First words out of Blaine Fowlers’ mouth tonight.
Is this a comedy routine or what?
So I’m sure the Cougars are really going to have a struggle against Weber State tonight and if they can somehow pull out the win it will help a lot when the selection committee makes their picks this season. Could be a signature win on the tourney resume’. 
Also, there is another topic that the announcers just can’t seem to stop talking about… BYU’s lack of experience and how “young” the team is. They talk about it when the Cougars aren’t playing particularly well during the game, when they talk about how good St. Mary’s and Gonzaga are and will be… and I guess it is just something that we are going to have to listen to all season long.
I don’t know if I can take it all season long… I would rather look forward to next season, and the run to the final four, when the Cougars have the experience and veteran players. 
Eight minutes to go, BYU by 7 and more talk about “there will be a day when the points will come fast and furious, but that is not today”… maybe it will be the game when all 3 guys have a good game on the same night. So far that hasn’t happened, even though Emery keeps firing away hoping to hit double figures before the game ends.
I think the Cougars will pull this one out because Weber States free throw shooting is terrible.
Interesting comments from a wcc fan - what do you think?
http://wccboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=1682&sid=53b5ad314a41ed761db3608e826b2aec
Do you buy what he is saying or is he off base? I think there is some validity to it but he is probably exaggerating a little to make his point. I know because I am guilty of doing that when I post sometimes.
Looks like a one person board 
. I had just a few observations. First off, UVU led Utah with 2 min to play in 4th qtr but ended up losing. Isaac Nielson was a monster with 15 rebounds and 26 points. Coach Rose has egg on his face after sending Nielson on his way. UVU hit only 3 3pt shots. It just shows how well they played against BYU (18 3pt shots). UVU has come far under Mark Pope.
BYU is transitioning from a 4 guard offense to a 3guard offense. Rose wants the ball to go inside to Mika, Davis, and Childs so expect our guards to shoot a lot less this year. We look a little lost on offense but hopefully, things will improve over the next few games.
Regarding the comments posted about the WCC and BYU, Mark Few commented last year that the big three were Gonzaga, St. Mary’s, and BYU and he challenged the other schools to step it up. Still, BYU needs to challenge for the league championship. BYU is a little different from other schools because of how the mission program interrupts the program. Still, BYU has no good excuse for not winning the league by now.
Emery shot very little in the second half. He did no hero ball. Nor were there bad three point shots taken either. We need a better motion offense to get guards open.
You mean finally someone else doesn’t think UVU is a JC team. Anyone could see that when we played them. And Neilsen could have played center for us and Mika at the 4.
Our guards are just weaving and setting no screens. Therefore, no one gets open. I was hoping to see the 3 bigs at 3,4,5 offense some tonight. And, try some 4 guard offense. Mix it up!
I wish I had the time to look up old posts and find the ones where I said Nielson needed more playing time (instead of Worthington) because he had potential. I think somebody here said they remembered Nielson as a player who was weak and got pushed around a lot but has worked hard to become a better player likely because of Pope, etc. He left because Rose likely told him Mika was coming back, Dastrup and Childs were coming in and they didn’t need him anymore. Just another example of the lack of opportunity to prove oneself at BYU… but at least they have all those top 100 guys and 4 star recruits… and now Dastrup is finding himself on the bench for the better part of games, more nonsense.
This is BYU politics at its’ worst, with coaches and fans who only see the star players on the team as being great or worthy of accolades, even when they aren’t. I don’t see a real effort by this group to get better as a team. I still see 3 guys trying to do everything and some fill in players trying to figure out their roles. I see the “big 3” doing everything they can to make sure they get theirs, whatever that means to them. Maybe it means trying to recreate what they had when they won mythical HS titles years ago. It works great against average teams because they are players with good skills, but it isn’t making this team better and they aren’t winning any wcc or ncaa tournament games anytime soon. It’s okay, they can still imagine and pretend though… just like so many fans do.
The wcc poster is right… and I don’t know if it is coaching, the basketball culture at BYU or what, but it doesn’t bode well. Those of you who really understand the game because of experience will know what I am talking about, the grasshoppers of the world will only criticize what I am saying and pretend that everything is great.
By the way, I like reading your posts and appreciate your insight. I also appreciate your positive and upbeat hope. I wish I had a little more of that.
Did you think they would score 114 points and beat BYU? Of course you didn’t. How many top 100 guys does UVU have? How many stars are next to their recruiting profiles? Of course Nielsen could have played for us but politics and favoritism kept him away. You make all these comments about things that aren’t right and you add in the personal digs but it’s like you don’t know or care to find out what the problem is.
I guess you are one of those wait and see, wait until next year guys too… 
Well, you might as well start saying it now. The better Gonzaga and St. Mary’s get and the higher rank they get as the season wears on, the more impossible it will be for BYU to have any hope of doing anything this season, other than the NIT. The officials, the league, etc. will be all over the Zags and Gaels as the anointed representatives of the conference for this season and BYU will be relegated to second class citizen status, top 100 recruits or not.
I remember when Few said this and I commented how he was just paying lip service to BYU so they would stay in the wcc and keep the money coming in… so the Zags wouldn’t have to carry the conference in revenue. I know that politics play a role, to some degree, in every program but at BYU it is a killer. This is what has the Cougars mired in the mud and unable to progress past where they always are.
And like I’ve said, till I’m blue in the face, Gonzaga is the darling. This year they probably won’t need any help from the league and the officials because they are really good. In past years there have been opportunities for BYU but they were squandered by those who would keep the traditions alive in the wcc and an average Gonzaga won titles anyway.
Thanks to Jimmer, and the long ago glory days, for putting the beatdown on the Zags in the ncaa tournament. The fallout is not going away anytime soon.
Did anyone notice that Zach Frampton had more minutes tonight than Dastrup, Beo and Leifson combined? Did anyone notice that Guinn played 16 minutes and didn’t take one shot? How in the world is this TEAM going to get better?
Sorry Floyd… game, set and match. I don’t hate the LP thing… I don’t have to… the proof is there… all you have to do is look at the facts.
GU stomped on Washington. No reason to bring up the conspiracy this year. BYU is struggling to score the way we should be using a much higher 3 point shooting percentage.
Turnovers have hurt us also. We get up 7-0 on Weber and Childs gets in Mika’s trying to tip in a basket and does so. What was that all about?
Haws played a great first half and Mika didn’t. That flipped the second half although Haws played within himself the second half and Weber shut the guards down.
No hero ball tonight but some really bad passes.
Jim: “By the way, I like reading your posts and appreciate your insight. I also appreciate your positive and upbeat hope. I wish I had a little more of that.”
SG: A little more than that. LOL! How about a lot more! Few seems to get 4 star players and he puts together good offenses and defenses. But, he does have a good mix of seasoned players with young players. He knows how to get transfers that can really help. So, maybe it is coaching? Not recruiting. With that said, Few doesn’t have to deal with the missionary rotation Rose does. But that doesn’t solve losing a player like Neilsen and shooters that can create their shots.
I’m not sure what you see in Dastrup yet. I think Shaw should play more. I guess he was hurt yesterday or something. But Dastrup needs to get in shape more. And Davis is doing well in my opinion.
The guards just aren’t able to get open much. To me that is the offense we are running. Little motion and screening going on. We need more of that.
Most fans probably agree that BYU has the talent to do well. In the past, Rose has been viewed as doing wonders with marginal talent. Now he’s got the talent and fans are ready to see this team take a big step forward. If it doesn’t happen, will fans be saying Rose has hit his ceiling, much like many thought Bronco did? Who knows? So far this season, it looks to me like this team is a little out of sorts. It is morphing from a guard heavy offensive philosophy to a post first option. I would probably say Rose is crazy if he didn’t build the offense around his post players. Right now, they are better than the guards. The guards still try to get transition baskets but the half-court offense is always to go through the post. I think Rose must have had a word with Emery about playing within the new system. At halftime, he commented on the shot selection from the first half and mentioned there were a few shots that came too early in the clock. It looks like Rose is really committing to the post players as a first option. The Weber State coach paid Mika a great compliment by mentioning he is a first round pick whenever he decides to declare for the draft. Who knows if that’s true but Rose recognizes that Mika is his best player and wants to build this offense around him and to a lesser degree, Davis and Childs. The guards look a little lost regarding their roles right now in my opinion. When was the last time that Emery didn’t scored in double figures. He only took 9 shots. Haws had a solid game but still needs to limit turnovers. As Rose is wont to do, he didn’t go very deep into his bench. Part of that is just his effort to build team chemistry among his starters. Once Rose gets his rotations set, there just aren’t going to be many minutes for anyone else. Beo and Leifson and Shaw have probably started to figure that out. That said, I do think that Rose takes how players perform in practice into consideration. If Beo, Leifson and Shaw want PT, they will have to tear it up in practice.
I agree about the subs. Shaw was hurt or sick and he wasn’t going to play. Dastrupt is in back of Aytes and Shaw.
The guard play is a problem because the offense makes no sense. I like the post first. But what are the guards doing at the same time? Also, the bigs take too much time deciding whether to drive and take the shot or pass back out. And because the guards aren’t doing anything that happens at a snails pace.
With respect to the shooting of the guards, I don’t mind so much if they are short or long. That’s about confidence and they can get that back. It’s when their shots are left or right. That’s just poor mechanics. That’s grammar school stuff.
The guy certainly knows what he is talking about
." I can imagine that BYU fans are fairly disgusted. Few and Bennett to take new players and get them playing together quickly. BYU gets a similar talent and all I hear is that they need more time to play together. Guys, college basketball is 4 years at most. If you’re constantly taking 2 years to develop your top guys into decent players, you are going to have a lot of frustration around your program."
But he certainly does NOT understand what BYU faces when it comes to 2year missions and just how long it takes to get back to top form. Sure Tyler Haws and Mika have been the exceptions but we all have to be realistic about how unique BYU sports are and how disruptive missions are to athletes bodies, muscle, conditioning, and mechanics.
No, not u Jim
You are your biggest fan:)
I see a lot of difference in Gonzaga and Byu. Both with a lot of new additions, but Gonzaga looks much more athletic and physically stronger that Byu. They look more in tune with a planned offensive and defensive scheme. Credit Few-average or good talent-he gets the most out of his players. Lastly, no conspiracy -just good basketball and not so good basketball
Yeah… I agree but I disagree of course because I have seen mediocre Gonzaga teams that get the breaks and the calls when they need it most and it certainly helps them. I saw both teams (BYU and Zags) in person last weekend and GU looked way better. They won’t need help this year in the wcc regular season or tourney like they have in the past. If BYU can’t learn to play as a team the season will be a disappointment…