Didn’t see it but looking at the box score, it looks like it was more a case of Santa Clara playing really awful then BYU playing well - again, that’s from the box score.
I noted that our bigs again scored virtually none of the points, and this against a team that appears to be pretty weak. If anyone saw it, could you comment on this, because I just can’t see BYU winning games against good teams with 3 or 4 points scored by centers/forwards. I thought this game might give them a chance to break out a bit, but it doesn’t look like that happened.
I don’t know if that’s really correct. Since Rose says that KC is basically playing the 4 in the offense, we should probably add his points into the mix of forwards/centers.
Just face it, BYU will play a 4 guard lineup from here on out. Yes, it makes us susceptible to long teams but then how do you defend 4 high octane guards when you are a tall slow dude?
The game was even worse for SCU then the box score. With 5 minutes to go in the first half BYU had held SCU to only 8 points. This was the most complete game BYU has played defensively all year. Kaufusi dominated the middle and our guards smothered the outside shooters to the point that they rarely had open looks.
Yes, i saw the game. BYU played very well on both offense and defense. We made it difficult for them to get open shots. Our bigs played well too. Kaufusi had several block shots. Like I’ve said before, we don’t need bigs to score when we beat teams by 35 points. We need them to simply play good on defense and be good passers on offense.
Saturday’s game against SF will give you an idea about how this season is going to pan out. SF has a decent team and if BYU can pull out the win on the road, you can look for them to maybe only have a couple of more losses for the rest of the regular season. Kyle still looks a little slow to me compared to last year. His foul shooting has improved, though and he should continue to get better as the season rolls around. Hopefully we can get more out of the bigs as the season moves on, but right now I can only see Kaufusi with much upside. I keep imagining him with Mikka which would give us some presence in the paint. Bartley needs more playing time as there is a lot of potential there. Not sure I really understand Dave Rose and his substitution patterns. I felt last year Winder didn’t get nearly enough PT and he has proven golden this year and the end of last year when presented with an opportunity. But-hey-I’m not the coach so what do I know!
Agree. I hoped Neilson would have improved more at this point too. He seriously needs about 30 more pounds of pure muscle on him. He looks gangly and weak in his movements. I think he has some upside potential since he can shoot. Learn the up and under move along with a quick in-close hook shot and he could help with scoring in the paint.
Toolson must be impressing Rose during practices for him to get more minutes than Bartley at this point. I just think Bartley should be spotting Winder at the point. Toolson spotting Haws at the 2 guard. Halford spotting Fischer. Nixon spotting KC and Worthington/Neilson spotting Kaufusi at the center. I don’t understand what Rose sees in Worthington to start him. Not while Kaufusi has over-taken Worthington in all aspects of the game.