No, I’m all for recruiting worldwide. But the posts I’ve been reading suggest that recruiting kids from Happy Valley is wrong. I’m all for Rose going after every top rated LDS player and non-LDS player who can survive the BYU experience. I just don’t see too many of those kids outside of the heavy Mormon population areas. If there are some of these kids that Rose is not recruiting, I would like to know who they are, but I don’t recall seeing any articles suggesting that Rose is ignoring those that do exist in favor of Happy Valley.
Lazy recruiting is when you primarily recruit your own back yard, and you wonder why you can’t constantly compete in a mid major conference while those around you are doing just fine. The lack of depth speaks for itself, starting 4 guards out of necessity is a problem. Putting all your eggs in a happy valley basket is a problem.
There have been some injuries for sure with the one to Austin being the toughest to deal with.
I guess it is hard to believe that BYU put itself in this position in the first place… that an injury to one relatively non key player has affected the team so greatly. I am also concerned that there are players on the team who played more minutes last year on a more successful team. I’m speaking of Frank Bartley and Josh Sharp primarily.
I’m also concerned that there have been what seems like more than a dozen different starting lineups over the course of the season and BYU finds itself mired in the middle of a pretty average conference.
When these things are happening it makes sense to look for reasons. When half the roster comes from within a 25 mile radius of the campus that might be a good place to start looking. Haws and Collinsworth have been great this year, obviously and Winder has been pretty consistent when he is healthy but the rest of the players have not been developed or played enough minutes to develop IMO.
When things aren’t working it is easy to find ways they might be fixed. That is my rationale and reasoning.
Read my post on the state of BYU basketball-2/13…
The lone peak/local boys will be doing some serious dancing in 3 years. PS, I want one more local boy (Frank Jackson). So much for “Lazy Recruiting” and our pathetic local talent.
Imagine a team with Emery, TJ, Mika, Kaufusi, Andrus, Dahstrup, Toolson. Aytes and I know I am missing some talent here but you get the picture. I just hope we are playing Gonzaga at that point.
You have your crystal ball out again? I hope you’re not wearing that swami hat with the moon and stars on the front… I love the enthusiasm and hope but I think I’ve heard it before.
Words and phrases like “will be doing” “Imagine” and “I just hope” don’t mean much right now but I guess you never know…
Funny how we are already talking about the future when there are still several games left and a tournament, hopefully something more than the wcc tournament. Ooops, there is that “hope” word again. 
Just wait Jim, one of these days we are going to be great…
KC: As they used to say in Brooklyn, “Wait until next year.” When the Brooklyn Dodgers won their ONLY World Series while playing in Brooklyn in 1955, the New York Daily News front page had a huge headline, "THIS IS NEXT YEAR! Brooks win World Series. Well, lets wait until next year. The BYU Men’s basketball program is going down hill in a minor college basketball conference. Perhaps NEXT YEAR will never come. I mean, when will BYU win the WCC Conference? We did better in the MWC with the likes of UNLV, New Mexico, San Diego State and Utah.
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This is almost a year old but is worth replying to…
Just wait till next year… well,
THIS IS NEXT YEAR!
What a pathetic performance, particularly on the defensive end. Could be one of the worst defensive teams in the country.
Yes, the defense is bad. But, we didn’t lose tonight because of our defense. We live and die by our offense. We always have. Sometimes we play good defense but when we shoot 26% for a half it doesn’t matter about the defense. Our offense shouldn’t be sparatic. And playing in cracker box gyms shouldn’t matter. Apparently it does. But why does it make a difference for layups and short shots. Other teams make them regularly.
What in the world are you posting here? Could you please explain this post. Tonight BYU died by their LACK of defense. The reason SMU shot so well is that they had so many open looks, whether it was from the outside or inside the paint… BYU made it too easy. St. Mary’s played better defense hands down and that is a big reason why they won. So if you say BYU lives and dies by their defense, then I would say they died by their defense tonight…
We missed 10 to 15 layups and short shots that Davis and KC usually make. 20 to 30 points. Our defense is what it is. It’s like back in the football days of Edwards and Scovel. We had no defense but we just out scored everyone. Why is this so hard to understand?
SMU offense runs well moving the ball with purpose from side to side and down inside. Ours doesn’t. So we have to make the short shots, wide open 3’s and free throws. We didn’t do that tonight.
If they had made all of their free throws they still would have lost by 7. That isn’t the reason they lost. Analyze the stats a little bit deeper.
Rose still relies on 1 or 2 players to carry the team. Watch the game and see how KC and Fischer spend most of their time looking for each other. Maybe it isn’t their fault, maybe it it Rose’s. The inability to get players like Chatman, Aytes and Hartsock more minutes and more involved in the offense and game is costing them. Other teams have more balanced scoring and shot attempts… they don’t rely on a couple of guys to carry the scoring load.
BYU has alway relied on 1 or 2 players. All schools do. But, because they run an offense that makes sense and has purpose, more players are involved in scoring. Change that offense and we will look better too. KC is just looking for someone to be open. But when defenses figure out the offense they make it hard and KC tries to score. Someone has to.
Go back and review the games. Defense is key to BYU’s offense. Their offense doesn’t work nearly as well without good defense. So if you are not going to play aggressive ball hawking defense-you better get Kaufusi back in and play inside out on the offensive end and establish a low post presence that allows shooters like Fischer and Seljass to square up for good shots. They have the ability to score down low with Davis, Aytes, KC, Kaufusi.
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This team plays D like they did tonight. Our wins come when we shoot about 50%, good 3’s and good FTs. I agree with how our offense needs to change. The weave just tires players out with no purpose that I can see. Inside out. But, the bigs have to sometimes kick the ball back out.
One question I would ask Rose is why did he play Aytes a lot the past few games if he’s not going to use him for league games? And, Chatman needs to play more.
But, we need to make layups. Fischer, Emery and KC missed 4 each they should have made. That’s lack of concentration.
Totally agree…we need the post so badly. When BYU is good they have had great post players, I often wondered why we don’t get outside of Utah to find players. However, we have had some good ones like Brandon Davies and others from Utah, however Cosic, Arujo, Fairchild, Burton, Plaisted, Kite, and others came from outside Utah, St Mary’s brought in a bunch of Australians…and look what happened. Gonzaga and Utah have both been successful in getting big centers to play at their schools and look what is has done. How did coach Watts get Kres.Cosic from Yugoslavia? He was by far is the best center BYU has ever had. We have some great players in the mission field from Utah and can’t wait for their return, but hopefully we are open to getting players anywhere.
Well, not everyone wants to go to BYU. It’s not that easy. But to win we can’t miss layups and short shots. Some shots shouldn’t have been taken. But we missed 10-15 layups and short shots. Many in the first half. Our offense is inconsistent.
I know some want to place blame on the defense. That is what it is and I don’t see it getting any better. So, we have to shoot better and out score teams.
The blame belongs on defense… and it is not at all like football and Lavell. In football, the offense and defense are made up of entirely different players and the two games are completely different.
Anyhow, I have never seen a college level team that is so poor at the simple, basic aspects of defensive basketball. How many times are players flying toward a shooter or anyone for that matter and leaving their feet? How many times do our bigs need to get backed down before they get help or hold their position? Do these guys know how to help out their teammates effectively? and when they do, why do they lose their man completely?
It is horrible to watch BYU try and play defense… but it is so IMPORTANT I just don’t understand why there is no priority with it.
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You really have no concept of analogies. The football analogy has nothing to do with the type of game and whose in and whose out. It has to do with realizing that you won’t be able to control another team’s offense whether it’s basketball or football. You call yourself a realist but aren’t even close to one.
You can keep complaining about the defense. It won’t change. I’ve listed the reasons. No continuity with the lineup means little team defense and it spills over some to the offense. Talent. Enough said. All we can do is shoot better. 10-15 layups missed. That’s why we lost. 20 to 30 points lost.
So a team can’t control another teams offense?
You mean like Saint Mary’s wasn’t able to control BYU’s offense by getting a hand in face and making them work harder? So St. Mary’s defense had nothing to do with them winning the game last night… it was only BYU’s inability to score those easy layups and close shots?
