It’s been a while but we are ranked again. Hope this doesn’t go to the player’s heads and we take care of business Thursday against Fresno State.
Any word on Trejore’s hamstring injury? We really need him.
I am way excited about this team
I think they could be resilient when they lose 5 or 6 conference games in a row
That’ll be the true test
So far so good
They have 8 games until the BIG12 season starts, With Utah being the “toughest” team (according to Pomaroy).
Where do you think BYU will be if they go 8-0 or 7-1?
BYU SportsNation predicts top 12 going into the season.
At 8-0 I think 12 is a fair ranking
They have a second tier pre conference compared to first tier - duke nc Gonzaga Kansas Houston Arizona etc who schedule each other in pre conference and where a loss is no big deal
Not too worried about rankings right now. Right now the team is playing loose and together. BYU losing a game or two, isn’t like Kansas losing one. Kansas would drop a few spots, but BYU would slide a lot more. I hope they just keep playing like they have been and they have a shot at making the tourney
We live and die shooting from outside, so we will need to see how we do when we are cold (which will happen). Or when the outside shot is taken away (which will also happen).
Yep. We will have a few games where we shoot 8-32 or something like that from deep and we will lose some of those. We will have a few where we shoot 13-35 and we will lose a couple of those as well, simply because some of these B12 teams are juggernauts of NBA talent.
But so far Pope is showing why he’s the best coach BYU could possibly hope for…
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We have inside abilities as well. We get a lot of autos and scoring in the paint.
Agreed–the rankings will change and will change drastically. But it’s important to hang around the rankings because of how it affects seeding in the Dance. Plus, these early season wins against good teams are ESSENTIAL for Dance seeding, and ESPECIALLY if we wind up as a bubble team for the Dance. Our wins so far are looking really good:
SDSU 6-1; only loss to BYU; already has beaten Washington and Cal.
Arizona State: 3-2; DESTROYED Vandy the night after losing to BYU–Vandy is a perennial Dancer.
NC State: 4-1; only loss to BYU; good W over Vandy
It’s likely that two and maybe all 3 of these teams will be Dancing. All 3 teams are INCREDIBLY athletic, and BYU just dismantled both ASU and NC State with great shooting and SUFFOCATING defense. BYU has had some better scorers in recent years, but I can’t recall a team with this much length and quickness on the wings, and that’s how you defend in college ball. You can REALLY REALLY see the defensive coaching when you watch, because we switch on HUNDREDS of picks every game, yet RARELY do we lose our guy and allow an open shot. Yes it happens, but it’s rare. Almost every shot by our opponents is contested, and contested by guys with length who can jump.
Finally, our rebounding is incredible. It’s a total team commitment. Even Knell, easily one of my least if not my least favorite player on the team, is fighting for boards! (I expect him to get beat on D every time, but somehow he manages to hit a couple clutch 3s every game, and Pope is getting a big net positive from Knell so far). Defend; rebound; bomb away from deep. So far so good!
HUGE props to Waterman and Stewart. Both have gone from nothing to significant producers. I’m really happy for both because my guy in the program tells me both are just AWESOME kids who are ALL BYU.
I don’t see an NBA player on this BYU roster, but we are beating teams with NBA athletes and somehow winning going away…my original goal of 20 wins is looking like more than just a remote possibility…
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The rebounding is a big key to me. There will be games where the 3 point shooting won’t be so good, but if you can continue to win off the glass, then you stand a chance to win any game. I never expected BYU to get off to this kind of start and I hope they can beat Fresno and Utah, because if they accomplish that, they will probably go into league play unbeaten. It’s all good so far. I love teams that defy everyone’s expectations!!!
There are other teams to play too. Overlooking them would put us back to years past problems.
The announcers keep talking about “unselfishness.” I think it’s more than that. I think it’s elite coaching, thousands of reps, and complete buy in from every player (only great coaches get that), and that results in players who INSTINCTIVELY know when a teammate has a better shot, and that teammate gets the ball. BYU has assisted on 66% of its made baskets. Is that a big deal? Well, #1 Purdue has assisted on 58%, #2 Zona on 61%, and #3 Marquette on 51#. KU, currently ranked #5 but still IMHO the best team in the country, has assisted on a staggering 76% of its made baskets (helped by having easily the best post player in the country who gets lots of chippies in the paint). A high assist ratio means the ball is moving more (certainly faster than dribbling), resulting in more uncontested shots. I love it. BYU is not in the league with those elite teams, but may knock off one or two if we keep playing elite D, rebounding like madmen, and getting the ball to the right guy in rhythm.
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ESPN Bracketology currently has BYU not only dancing but as an 8 seed. Of course it’s too early, and we will likely lose our share in conference, but these good early wins and the WAY BYU is winning these games is building respect for the program, and that will matter when the actual Dance selection happens…
BYU just needs to hold it together and keep their heads on straight. The minute they start thinking they are better than they really are, things can go south in a hurry. Stay humble, keep working hard, play with a chip on your shoulder and things will go well.
The mental part of it right now is huge. It can and will pay dividends if they can master it.
That’s not good. We know what the mental part has done in the past. They just need to keep having fun and play hard and it think about it.
Jim, good post. Thoughts: I didn’t mind Robinson getting Teed up when he stole the ball from the guy he had been jawing with then went and dunked it and yelled at the guy. That was spontaneous and raw, and frankly a pretty weak T by the official. What I DON’T like is all the smiling and smirking and even laughing and hand gestures by a few of our guys seemingly every time they make a 3. Smells of being pre-planned and cocky. That’s the stuff that can make guys lose their way out there…I’m nitpicking, but when all you have on offense is the 3, the walls can crumble down pretty fast.
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it should be noted that in the last 6 games, the high scorer was somebody different. That just does not happen unless there is a lot of sharing going on.
BYU should be closer to a 4 seed right now based on it’s work. We will see if Lunardi agrees
Really early to get hyped up. Enjoy the team and don’t get disappointed if they have a couple of setbacks. This team could have at least 8 losses. Win your home games and some road games in conference play and most likely you will be dancing. I like the team-no stars-just go to work players who grind it out! No matter what happens-I LIKE THIS TEAM
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I re watched the NC St game this evening. Boy was BYU sloppy with the ball in the 1st 5 minutes, put us in a big hole for most of the game. Reminded me of the entire last year’s season. A big part of it is our starting point guard, Hall. He does a lot of things right, shoots the ball great, powerful, strong driver who does not get knocked off the dribble when he heads to the hoop but dang it all, he is so out of control when they throw 2 guys on him…
. We won that game, almost more so from NCS self destructing, mostly, their Coach went whacko at the end of the game…sure there were some very questionable calls on both sides but he cost his team any chance. The NCS players were uber aggressive and there could of been some fights so I see it as refs doing their best to avoid a brawl out there. NCS was just as bad or worse in the previous Vandy game the night before. No place for that in basketball
As several have pointed out, BYU does not have NBA talent, we can’t drive to the hoop very well, I think we are in the bottom 10% at drawing fouls, have been since forever but we compensate by taking a lot of threes, defend the best I’ve seen in many years and we rebound lights out. That will win us a lot of games
Will we beat Utah @ Utah. I have my doubts, Utah starters go 5 deep as Seniors so we will see.
Yeh I agree with your assessment of the NCS game. It was so bad, i started watching Oregon/Oregon State football 
. Credit BYU for hanging in. The next two games will tell me a lot about BYU basketball 
. I don’t know anything about Fresno, but Utah is pretty good, and it will be their first true road game. A loss will probably drop BYU out of the rankings-it’s why I don’t pay much attention to rankings this early. Go undefeated until league play begins, and it’s a pretty good resume heading into the Big12.