My my, what 6 straight wins can do for you…BYU is getting votes (25) in the top 25, currently ranked around 27-29 depending on what ranking you read…ESPN BPI of 23 and 78% chance of dancing with a 9-11 seed depending on who’s ranking.
I looked at where BYU stood back at the midway point and we have just lost our 5th WCC game to Pepperdine and I thought BYU was the second best team in the WCC then. My reasoning was that beyond Waldo and Carter, SMC is just not very good and that they would lose some games (at least that was my hope). I remember thinking when we lost to SMC at their place that BYU had played a pathetic game and was still in it. So I was not surprised when BYU won to 2 seed after our monstrous win at Gonzaga.
With Haws having a terrible night and BYU shooting just 15-29 free throws, how is it possible we came out with a win??? Defense and Rose making sure Wiltjar got few open looks. (He started with Sharp and finished with Bartley (Swat of the year!). At the start of the year I thought BYU would lose to GU at home but beat them at their house, my thinking was that with all the newbies at Center, it would take the season to get them up to speed. Kaufusi has his best game as a Coug (8 points, 3 swats and 5 boards)
Now we head into WCC Tourney with a game against SF or LM, then the anticipated SMC rematch. The WCC wants BYU Dancing so we will have good refs…then BYU is in regardless on how the Gonzaga is played. Love it.
Hope you are right-still think BYU needs to get to the championship game to get in. Don’t think anyone wants to see SM get in, but if BYU was to lose 2 out of 3 to SM, I’m not sure how that would go. There really isn’t any reason that we shouldn’t have a shot at winning the WCC tourney. If everyone plays D the way they have and Haws comes back and plays outstanding bb and Halford continues shooting lights out this team can play with most anyone, especially if we get minutes out of Kaufusi like we have. I almost hate to be optimistic because I know I might be setting myself up for a big disappointment. Congrats to KC, Haws, and Winder on WCC recognition. Pangos? I guess-but not my pick.
My son (23) had to work and missed the Zag game; he and his wife live close by and he came over to watch the game, and thus I watched it for the 2nd time. Yes Haws had a tough game. But note that the guy who was on him, Gary Bell Jr., just won WCC defensive POY for the 2nd time. Haws had 8 misses, but 5 were good looks that just missed. If he makes just 3 of those he finishes with 16 pts and we all say that he had a decent game. His turnovers were indeed terrible–like Winder, too many forced drives into heavy traffic, with Bell in his hip pocket every step of the way. So I’m crediting Bell more than I’m putting it on Ty. The effort KC and Sky and Kaufusi gave in the 2nd half was truly inspiring.
We make the tourney and let’s just hope we can get out of the 1st round and this would be a very successful season.