Do I hear a collective, “Wheeeeeooooowwwww”. We needed that like Santa needs show for Christmas.
Do I get an AMEN!
Seriously, Pope got creative on this one. And George saves the day. 15 rebounds to go with 13 points.
The other 4 guys in double digits? Guards AB, BA, Harding, Knell
Out senior leadership showed up and the team responded.
No centers were hurt or injured in the making of this production!
It says a lot about where BYU is as a team when Lohner and George are on the floor during crunch time.
BYU absolutely has to make 3s to compete against good teams. BYU @37% and St J @19 %, ballgame.
This was a sound win against a good team. I would define this as a season saving game. Whew.
That USC anomaly was just that. If you look at ESPN’s BPI
BYU was at #23 before the loss and #30 today. That is why everyone was flabbergasted at such a one sided loss. This early season BPI can be construed as a big mistake until you realize that the team in the top 4 BPI per season has won it 10 all out of 12 year.s
I was thinking during the game that Lohner and George need big time minutes from here on out. Lohner will find his shot soon and never look back and I see Knell getting more minutes. Great win against a good St John’s team
When is Lowell going to get his shot? I know Pope is holding him down but after watching Harward play most minutes and giving nothing in return while Lee gets no minutes and Haarms not in in the last 3 minutes, I’m scratching my head.
I’ll give Lohner a few more games but he make way too many mistakes besides poor shooting.
Don’t agree about Lowell-he’s been out too long and probably not in great shape. Hopefully he can contribute in league play. George, ABBA, Haarms, Harding-Lohner, Knell, Harward, Lee, Johnson off the bench. Apparently not going to see much of Erickson
When I first heard about George I figured he was just a guy with some athleticism but very crude. He looks better with each game and is farther along than Lohner at this point. He is going to be very good. As his basketball skills get more refined he is going to be a monster. Lohner probably will be as well. He still plays like a freshman and his shot isn’t falling but he has the athleticism and the body. Knell and Harding both played very well.
I think maybe Haarms was on the bench at the end due to the ankle but I am only speculating.
Good callI agree 100 %. Lohner is a true freshman and defensively, at times, is about a half step late and offensively is just not quite locked in, but his skill set is obvious. The more playing time Knell gets, the better he is getting
Erickson must be dogging it in practice. Lohner hesitates a lot. Lowell has to play more than he is. He’s not ready for 30 minutes but I’d still start him at 4. I don’t see a lot of growth with Harding. George should start in his spot.
Harding played very well yesterday and has lots of experience. George is going to be a big star and real soon. I think more in terms of a 9-10 man rotation the way things are stacking up. The big men who should share minutes are Haarms, Lohner, Harward, Lee & Lowell. Lee has some skills but can’t jump and is slow. I would like to see Lowell take his minutes. The guards should be Barcello, Averette, George, Harding, Knell & Johnson in that order in terms of minutes. Just my thoughts. Erickson, Wade & I think his name is Pearson appear to be garbage time players at this time. I like the fact that 8 guys played lots of minutes yesterday and a couple of others some minutes. That’s about the limit of what you can do in a close game. If there are injuries to the bigs Lee can slide into the rotation without hurting things too much.
What little I have seen of Lowell I like the way he moves and shoots for a guy that is 6’10". He may still be recovering somewhat from the labrum tear. I was surprised to see him ready to play at the beginning of the season.
Lowell is being held out because of the decision not to rush return missionaries into lots of minutes.
Harward gives us no offense. I would like to see the starters Haarms, Lowell, George, AB and BA. Although BA needs to stop his Curly Neil Marcus Hanes dribbling.
Off the Bench, Lee for Haarms, Harward for Lowell, Harding for George. Johnson for a guard rotation.
Harding looks slower hesitant and not the player everyone said would be the star.
In the second half I watched BA commit two silly reaching fouls on ONE possession and head to the bench with foul trouble for at least the 3rd time this season. Then, in the last two minutes I watched BA commit terrible back to back completely unforced turnovers, miss 2 FT, and thought: “YIKES! This guy is a senior and was an all conference caliber player last year in a decent league.” If we are going to be an above average team we are going to need steadier and more impactful play from BA. (He did ice the game with a 3 from the corner–not being too hard on him, because BA is a stand up dude and would 100% agree with what I just wrote).
The first time I saw George’s Juco highlights, I thought “WOWEE! Jumps like Mike Hall but 3 inches taller…jumps like Josh Sharp but not a stickman…Best size/athleticism combo at BYU since…EVER???” What I didn’t see coming was the smooth midrange jumper and a deadeye FT shooter. Since it appears this team is in dire need of both a midrange scorer AND someone to knock down FT, I guess I’m Team Gideon!!!
PS: Another non-LDS recruit from Coach Rose who loves BYU, loves the standards, and loves his teammates. GO POPE!!!
I re-watched the St Johns game and Lohner sure makes some bonehead decisions out there. He is a athletic freak who is thrust into the spotlight but dang, kid, learn from those mistakes. One thing that drives me nuts is when he just jogs down court on a break. Go watch old Karl Malone footage, he was always there and created more dunk opps then any off ball guy I know.
George just pops to me. big heart
I’m also enjoying Knell out there
As Tom pointed out, Averette is making way too many mistakes for a transfer Sr. He has to be way better.
I like Johnson a lot but he is caught behind better players right now.
I also would like to see more of Lee and less of Haward, Just Lee at this time is more complete and knows how to score.
Agree with the assessment except for Erickson, his upside is high. He is simple riding pine because he is a true Fr and we have 4 better guards ahead of him. I had thought he would come in and spell Averette but it makes sense that Pope prefers to run Barcello at the point and bring in Knell at the 2. Everyone else out there is a veteran with Lohner the one exception. Consider Wasatch Academy a Jr College as they are a D1 farm team as they only play one game a year here in the Utah HS circuit, the rest are highly rated Indy teams.
I see the same thing as you with Lohner, but he has 5 games under his belt in collegiate ball and I just can’t look past the potential and I just feel this year is going to lead to big time dividends for the next 3 years. I guess in the end-I trust Pope to do the best for the team and for Lohner. Excited for USU and BSU
Lohner is elite athletically—great combination of hops and strength. He is truly tossing up bricks and looking confused/lethargic at times but I agree with you about trusting Coach Pope. I can’t imagine a better coach in all of D1 to develop a 6’8” muscle bound jumping Jack athletic freak.
How many of the players also carry? I am a 0- blood type, Os are just about Covid resistant or they are asymtimatic. would this be a case where we play them and come down with a bunch of cases? Odds are that the kids that have it will be tested before Saturday’s game.
Ok-maybe not so excited! I’m just hoping for a few games where BYU can get in sync and gain confidence going into league play. I tuned in to watch the last half of the West Virginia/Gonzaga game and was amazed at how good those two teams looked. Even with Suggs having a bad ankle, Gonzaga survived against a long, athletic, decent shooting West Virginia
We are years away from beating Gonzaga again. They have players on the bench that are better then ours. But I love our team and am excited to see how they gel.
Agree–both about GU and about loving what is happening with BYU BB. Mark Few may be the best basketball coach on the planet at any level. Mad, mad, MAD respect to Coach Few!!! But I predict that 10 years from now Coach Pope will either be A) the best coach in BYU history or B) making 5 times the money at KU and I will be crying for the one that got away . Beating GU last year was well earned–we had an epic senior class and the best and most talented BYU team in 10 years. The problem is that GU has that talent EVERY year :-). We can enjoy the memory of that last game vs GU last year while Pope retools this program into a consistent big-time winner.
. Beating GU last year was well earned–we had an epic senior class and the best and most talented BYU team in 10 years. The problem is that GU has that talent EVERY year :-). We can enjoy the memory of that last game vs GU last year while Pope retools this program into a consistent big-time winner.