Have to say that guy has done a terrific job over there. They didn’t win against Kentucky but watching some of the game it sure looked like their team plays well together. Unless BYU really shoots well, avoids a ton of turnovers and plays some tough D inside and out, I just don’t see them beating this team, and it certainly would not be considered an upset if we lose. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see UVU have a very good season while for BYU it appears to be another one of those 20 game win seasons with an NIT bid and first or second round loss there. I just can’t see the defense being good enough to put the clamps down on stronger teams, as we are still a bit slow covering the perimeter and won’t be the best rebounding team, despite Childs getting his 15 a night.
After tonight’s game and UVU losing their second game badly, are you ready to make a new prediction? Tonight is the best I’ve seen BYU in a long time…
Come on SG, BYU plays perhaps the worst team in the NCAA tonight and you are talking about a great season for the Cougars. I am a "show me " mode after last year. I will wait until I see how the BYU boys play in the WCC erh ah the St. Zaga league until I will get any excitement about this team and this HC.
So? What were you looking for tonight? You wanted to see team ball. Didn’t you? That’s exactly what you saw. Great team work on both sides of the ball. Haws played defense very well. Bryant is dominant on both sides. Childs was off in the beginning but ended up with a good game too. The role players all did their jobs very well.
Then, there is the major question about the center’s. Both Worthington and Dastrup played above your expectations. Both have lost weight and now are much quicker and have vertical jumps much more than in the past. They may not score like Mika but that’s because the rest of the team can score. And, that’s what I said before. They don’t have to score 25 points a game. 8-12 is the goal from them and playing good defense.
Not ready to change at this point. We looked good (not great) last night but that was a pretty weak team we played. Let’s see what happens this week.
On UVU, they gave a lot of energy on Friday, had an overnight travel and played the he # 1 team in the country without any rest. I believe your ignoring the fact that few, if any, teams would have done much better. That’s like playing Oklahoma in football on Thursday and Alabama on that Saturday. Good luck with that. We’ll see soon enough.
I still believe we will struggle with tight man to man defense, and even against the bad team last night, our offense bogged down a few times and we struggled to get the ball inside. Bryant was on fire but good luck to us if we think we’ll beat quality teams without scoring inside the paint. And our free throw shooting could again turn ugly, particularly without Emery.
So let’s talk about this again next weekend.
good summary.
Hardnett was a concern last night.1 attempt in 25 minutes isn’t a way to make other teams concerned with your play.
Childs, Worthington, Nixon, and Dastrup look like they could round up to be serviceable. But what they did last night against that horrific team clearly shows there is a massive need for improvement in the middle.
Selly, Bryant, TJ look o.o.o.k as starters…but an opponent with exhibition quality doesn’t prove much.
Bergerson Brown and Troy all looked like what they are bench players with potential that they haven’t come close to realizing yet.
This team will not compete in the WCC without major improvements across the board.
looking at the schedule.
Two losses each against the Zags and SMC.
Losses to Utah, UTA, Princeton.
Losses against Utah State, Illinois State, UMass and Alabama,
Throw in the three WCC road losses to WCC non-title contenders.
Probably a home loss against SanFran…
If Rose can get this team to 20 wins and the NIT he will have done perhaps the most impressive job of his time at BYU.
The biggest harm the LP3 did to BYU is sitting on the bench across town at UVU…Nielson, Toolson, Calvert. Hartsock, Ainge, are other players who left the team who would be at least solid contributors or better for this team…just based on the time they got on the floor during their shortened stays in the Big MAC…
On the inside, the 5’s did what is needed. Played some good defense and scored 8-12 points. The 4’s didn’t lack the opportunities to score. Childs started the game missing shots he normally makes. But, later on he shot well. Starting off better he would have 20+ points.
With the great guard shooting, it all went as I knew it would. Add the excellent defense with the excellent passing and it was a great game. I’m not worried about pressure. New Mexico full-court presses the entire 40 minutes.
I would have wanted Nielsen back. He would be a great help. But, Dastrup is coming along and Worthington is also looking good for this offense and defense. The other three UVU can have them. I’ll take what we currently have.
Hardnett will have his moments on offense. Right now, he moves the ball well and his defense is going to be great for us.
Love Scotts enthusiasm and really hope he’s more right than we are - but I have to agree with Harold’s assessment at this point “from what we have seen so far”, which admittedly is only a game or two.
I did not think that anyone inside showed any real ability outside of Childs. And I also think Seljaas and Haws can be shut down with good man to man defense if we don’t have good inside play, and Childs by himself can’t do it. That leaves Bryant, who can be a tuff guy to stop, but if someone else doesn’t step up from the “bigs”, teams will swarm our guards and if past experience counts, our 3 point shooting percentage will tank down into the low to mid 20’s.
If, and in my opinion only if, we can get two bigs rolling underneath, then the outside will be a bit more open and we are are much better team on offense. Defense I haven’t seen enough to know where we stand, because the games so far have been against real poor teams who shot as bad or worse (even when open) than alot of high school teams.
As for subs, Nixon looked okay with good hustle, and Dastrup looked more fit - but I don’t believe at this point either of them, nor Worthington, have the skill set to be that second big that we need to see a steady performance from. None of the guards that came off the bench impressed at all, which without Emery is scary. Any foul trouble for starters could prove very costly this year unless someone steps up. Scoring from this group may average less than 10 a night and even if the turn overs are low, that puts some real pressure on every starter.
As I stated early on, we’ll know more come Saturday night. I would love a pleasant surprise, but in no way am I holding my breath for that.
New Mexico pressed full court all game. I don’t think pressing will stop the good passing we have seen. Not worried 
New Mexico pressed all day and got 23 turnovers from the blue cougs…against a team with experience playing with eachother…against a team with talent or better than the blue cougs…kind of iffy…
the team seems to be coming together …at least through the first four exhibition games…yes MVSU is worse than many exhibition games…we have nothing really to test the quality of the new found skills.
This year once again…
the defense is better
the defensive mind set is better
the teamwork is better
their is more passing
yet…again…the exhibition games at the beginning of the season prove nothing on what matters.
I will remember for a long time the shock and grief of the team last year when they lost their first game…they never really regained their confidence…
Will the weak schedule this year allow the team to regain their confidence? regain their expectation to compete for the conference crown and NCAA sweet 16? tough to say…but nothing so far shows that they remotely have the will and the skill to make it happen…
Rose’s doing the soft schedule seems to indicate that he too has his doubts.
So, should Kentucky be worries barely beating UVU? Or should we be worried since Duke pounded them by 30?
I like what I see. I think Dastrup is vastly improved and can already shoot mid-range and 3’s. Something Mika struggled at and had to learn. He’s got his vertical leap back. Give him a few games to see if he doesn’t take Worthington’s place.
Team play is different on defense too. I like what I see.
More than one writer who follows Kentucky has mentioned it.
Even Calipari said that the showing against UVU meant that it might take longer for the team to figure it out than he planned…He did have a team that didn’t even dance after making the NCAA final the year before…one and dones can do that to you.
This isn’t what you were saying last week. I have been trying to tell everyone about the potential that I saw in Dastrup. He is smart and he has a skill set that the other bigs didn’t have. In fact, if he is completely healthy and in shape, I would put him in a Mika category. I think he is a smarter player with a little less talent and if he worked hard I think he could have surpassed Mika.
Unfortunately, Rose chose to keep him on the bench most of the time last year and BYU finished third, NIT first round exit and never realized their potential as a team. I still don’t think they will because they will be limited by their glory hog players but that is another conversation because one of them is gone now so their is hope.
You mean like Mika? Oh wait, BYU didn’t dance either… except out of the NIT first round.
Since Dastrup played sparingly and was 40 pounds over weight with no vertical leap because of that, what could you possibly see? My observation is from games this year. He’s still behind Worthington who transformed over the last two and a half years. But, somehow we came to the same conclusion. I did by visual recent observation. You did by some mystical way of seeing the future? 
[quote=“grasshopper, post:16, topic:7709”]
what could you possibly see?
It’s called POTENTIAL…
It’s when you see talent, recognition and ability and then you put it all together and you see potential. It requires a little bit more understanding of the game than you currently have. A good coach can see it and scouts are paid a lot of money to be good at recognizing it.
You can keep trying but may never quite understand it. Don’t sweat it if you don’t, there are other things you are good at, like breaking boards with your hands or waving your arms in the air…
There was no way to tell his potential from last year. Last year he couldn’t shoot. He couldn’t jump either. He never got off the ground.
It’s hard to analyze at this point in time. So far Worthington looks better than he did two years ago so hopefully he can contribute as a role player. This team will get better as the season progresses if they take care of the ball, play unselfishly, and play good fundamental defense. A good finish for them would be exactly where most experts have them-3rd in the WCC. Haws, Bryant, and Child’s are givens-the key will be the transfers and Dastrup. Prediction this week-Princeton loss-win at home Saturday.
Well, already wrong on the win-loss. A great win at Princeton!