SCU, why we lost

Basketball
1

In a nutshell, Williams played with a mismatch the entire night long. Willims is 6’7, Lucas is 6’1. How about Knight, or George or Lohner? You would think that with all BYU’s talent, especially at the 3, we could of designed a defense to make someone else shoot the ball other then Williams. 18 shots and not doubled a single time. Congratulations coaches.

Then our marvelous coaches put Lohner on Vrankic, who would just back him in and score the layup.

This game was sown up, done and we managed to choke it away.

Congrats to Lohner and Knell, who are starters and came up with a whooping 0-5 shooting and a air ball so far from the basket you could drive a car between it. We are too far into the season to have 2 starters that have no confidence in their shot out there.

Foos continues to bring it, another double double. He is saving this year for BYU. period.

Barcello was tough, he plays through fouls, hits big shots. plays like an all-american

Loved George’s game, he was far more effective on Vrankic then Lohner by a mile and hit some big shots, got some great passes into Foos as well. Knight plays like he should start instead of Knell!

Lucas plays so big! He gets inside anytime he needs to, something BYU teams have always struggled to do since Ainge, yes, it has been that long.

Disappointed in our coaching on this game. Since Pope came to BYU, I have never said a bad thing about him, but sometimes you have to tell your players something other then, “GO make a play”. How about, "we’re going to double Williams or even deny him the inbounds, make someone else take that last shot. Reminds me of Delevedova crap.

BYU will NOT be ranked, will lose to SMC in Moraga and be a 8 seed or worse because of this coaching blunder.
Goodnight.

2

Ditto on all. One of Pope’s very few poor coaching moments. Really couldn’t believe my eyes.

The officials seemed fine overall but it’s pretty hard to take that Barcello was hit or bumped 20 or 30 times (no exaggeration) and shot zero FTs. They clearly decided together that any contact on AB was ok.

Knell was a complete liability on both ends. I’m not even sure he’s a D1 player. He should transfer to Southern Utah or somewhere and can be a star. So he makes an occasional three. Who cares? Everyone makes a 3 here or there. Both he and Johnson were positively worthless tonight.

Start Seneca or Gideon. Please. Pretty please.

That last 40 seconds was an absolute shi$ show. Not just blowing the lead. It they way they did it.

3

Do we not have a play to break a press?
18 turnovers
Does Johnson understand to protect the ball? He held the ball out in front where the defender easily knocked the ball out of his hands. This happens once a game. Yes he does some good things too. But, no excuse for those kinds of turnovers.
Make free throws down the stretch.
Agree with the defense on that last play. How can we allow that! Lucas was way too far off him as well. Make him take an outside shot with hands in his face. We looked like Notre Dame defending against Ainge in 1981. NIT?

4

Mental focus. BYU needs a full time sports psychologist. The players need to learn how to win the mental aspect of the game because that is where it was lost.

You guys complaining about Knell and Johnson, they are both Utah high school products. Just sayin’…

Knell did make a 3 and Johnson made a layup but beyond that they pretty much took up space on the court and didn’t contribute much. Johnson had 4 turnovers and if you throw Lohner into the mix you have Larry, Moe and Curly who went for a combined 2-11 shooting, 7 rebounds, 0 assists and a combined -19 on +/- ratio. That is just flat out terrible basketball. They have plenty of experience and just have to play better than that.

No excuses.

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Reminded me of several years ago when BYU would always lose a game or two to some WCC team they had no excuse losing to. Santa Clara isn’t a bad team so it is not a particularly bad loss except the way it was choked away at the end.

I am seeing a trend with Knell and Johnson. They haven’t done much lately. Lohner has a good game and then a bad game. Not sure what is going on with him. He has the tools but is well into his sophomore year and we should be getting more from him night after night. The 3 guys from Africa just keep getting better all the time and Knell and Johnson seem to be regressing.

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I think Pope has done all he can to get Johnson, Knell and others to learn their role and do what they can to help the team win. Unfortunately, they aren’t up to the task. I know it is the dream of every high school kid to play for BYU but that notion is keeping BYU from progressing. I agree with Lohner, enough of the robotic playbook mentality. Yes, he needs to execute the offense but what he really needs to do is figure out what he can do to be effective every game. It’s like he is still trying to figure it out and every game we wonder who will show up.

Traore is a 6’6" freshman and the dude pulled down 15 rebounds last night, Atiki is a freshman as well and had 6 in 11 min. Lohner is a 6’8" sophomore and had 3. That just can’t happen. He has experience, he went to a basketball academy yet he still looks like he is learning how to play the game.

After last night’s debacle I just don’t know where they go from here. I hope it is progress in the right direction. This isn’t the same team that beat Oregon earlier this season is it?

7

Preach baby,

Don’t agree on this one. Outside of missing the extra point that would of won BYU the game…Johnson does ALL of the little things, He generally guards their toughest players when Barcello or Lucas are out. He is fearless inside (the tap in last night is routine for this guy) No other guard mixes it up inside like Johnson. I love his game and he definitely needs to be one of the 5 when games are on the line.
I also like Knell…;…a lot…but he has not progressed this year and can’t create shots but his 3 is needed when Barcello and Lucas are on the floor. He spreads the floor so Lucas can work, Integral part just not a starter. Why has Knight not earned the starting roll???

Knight or George at stat machines. Lohner has always been a rebinding phenom. but anyone notice that Foos has EATEN up most of his bounds?

Why not go AB, Lucas, Knight, George, Foos?

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Johnson does do a lot of things well. However, as Jim points out, he and others have some mental blocks when under pressure with the ball in their hands. The turnover where he held the ball in front of the defender and it was slapped out of his hands, that’s a freeze moment. He has them all the time. Once or twice a game. His miss at the line and leaving too soon was Jr. High stuff. Others have this problem as well. A sports psychologist is needed. Although I believe they do have one.

Knell was making his own shots earlier in the year by driving the lane and pull up for a midrange shot or floater. Haven’t seen this of late.

Lohner wasn’t in the game down the stretch. Hmmm…

The game was eventually lost because of too many turnovers. 18 is just too many. Even with that, had we pressured their star instead of letting him dribble easily to the lane, we could have won as well. Coaching errors.

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I appreciate the fact that you “like” Johnson and Knell. - that’s good, they are probably great guys.

It is great that he does ALL of the little things - too bad he couldn’t do a little thing last night.

He is fearless inside - not sure why, other than to compensate for shortcomings.

He definitely needs to be one of the 5 with a game on the line? - interesting, especially when you commented that AB, Lucas, Knight, George and Foos should be the guys.

Knell spreads the floor so Lucas can work? - I’m not sure about that. He needs to be a threat for that to happen and I don’t see it. Likewise, Johnson doesn’t scare opponents at all.

Lastly, if Johnson guards the best player then why didn’t they put him on Williams? He was given too much freedom to do whatever he wanted and it cost BYU at the end. A lot of things had to go wrong for BYU to lose that game at the end, Johnson not only missed the free throw, he did so in a dumb way by entering the lane too soon and giving SCU time and confidence to do what they did. I hate to break it down to a single play because other things went wrong too but it was a choke job at the end, plain and simple.

I’m sure they will recover and get back to winning vs. Pacific but they lost to an inferior team. They beat USF away, no reason not to do the same to SCU.

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Thank you for pointing that out. There are 2 parts to a game.
Flow and crunch time.
Statistically, 3 guys should be touching the ball in crunch time. Barcello at 90%, Foos at 80% and Lucas, upper 70%. Lucas did two NO NOs in the last minute that killed BYU’s chances. He threw that hail mary over Goerge’s head, that allowed SCU to make a 3 and get the game within 1 points. Lucas then passed the ball into Barcello, IN THE CORNER, where he fumbled it and kicked it to Johnson, who are fouled. Should NEVER have had tight of area but then I think Williams got a hand on it and Barcello, fearing it was off him, tried to save it. Johnson bricked the FT and goofed by leaving too early (great officiating by the way). These things will be talked about all week and BYU will learn
I’m just pissed we are not ranked and will be an afterthought with it comes to seeding. PISSED!!!

Both Knell and Johnson will hit a 3 if left open. Johnson is the 2nd highest % from 3land, only behind Barcello. These guys are integral to spreading the floor so Barcello and Lucas can start the offense.

But Knight and George are BEGGING to be the guy to take a 3, they have been pretty darn good the last 5 games or so. And they can defend way taller guys, rebound, fill stats. something to think about.
We get Knight back next year but George is gone.

Great question, Pope feels that Lucas was the best fit. Lucas is BYU’s best defender followed by Barcello. A lot of this has to do with Foos and Atiki. They are too young to know that if you are sagged down under the basket when Williams comes thundering down, there is not time make him alter his shot. A Vet center would be out far enough that he could not get the lay up.

Simple answer, make someone else bring the ball up. Williams goes 240, even Johnson would be useless on the same play., Knight or George have been known to foul, Lohner, forget about it. Just make someone else take the last shot.

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Oregon wasn’t very good when BYU beat them and BYU still had Baxter. Hopefully last night was an aberration. I have seen Knell and Johnson play very well but not recently. Teams have bad nights and unless they have elite talent they will lose to decent teams on the road when they don’t play well.

Eighteen turnovers was the killer. BYU won just about every other stat except free throws taken and that seems to be an ongoing issue for some unknown reason. Barcello is getting mugged nearly every game and isn’t going to the line much. He should be living on the free throw line. He certainly isn’t getting the star treatment that’s for sure. Usually the best players tend to get the calls, but not Barcello.

You mentioned that BYU has regressed since Oregon. That is something that used to happen on a regular basis several years ago in Rose’s later years. It seems BYU would look good in pre-season and then lose about 2 games a year to teams that were not St. Marys or Gonzaga. BYU shouldn’t lose to anybody but Gonzaga and St. Marys in the WCC except maybe San Francisco this year. I can see a loss to one of those lower level teams every other year or so but it should be a rarity. Of the games left Gonzaga will be a loss, St Marys a probable loss, and San Francisco at home could be a loss if BYU plays like they did last night. They shouldn’t loss any more than 2 more until the WCC tourney and that should be enough to get into the NCAA.

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George was injured. He couldn’t play after that stupid overthrown pass. George is a Senior? Didn’t know that…

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Ya, right on about the turnovers. That put us in the situation to lose it at the end. And, notice how SC double teamed Barcello every time. We should have been doing that with Williams as well. Especially on that last play.
Barcello was getting mugged and they don’t call much. When Johnson had one of those brain freezes holding the ball out for the defender to uppercut the ball and steal it, the defender also hit Johnson in the face. No call. Yet, if BYU barely touches the face of another team, it’s a technical foul and your out of here! Like Atiki.

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Are you confirming or suggesting that the double standard, I have commented on for years, is real?

If anything Gonzaga should be the team that gets the unfair treatment, just to make their games more interesting. But that doesn’t happen… only BYU gets wrekt by the officials and their double standard.

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You mean like climate change? :rofl:

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That BYU is leaving the WCC was front and center last night. Barcello has not gotten star treatment in a single WCC game. Get me outta this hell hole league.

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I am on the same boat with Chris. Every single year since joining WCC it has been that way after we finished those nonconference games and then go downhill from there

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I still maintain that it all started when Jimmer was at BYU and he wrecked Gonzaga (in the ncaa tournament), the darlings of the conference. Ever since then, when BYU joined the conference 4 months later, it has been a trial and labor for BYU to get anything from the conference in the way of appreciation or gratitude for what BYU brought to the table.

The problem with leaving the wcc is that, more than likely, BYU will become the new whipping boy for the Big 12. I mean, do you see it going any other way? Did you see Kansas get destroyed at home by Kentucky yesterday? The disappointed looks on the faces of KU fans was enough to make me cry too. Kansas is the darling of the Big 12, no way BYU has a chance there. I’m afraid BYU will be given doormat status and have to live with it for years to come. We will see.

1 Like
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Recruiting will have to improve. BYU has to get nearly every top LDS player from around the country to be competitive and they need to continue to get under the radar non LDS players with athleticism
like George and Traore who are humble and will live the honor code.

The Big 12 could be a real trial for a number of years in football and basketball. We will see if they can be competitive or if they will be like a Vanderbilt in football and lose 9-10 games a year and like Utah has been in basketball this year.