The question here is if the BYU program is moving forward, stagnant or losing ground.
We are now 13-6, identical record for the past 3 seasons. Ponder that.
Rose is well on his way to another 20 win season. that is a given.
With our loss to SDU, BYU fell 10 spots in our ranking to #67. That was a conference killer. BYU has little hope of winning the WCC crown now. BYU has historically gone into weak WCC road games and shot their way out of the NCAA dance invites.
BYU’s offense is ranked #23, down from #2 or #3 of the last few years while the defense is ranked #271 up from the #350ish of the past 2 years. What this means is BYU is slowing the game down, attempting to play the inside/outside game that we lacked the past few years and BYU is attempting to play some defense.
The big reason to be an optimist here, BYU is full of freshmen and sophomores. I am comparing this year’s team to a senior run team of last year and they have the identical record. The real problem here is that BYU has always gone into weak WCC gyms and lost, it does not matter if we are a veteran team or a young team and that concerns me the most.
Mid-term report card. BYU players C. BYU coaches D! If there is no accountability for your star players on offense or defense… You will never become a good team… And I don’t care how many ESPN top 100’s are on your roster.
San Diego was more full of freshman and sophomores… 10 of their 15 players on roster. I’m guessing none of them are top 100 guys or even top 500 for that matter. BYU is not a ncaa sweet 16 tourney team and I don’t see how they will get there for next season. It isn’t about “improving” as much as it is about “maturity” for BYU. That is what they need and they just aren’t getting it.
A couple of solid wins against mediocre wcc teams and fans will forget about the USD loss, just like they did the UVU loss. Everyone will say "look at how much they are improving, they are a ncaa tourney team, after beating Pepperdine and Pacific… LOL!
so much to cover…A couple of wins will not erase the UVU and SDU losses. Those kinds of things get you fired.
SDU may have a young team but Bailey and Neubauer are upper classmen and team leaders…BYU has none of that…Our lone Sr is new to BYU. SDU was at home so you can’t compare the two teams. BYU would smoke them at home, that is not the point. The point all along is that BYU historically plays poorly on the road.
Let’s focus on what we both agree on…Rose either has to focus on defense or he will be gone…that is a cold hard fact.
SDU was at home when they lost to Pacific and Santa Clara… so I don’t know what to compare or what not to compare. That is another comparison…
BYU had the lead and they couldn’t hold it because they expected USD to just roll over and play dead for the mighty Cougars? This issue with playing poorly on the road is just another weak excuse, especially for a team this talented. Not every wcc team beside Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s is going to roll over like LMU and some others do…
I don’t know why a “team leader” has to be an upperclassman. Why can’t one of the LP guys take on that role? Both Emery and Mika have played a year… and Haws was Mr. basketball in Utah how many times?
SDU shot 57% from 3…at home. Common to feel it at home, rare on the road, was all I was saying. Goes along with why we blow teams out by 30 at home but struggle on the road. Shots fall at home…for everyone.
You are 100% correct about leadership, I’m fairly sure Emery is a team leader. He should know better when the team needs him, not to leap at guys when you should be planted squarely in front of your guy…and to drive and TO 3 straight times in a row is not leadership. These guys are just too raw and they have poor coaching.
Losing the occasional game to an MWC opponent didn’t mean the conference was out of play or that the NCAA was out of reach. With Few and Gonzaga on top the losses against the weaker teams hurt because he doesn’t.
The defensive consistency has to improve.
That the team is young and is still doing basically as well, SOS was stronger the last couple of years, bodes well for the future.
This fan will not forget about the UVU and USD losses. They are too terrible to mask, no matter how many wins we have against bad teams. IMHO this team has underperformed worse than any other in the Dave Rose era. His hire of the LP “defensive coach” is not looking so brilliant right now. I love my Cougs but I can hardly believe what I’m seeing this year…
Thanks for making me feel like I wasn’t going crazy… or like I was alone in my angst and pain. Everybody jumped on the hype train and I was running behind it for awhile because some people convinced me that the LP thing was real and at the worst it still meant a good chance at a wcc title and possible ncaa bid and at the best a run to the sweet 16 or even elite 8, with some claiming final four.
That is virtually impossible as I look at things now.
The worst thing is that now all of the stuff I said about the bubble, the lazy recruiting, the wcc, Gonzaga the golden goose, is all materializing before my eyes. I don’t think the goose can lose the wcc if it tried. It is unfortunate that BYU’s chances of the previous 5 years were always met with favoritism to the Zags because there will be no need for such things this season.