He’s just getting started! Yes, it was Pacific, the school that beat us in Provo last year. Nice job coaching too!
I’m high on bryant. He has good upper body strength and can play through contact. He has a nice shot despite his horrible season average for 3pt shots. He has great size. Tonight, he played smarter and didn’t press as much. He’s not afraid to shoot but Rose wants him to be aggressive. I’m excited about what he brings to this team. I can see why people were so high on him.
His shooting is much better partly because he can use his legs again. When we got up big, that would have been a good time to have practiced the zone defense.
The other thing is if Dastrup is going to set up outside and he’s open, pass it to him.
Pacific has young, inexperienced players and “mission rust” and they haven’t played together much and they have injuries and a new coach and…
have I used up all the excuses for why a team loses yet?
Yes, Bryant is a good player. That is obvious…
But so are Mika, Childs, Haws, Emery, etc. They are all good players, the problem arises when they get on the court together and how they interact as a TEAM. That is where things start to get off track.
Individually I think they have as much talent and ability as any of the players on Gonzaga or St. Mary’s… so why are they the third best team of the group?
Pacific players all played last year and not all young.
They are freshman and returning sophomores from missions. SM and GU players aren’t. Most are Juniors and Seniors and have no missing years since they played last. That about sums it up…
No, that doesn’t sum it up. I want to add something to your equation that really keeps you from summing it up. How do you explain the disparity and erratic play by this team from game to game? How does BYU beat Pacific by 30 yet lose to St. Mary’s by 15? If it was truly about all the excuses people keep making about mission rust, not playing together, lacking experience, etc. then they wouldn’t dominate in some of these games and lose so easily in others.
Right now it looks like more of an issue of homecourt advantage, not inexperience. They dominate Santa Clara and Pacific then struggle against LMU (that was a fortunate win) and St. Mary’s.
Pacific is at home and is one of the worst teams in the NCAA division 1.
SMC was on the road and is one of the best teams in the nation…
Additionally, more players played against Pacific; players hungry for more playing time play better than players who are tired from playing more minutes especially playing catch-up.
BYU and SMC Rose and Bennett are experienced coaches. Pacific coach Stoudamire is a rookie coach.
Pacific players don’t expect to win. BYU expects to win except against SMC and Gonzaga. SMC expects to win except against Gonzaga and occasionally against BYU.
I have stated this before and agree with you completely. I have no problem with the overall talent we have on the floor, but they have the most difficult time playing together as a cohesive group on both ends of the floor. It shows more on D where open shots and easy drives to, or close to, the basket can be readily seen. But they are often just as inept at running a well structured offense, which is hidden by Mika doing his thing inside or Emery, Haws and now Bryant just getting it done schoolyard style one on one. To me, Rose’s teams just don’t jell as teams, even when talent is on the floor, and I find that disappointing year after year after year.
That’s a simple answer. Talent, skill and experience levels of SM far out weigh PU’s. You really had to ask if SM was 45 points better than Pacific? They are about 30 points better. I’ll go back to the SM game and say again if we don’t miss the short shots and layups we would be even with them. The reason for the misses was only one thing, experience.
This is so basic 
My question to grasshopper was intended to be within the context of experience vs. inexperience and you gave me good reasons but not those that fit within the context of the question.
So as it pertains to last season, the Pacific players didn’t expect to win vs. BYU?
Didn’t SMC beat Gonzaga twice last season? and then lose in the tournament (of course because that was the way Gonzaga could keep their ncaa tourney streak alive and keep the wcc relevant)? So I guess they “expected” to beat them regular season and lose in the tourney?
Apparently all the wins and losses of each team are based on their expectations and not their talent or ability. Hmmm… I’ll have to think about that one for a few days and get back to you.
and as a result, well off mark.
The basic answers don’t really cut it for me. Pacific missed a ton of easy shots near the basket that, if they had made them, would have had them closer to winning. Over half their points were in the paint, they shot horrible from 3 and they missed a ton of close in shots. Missing shots close to the basket is only one reason a team loses a game… BYU played poor perimeter defense vs. St. Mary’s too, among other things.
Acmans razor. The simplest answer is the correct answer 
lol. . .lol
Interesting note here about Dastrup…
I just got my weekly missionary email from my son serving in Panama. I cut and pasted his exact words -
“Dad, the BYU sports teams are always whack, dude. Thats why I kind of lost interest in watching and following them because they lose dumb games they should easily win and its annoying to watch that, lol. But that Dastrup guy who served here, Ive heard a lot about him since Ive been here. Mostly people just saying he was really tall and could eat a ton of food. But also that he served here in the ward I’m in.”
He was a huge Jimmer fan as a 11-12 year old kid and owned the local rec. league but got frustrated in high school with a coach who he didn’t connect very well with. But he earned a popular reputation at the mtc where other missionaries knew him as the “guy who could drain those long 3’s”. 
I think my kid has lost 25 lbs. in Panama so gaining took quite some effort for Elder Dastrup… it is warm, humid and rains all the time. Also, I think he hit the nail on the head with the BYU sports teams comment. Does that not summarize things in a couple of sentences? or maybe the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree… regardless I think it reflects what a lot of BYU fans have felt over the course of many years and decades.
Well, I think you are more like me in that you are a true blue Cougar fan whether we win or lose. We want what’s best for BYU.