Before I get started on BSU…ran into Shawn Bradley in Roosevelt yesterday. It hurt my neck to look up at him, hahahha. He remembered me from Reel Outdoors, he’s a fan. Asked him if he watched the Houston game. Nope, completely checked out of BYU sports, weird. He has remarried and is teaching his new boys how to hunt and fish on his ranch. Uinta Basin all the way, baby.
Scouting BSU
They seem to be headed in the wrong direction. They played Oregon pretty well but lost by 25, then lost at home to UC Irvine. They are a team full of Seniors but their outside shooting has been dismal.
ESPN has BSU as a 57% favorite.
Massey and T-Rank have BYU 53%
The two guys that BSU runs everthing through are:
6’9 shooting guard/forward #21 Jr. Alston. He is their outside threat and the only player on the team that has made long shots this year. He is not a very good defensive player and he prefers to play far from the basket, which minimizes his height.
6’7 Sr. #23 Williams is their inside scoring and rebounding machine.
6’1 Sr. #34 Hobbs is their point guard…quick but not a great outside shooter.
This is a veteran team that plays together and they are home and that should translate into wins but BSU is playing way under their potential for the fist games and we don’t know why.
Finally BYU plays a team that is more of their height. BYU has better shooters and the same ol story, if we hit our outside shots, BYU should get the win.
Tossup game but I’ll bite, BYU 77-74 BSU.
It would help if we can out rebound BSU. Especially on the offensive boards. Is their floor blue? 
BYU 83 - 68
Close game BSU by 7
Nope, mostly Orange with Blue Lines 
[quote=“fish, post:1, topic:8506”]
Asked him if he watched the Houston game. Nope, completely checked out of BYU sports, weird.[/quote]
Why would he follow BYU sports? He was only here for a season, and then after his mission to Australia made the comment (in response to criticism for leaving after one year) that he “could buy BYU.”
I don’t think he was ever a solid BYU fan, growing up. BYU won the Shawn Bradley sweepstakes over Majerus and national programs, but it wasn’t like he was John Beck, enrolling so he could walk on and play for BYU. I don’t think he’s ever been what I would call a “fan,” or someone who followed BYU sports even a day after he went to the NBA.
I remember about Shawn Bradley saying few times that he was worried about getting injured playing college basketball. I had a feeling something fishy about him. Sometime early spring 1993 I was looking forward to 93-94 basketball season when he was going to come back to BYU. Nope, he chose to play NBA early. Man, he broke my feelings and many Cougar Fans.
Yes he was a “Mission Impossible” like 76er fans said. I never did follow him.
TJ needs to shoot well tonight and including the whole team. Play hard Cougars
They put $49,000,000 in front of his face. Fools they were. Skinny and didn’t like working hard to improve. But, that was a long time ago. Move on.
BYU heading in the wrong direction. Maybe Mark Pope needs to bench TJ. Boring game. Toooooooo many missed shots and toooooo many dirbbling and turn overs. Ugly game!
Sure hope this team improve when Yo start playing.
Too many missed shots. Yes, we missed a lot of 3’s. But, the main difference I think was all the missed layups. Especially in the beginning. BSU made their layups. We also didn’t have much chance staying with them in the free throws as we were out shot 27-7.
I don’t know what’s going on with Haws but 0-8 from wide open 3’s. And not the first game. He doesn’t shoot them the same each time. His upper body hunches forwards like he’s aiming. We could have won had we made that last shot. But, Haws has to play better or sit down.
Wow, did TJ have a bad game. 5 turnovers to go with 0-8 from long range.
That BSU got 27 FTs to BYU’s 7 is a perfect example of two things. BYU guards with its hands and nobody wanted to go to the hoop.
After Houston, I thought we might just have something but BSU brought me be back to reallity. We should of beat these guys by 10 and we just sucked. BYU goes to Lahaina looking like a plucked Turkey.
It seems year in and year out, free throws and missed layups are still a problem. New coach, same problem. I’m not going to go back and count all the missed layups but at this level, the players should know how to spin in a reverse layup. And, you have to get the ball above the rim on a layup. And, learn to lay the ball softly off the glass (Nixon).
And, the last shot in regulation? Toolsen was so short in the lane. Even with TJ shooting poorly, give him the ball at the end like in Houston.
Four more games before BYU corrects a major deficiency. I really don’t know how Gonzaga does it. Lose 4 starters and never skips a beat. No matter what-you have to hand it to the coaches and the program, but BYU is in a much better place and Haws is the 3rd or 4th best player on this team at the moment
I remember TJ had a scope on his knee last month. You think something bothering him on his knee that is why he is shooting in awkward position to what Hopper said?
And Zac Selly (sp?) with his repaired foot from Italy injury?
Zac seems to be shooting okay. TJ also was sick and lost weight. Lost time in the gym shooting. I still would have given him the ball for the last shot.
Even then, all the missed layups. Not just missed. Some never got above the rim. Wrong spin off the glass. Lee’s 1’ shot that was 6” short and not high enough is just one example. It wasn’t just him. Nixon alone from the left side and it bounces too hard off the rim. Toolsen missed at least 3 layups.
Where was Barcello, Mr. Basketball? He played a bunch and did he score? Well, see what happens Saturday. Maybe UCLA will play down to our level and we can grab a victory. Or we can play up and grad a victory.
TJ has been terrible all year; 4-24 from deep, with many not guarded. He is also not getting to the line, with 12 FTA in 5 games. I for one thought that was a very well officiated game in Boise. But TJ also does not have the respect of the officials.One notable example: late in the game, TJ makes a reverse layin, right in front of the official, and gets elbowed so hard in the head that Pope had to call a TO to get him off the ground and out of the game. That’s the most blatant foul ever. Why did the official not call it–because he obviously saw it? He didn’t call it because he simply didn’t want to give TJ the call. Period. He probably would have called it had the shot missed, but with the shot going in, he called an audible and CHOSE not to enforce the rules. That aside, again, I thought the officiating was very good. We didn’t get FT shots for the reasons Fish pointed out–1) we guard with our hands out of necessity/desperation, and 2) we can’t finish at the rim, so we don’t try to get to the rim off the dribble. I believe this team plays hard, the guys love Pope, and Pope is doing the best he can with what he has. But if you are gonna roll out a team of short guys who can’t jump, you better be able to shoot. I honestly think that if we had Baxter and Yoeli this would be a 25-27 win team with a legit shot at the sweet 16. Even without Baxter, we would be undefeated now if we had Yoeli. Without them…just scrappy guys doing their best to win half their games.
Not sure he seems to be moving well, but his shooting is way off and habitually making lazy passes. I expect he’ll get it going soon
Accurate assessment Tom, I am happy just seeing the difference in the way they play together and obviously support each other. You are correct, with Child’s undefeated and definitely winning last night. Pope is doing all he can right now
Should be undefeated regardless of Childs and Baxter. We still have a problem I’ve mentioned for years. Missing makeable layups. That’s all about concentration and hard and long work. One of the many missed layups could have won the game in regulation. So would Toolsen’s lack of effort free throw miss. A 14’ free throw shot.
Also, 3 points have to be 40% to win most games. What is up with Haws?