The story here is this is a team full of Seniors. They know how to play together and will be more then capable of beating BYU if we mess around and let the game be a nail biter. This team went from a 21 loss team two years ago to 19-8 last year and making the big dance before running into Houston, a final four team.
The bigger story is head coach, Dennis Gates Cleveland State Vikings extend men’s college basketball coach Dennis Gates through 2026-27 season (espn.com)
Gates turned a losing program around in 2 years, has 14 years of coaching and wins the Horizon League in just 2 years.
The team is guard driven. not unlike a typical WCC team. While Clev has only 1 great outside shooter, guard, #3 Beaudion. He just happens to be their assist leader. Another tendency, this team is not tall, a lot of 6’4 guard types, they really like to pound it inside.
Keys to a Clev win: Work inside and try to get key BYU players into foul trouble
stick to a well oiled game plan and get the lead in a loud Marriott
Keys to a BYU win. Work it inside to our bigger stronger low post men of Lohner, George, Baxter (doubt Harward is playing til we know his health status) then kick the ball out to dead eyes Barcello, Knell and Johnson.
Win the rebound battle on both ends.
BYU did not look good in the first half of the CC game, doubt we get much more then the 70s on Cleveland.
BYU 75-66 Cleveland
Won’t get that many if free throws are that bad. That was pathetic. Atiki will get better pretty fast. FU will also grow fast. George looked way better than last year.
Harward’s thing looked bad. Reminded me of one of my kung fu students back in 1975. He was about 35 years old and a father of three kids that also were in my school. He boxed in the navy and was good size. One night, he was sparring and got kicked in the gut. Shouldn’t have bothered him but he double over. Lost his breath and balance. He came back the next class saying he had three cracked ribs from the kick. He said that his red blood cell count fell to 2.0 the lowest it can. This caused his bones to become brittle. Harward got bumped on the knee a bit and doubled over in a similar way. He was looking good out there. Hope he makes it back soon.
With Harward out, I think it’s important that Lohner or Baxter establish himself as a back to the basket threat to score in the post. It will really open up our 3s if somebody has to help in the post. I also LOVE posting up Gideon because he can score in the paint over any guard and most 3s he will see all year. I’ll be interested to see if Lohner plays as a wing scorer like last year or if he looks to catch the ball down low with his back to the basket.
This is the second time I’ve watched BYU this year and there have been some good surprises. Defensively, they have the quickness to be very good and the length. One thing I’m a little disappointed so far is Lohner’s shooting touch, I expected it to be much improved. He is such a great athlete and force inside, but other then slams he hasn’t got anything to fall. George has NBA potential. Looking forward to three tough games coming up-2 out of 3 would be great!
I was glad to know that we have two BYU basketball games this week since there are no BYU football game for this weekend. Best big test for Tuesday night game against Cleveland State good luck to BYU basketball team go cougars
I have been wondering the same thing. Lohner would dominate most matchups in Iso’s as could George. I know Pope wants one more pass but i would get the ball into these studs a few times a game and let them go to work was we did with Childs…frees up an outside 3 if the defense needs to help out.
Fouss is big and he is strong. On the highlights I could find, it looks like in AAU and HS he did most of his work in the paint but against smaller and/or skinner guys. But he is an absolute load with good hops. Could he take PT from Harward and Baxter? We will find out soon. Here’s a nice article to get to know him a bit better:
I know it was just a scrimmage, but in the last game we essentially had no low post offense. Te’jon and AB are SPECIAL because if need be they can just take the ball and score against anyone off the dribble, but we have a lot of good perimeter shooters who need defenses to be late in rotations to get their shots. Working inside out with a strong post presence is the best way to do that. George–like Toolson before him and KC before Toolson–can post up any guard, and Pope will call for it occasionally, but George won’t be the primary low post guy. Harward can score down low but is indecisive and gets called for too many offensive fouls; Baxter has never been healthy enough to show us a consistent post game; Lohner DEFINITELY can do it but Pope seems to like him more as a wing guy crashing the offensive glass. Can Fouss be the guy? We jump right into the fire with Cleveland St, SDSU, and Oregon, and if it’s just AB and Te’jon scoring, we are in trouble.
been thinking a lot about how our team chemistry will flow. Exhibition games don’t show much. The X factor will be penetration and passing, Lucas will be a big upgrade. Defending the rim without Haarms will be by committee. And will BYU go fast like we did a few years ago or will we set up the offense? Sure feels like with Lucas and George in the lineup, BYU can FLY!!