Scouting Idaho State

What I’d really like to be writing about is Scouting SMC but here goes. Playing ISU does nothing to help BYU get to the dance. They are ranked south of #350 so here is what I hope to see from this game…

Since this ISU team is full of 3 point specialists, Stutzman and Moscon are exceptional, this game will be a good scrimmage for WCC play.

Lets hope Dastrup gets plenty of minutes with the starters. and that BYU plays ball with discipline, as if they were training for a real challenge. BYU is a 19 point fav. at home. BYU TV @ 7 pm mtn.

ISU does have a few interesting storylines:
Jared Stutzman has played BYU before, as a UVU wolverine. He is ISU’s leading scorer at 13.7 ppg. over 50% from 3. put Childs on him
Guards, Boyd and Luzcando shoot a lot of 3s and get a lot of steals. Luzcando gets Haws, Boyd gets Hardnett
7’ Novak Topalovic is their inside guy. foul prone. Worthington

Interesting, Luzcando is from Santiago Chile, where I served my mission. Not many players in US college ball come from Chile. While they love Bball, soccer is their national past time. Our district used to play the Chilean Olympic Bball team on Pdays. We smoked them (we had 2 D1 starters in our district)

They have a good guard, Baint Mocson, 6’2 out of Budapest Hungruy, He shoots the most 3s, over 50% from 3. I visited Budapest in 87 just before “the wall” was torn down. I recall 2 things…I could lift one of those plastic molding black smoker cars off the ground and there was very little to shop for, maybe one of those wood carved canteens.

Do you know Rose? or do you know anyone who knows him well enough that they could ask him what the problem is with Dastrup and why he doesn’t play more? I am asking a serious question here… someone needs to pull Rose aside and ask him what the problem is and what he can do to get past it. Is it Dastrup’s hair or his enthusiasm or his behavior on the bench? I mean what is it that is keeping Rose from playing him? Is he hoping Dastrup totally messes up, in one of the games that he gets 5 minutes in, so he can justify keeping him on the bench?

I have written quite a bit about dastrup and Rose. Did you not see the photo with Lee cummard standing next to each other at the energy solutions center. According to Lee, dastrup does not get into games because he has a low motor and he doesn’t work as hard as the others.

I think Rose got an earful from the fans and has felt the heat from the boosters especially after the Utah game to give dastrup more playing time I plan on attending a few practices with this NBA coach and he will be talking to the Byu coaches just like we did last year before the Gonzaga game . I think it has a very positive affect and I will do whatever I can as I am a big Byu fan

Andrus and Shaw are now practicing with the team although they are not cleared to play in the ISU game so there is some good news there. Shaw to me is a lot like Worthington in that he hustles, gets the odd rebound and won’t hurt you too much if starters are in foul trouble. Andrus on the other hand is going to be a long project before we see what the upside to his game is. Mission rust and injury have slowed his progress.

Nixon is still in a boot for his foot injury.

Childs 100%. just a cramp. he says he is tired of everyone asking.

Can you tell him that grasshopper still thinks it is an achilles injury and he should have it checked regardless of it being a cramp? Grasshopper knows everything… mention that to him as well.

Fun story about you playing with the Olympians–I had a somewhat similar story from my mission in Buenos Aires. I spent 4 months in Gualeguaychu, a few hours north of B.A. I was the only American in town and had an Argentine comp, but a few days later a guy named Ronnie Smith arrived to play on their C-League pro team. Ronnie Smith had just recently finished playing at University of Nebraska, (career 2.7 ppg at Nebraska). He signed with Club de Basquet Central Entrerriano Gualeguaychu (which is still around, but the website only lists former players back to 1999). The team had the local English teacher to interpret, but she couldn’t understand a word that Ronnie said (I’m pretty sure she’d never translated for a 6’9" black guy from Houston with a deep southern drawl). So the Club sent a guy to our apartment and said if we’d come down to help out, we could eat there for free every day. The minute we walked in, Ronnie saw us from across the room, broke into a huge smile, and said, “Oh man, the Mormons! YES! Can you pleeeeeeezzzeee help these people understand me???” Our area had been closed to missionary work for some time due to some previous shenanigans (NOT involving Yours Truly), so we saw it as a chance to re-establish our reputation. Ronnie and I hit it off from day one. The team loved having us involved and asked us to attend practices (which were three days a week). WITH mission president approval, I not only translated but also practiced with the team (most days), while my comp answered questions from the MANY locals who would come watch the gigante Americano practice. I was probably the 4th or 5th best guy on the team. Ronnie was a scrub at Nebraska but routingely scored 30 per game for Central. Also WITH mission president permission we attended home games, where I translated during the huddles. I have an awesome photo from the front page of the local sports page in the newspaper in my scrapbook of me talking in Ronnie’s ear in the team huddle, wearing my short sleeve white shirt, tie and tag. That was an incredible 4 months–and yes we had baptisms from our association with the club. The locals thought it was great that we were actual humans who would interact with them and talk about things other than religion.

1 Like

Good times, Bro. Love that story. Did you get any dunks? I used to dream I could dunk.haha. So I have filmed Argentina (fishing) many times. I call a local here in Utah to come be a guest on the show (Kohn Smith) and knew he is besties with Coach Bobby Knight. I asked him if Knight would come be on my show and that I would take him anywhere in the world. In less then an hour I get word back that coach wants to go to Argentina. I think I already told that story here on Cougarfan.

But everywhere we went in Argyland, the folks would swarm because the entire country knows basketball and they know Coach Knight. While there I presented him with a autographed Sage rod with his record on it. He got emotional over it. I have so many stories from that trip but my favorite is Coach and I sitting in a drift boat on the Lamay River in the very spot where Curt Gowdy filmed the 1st American Sportsman (Cowdy had just died) and Coach telling stories about when he, Curt and Ted Williams in tow would take off to fish some stream or pond somewhere in the world. They were sneaking into Cuba while it was off limits to Americans…with Fidel’s blessing of course.

Sorry to get off-track but I’m smiling ear to ear right now…BYU in the 80s, ISU will not reach 70.

Ron Boone’s son played for Nebraska (the voice of the jazz)

Yep but I don’t tell him what I think…That’s for NBA coaches to do.

All I want for Christmas is for you to be happy.

Happy that Dastrup got some quality minutes in the last 2 games
Happy that Dastrup put up gaudy numbers and that the fans are screaming for more Dastrup playing time.
Happy that Rose acknowledges the fans frustrations and is finally playing Dastrup
Happy that we are winning
Happy that for once BYU is going to be competitive in the WCC
Happy that we don’t have to talk about football for a few months

Happy

Love ya fish! Same to you. I made it back home last night before the storm hit.

Merry Christmas to all of you Cougar Fans!