pope? Why? It was clear both losses are on the coaching. It was the first time we saw poor decisions with coaching.
Lohner played only 20 minutes Saturday. George’s problem is fouls. If he starts, which he did early on, he got into foul trouble. Some players do better off the bench. I think Lohner would do better off the bench as well. Knell too. and, that’s our problem. Not enough potential starters. But this doesn’t change the fact with decisions at the end of both games.
SCU is a decent team and SF barely edged them out in SF. Lucas made a bad decision on the pass or George went the wrong way. Barcello got bumped, which in Provo may have been a foul. Johnson, supposedly a good shooter, bricked the foul shot. No where do I blame Pope, for players failing to execute. Against Pacific, BYU look sluggish and unsure of themselves. Pope must have lit a fire under them at the end of the game as they came out full court and created TO’s and had a chance to tie or win, but again, they ran a weave trying to get Barcello the ball and he gets tied up and they lose the ball-end of game-failure to execute-if players execute we are saying what a good job Pope did
I blame pope for allowing Williams to catch the ball unabraded, drive the length of the floor and score lay ups, not once but twice. Where was a simple double team to force the pass to a different player?
This is NOT woulda coulda shoulda…this is coaching 101. Come on, Man
I did not watch the Pacific game, just looked at the box score to rip on Lohner and Knell. Sorry if I offend anyone. BYU is in a world of hurt and it isn’t Traore, Barcello or Lucas
Yeh I agree with the poor defense on Williams-whether they played it like Pope drew it up-I have no idea. Should have doubled Williams and prevented him from getting the ball . I couldn’t continue to watch the Pacific débâcle-had to watch the Warriors/Nets and the Zags/Pilots. No heart in the Pacific game. Caught the last 4 minutes of Pacific
Lohner played a good game other than his continued poor shooting. Pope benched him for taking a couple of shots where he could have driven to the basket. And a couple of hero ball plays. But, I totally agree with you about not making it difficult to dribble 60 feet to get that shot off in 6.5 seconds. Pope doesn’t like pressing full court. Yet, it really made a difference in the last 2 minutes of the Pacific game. It’s obvious that we are not as active on defense like we had been. To get them going full court presses can help.
after the 2 losses, BYU fell from 25 all the way to #47. There is a fire in the hay barn.
And the freefall continues.
Never seen a team fall to fast. Have no idea how to fix it. Bleeding everywhere
Just like how BYU football finished their bowl game last December.
BYU basketball team quit except Alex Barcello. Oh well hopefully next season will be better. I know we got One more year to put up with this WCC nonsense before we move on to B12 League.
Yeah, but what is going to happen during B12. . . . klunk!
Quit? Didn’t see that. I see poor fundamentals with passing, dribbling and shooting. Other teams are fundamentally improved from early on. Not BYU. It’s one thing to have more talent. But, fundamentals still have to be improved forever. There was like 12 steals and most from poor passing and dribbling steals.
Don’t think think they are quitters. They blew the game against Santa Clara and were in a funk against Pacific and didn’t wake up until it was too late. Now I think they have lost their confidence and focus. Most of the problems at this point are psychological.
I would suggest a sports psychologist but I’ve beaten that one to death. Does anyone know if the BYU athletic program has a sports psychologist on staff? This is a real question. If not, then they need to seriously consider hiring someone or at least have some graduate students do some kind of internship.
Yea they do
Spot on. Losing our two bigs put the onus on Fouss, Atiki and Lohner to raise their game as the only guys on the roster over 6’6". Fouss has been great overall but we see his limitations. Atiki has made great progress but is still a babe in the woods. Lohner–highly recruited and a former scoring star against high end competition in HS–well, I have no words to describe his play. Incredible guard play and smoke and mirrors was keeping us relevant, but you are right–it’s mental. We COMPLETELY CHOKED against SC. That put a crack in the dam of confidence. The Pacific game–getting beaten, and dominated for 38 minutes by one of the worst teams in the country–blew the dam wide open. Getting killed by USF and GU was simply the result of a team that now questions everything about itself and believes it was never really very good in the first place…
I agree with a lot of what you say. Mark Durant pointed out that teams figured out how to stop the weave and our flow by immediately doubling Barcello when he gets the ball. Coaches failed to put in new plays to counter this. Time to play inside out.
Fundamentals on passing and dribbling haven’t improved while defenses against us have. Change up the offense and get better angles for passing. Then, perfect technique when passing and we will get more points.
Defense has been worse as time goes on. The effort has to be better on defense. That’s how we were winning most games.
And just like that BYU is back on the bubble
BYU basketball: What Cougars must do to lock up at-large bid to NCAAs - Deseret
Win Friday and BYU is in. Beat SF and BYU is moved up to a 9 seed. I really can’t believe I am back here posting that BYU will dance. But I am
I know it was Pacific but LMU shot lights out and the two guards were unstoppable and hot. We need to be ready and play massive defense. Anyone know if knight is healthy and playing tomorrow?
Seriously? I don’t believe it. I think they have a really good chance if they can beat USF but no way beating LMU in the tourney gets them a ticket to the ncaa tournament.
Where are you seeing that fish?