BYU had uncontested layups the entire game. Not a lick of defense. I looked at the stat sheet at the end of the half…BYU shot 70%. SCU looked like a HS JV team playing out there.
Emery is shooting with the confidence of M Jorden. He can’t miss. He showed us an entirely different game out there tonight with a majority of his points coming from easy uncontested layups and only one 3.
The real story here is just how well Kaufusi and Chatman are playing. Both athletic, both playing hard defense…something BYU has been missing all year.
It’s easy to miss it when they aren’t out on the floor much… doing it. Everyone (including SG believe it or not) had been saying since the beginning of the year that those two needed as much playing time as possible in order to get the team where it needs to be.
There is a reason BYU tends to make late season runs like this… Rose takes too long figuring out who his players are.
As great and ATHLETIC as Emery and Kaufusi and Chatman look, am I wrong to say that Hartsock and Seljaas look more than completely overwhelmed? But this is whey they all need legit minutes, to sort out who is who.
Seljaas had a hot start and it has carried him a long way this season. I do think he looks a bit intimidated and overwhelmed at times. This happens with young players more often than not. I think it gets better with experience and see no reason for it not to be the same with him. They both have shown what they can do, they just need the experience doing it more.
You have coaches that evaluate talent in its raw form and they work the kinks out so that they have kids that understand the program by the time conference finals and Dance time comes (Few, Popovich)
And you have coaches that kind of let evolution pick who gets the minutes (Rose). You earn it by practice and study. Both are proven methods but the first one will have better results in every case.
I see that Harold posted a link about the Beo kid out of Washington…another skinny Mr. Basketball, who like Seljaas, can shoot lights out but gets absolutely wreaked when he plays with the big dogs.
BYU will arrive when we have athletes who can handle the wear and tear of D1 rough play, like Emery @ 6’1 and 210, that dude is D1 tough. Childs is another.
agree about Emery… he has been frustrating at times as he joined the selfishness wagon a few times this season but I don’t care so much about that at this point because the team missed its’ opportunities for something better this season already. If they make it to the celestial kingdom… errrr, ncaa tournament they will be destroyed in the first round. If they get to the terrestrial NIT, I think they have more potential to do some damage. I don’t think this is a celestial team, too much selfishness during the course of the season.
Regarding Emery though, I was just telling my Dad yesterday that there is nobody close to Emery’s size that can stop him one on one. Definitely have seen what he is capable of the next few years.
So now do you see why Tom and I are so giddy about the Lone Peak boys? We have now seen Mika and know Emery’s game and we both say that TJ is the better player. Exciting times coming our way.
sounds like you are drinking the blue coolaide, just a little bit. To tell you what is more exciting are bodies like Childs and Kaufusi, athletes that can bang with anyone. I just wish Rose would play Aytes more when we are in the lead. We need muscle down low when we play real teams outside of the WCC
