The key word here is “home”. BYU plays at home. Pomeroy rates the home court advantage at 8 pts while most gurus rate home court at 6 pts…BYU’s HCA is more like 20 or 30 points. If I had it my way, I would have BYU on the road every single game and soon enough they would get tired of losing and get serious about defense. As it is, they play at home, win big, and start feeling good about themselves. (Bad because BYU has serious problems)
Pepperdine will roll over at the Marriott because they depend on outside shooting and are weak inside (I said the same thing about Pacific) This team core is run by 6-5 200 Sr, #30Lamond Murray …6-7 235 Sr # 14 Chris Reyes …5-11 175 Sr #3 Jeremy Major- all seniors… These 3 guys account for 80% of UP’s points, the offense will always run through one or two of these three. Lamont Murray is their most dangerous guy and most likely to be guarded by Eiljah or Emery. ( I would not be surprised to see Eli start because of this reason)
This game will be worthless, BYU will roll with lots of shots falling and very little work done-now I could be wrong and Rose chooses to play methodically value possession ball with a focus on defense…just dreaming
Fish, if we turn on the TV at game time, for any of the next few games and find that Rose actually takes out a starter who loses concentration on defense, makes a terrible pass, or shoots the ball instead of passing when a teammate is standing wide open on offense (even if they make it) … we can all breath a sigh of relief. It wouldn’t bother me if BYU falls to a low seed in the WCC tourney with more losses to weak teams. Preparing this team for next season, instilling in them work ethic on defense, and expecting no selfishness on offense is what the rest of this season boils down to. Unfortunately, I don’t think Rose has it in him to set standards of conduct and enforce them equally. But, it would be a great sign to potential recruits that Rose is serious about successful basketball tactics and ethics (like defense and hard work). I have seen some of the top coaches (especially in terms of NCAA tourney finishes) sit their star players for these types of infractions that we are seeing from most BYU bb players in every game. Broaden the bench, give competition, have the same punishments in playing time doled out to the “stars” as to the bench players AND lose a few games if it requires it. We would see all kinds of competition and improvement in this team for this year and next year … and if the players got the message … they may surprise themselves in the WCC tourney … which is their ONLY shot at redemption this year. Amazingly we could loose all the rest of the conference games and still get hot at the right time and get to the NCAA’s. We have nothing to lose to by losing some more games to teach lessons to players and and find out which roster spots “get” the message and which ones don’t.
The most important thing at this point in the season is the same thing it has been in every season since BYU entered the wcc… win 20+ games, make it to the NIT or ncaa first round exit and then rinse and repeat. When the result is the same, so is the formula. Nothing is going to change and the truth is there is no significant progress to seeing that things are better next season.
The “experience” factor is not going to make a difference in the end. It is way overstated. It isn’t making a difference on any other team in the league and I just don’t understand why BYU fans think it will with this team. It is just another excuse for poor performance and you are right, there is no real accountability. That is why we see lazy defense and sloppy offense on occasion… both of which are immaturity, not lack of experience. The “young team” or “mission rust” thing just end up being excuses…