The way too early 2015-16 basketball team

Basketball
1

We lose Haws, Halford and Winder. Haws production will be tough to replace as will Winder’s consistency and Halford’s bombs. We will also miss the big guy, Andrus.

We will have a core of KC, Fischer, a much stronger Kaufusi and hopefully Austin.
I am stoked to see what Emery, Chatman, Aytes, Bartley 4, and Davis can do.
I am curious to see what super smooth Seljass and hard working Hartsock can do.
Hoping for but hot holding my breath when it comes to Nielson and Toolson.

BYU does not lack for scoring anytime soon but we have been abysmal when it comes to DEFENSE. Will BYU be better next year? I think so, I hope so but defense comes from the top down so I will wait to see who replaces Pope.

So who are the starters?
At the point, we will see KC and many more triple doubles. back ups will be Chatman and Emery with Emery playing the 2 guard when needed. And Cory Calvert
At the shooting guard: Fischer with Bartley and Toolson but I think Emery is so good he will be a sort of a sixth man playing big minutes along with KC and/or Fischer.
The 3 will be manned by Aytes and Davis. BYU has lacked size and solid play for many years at the forward position and these two will change things for BYU. In the past we just played another guard here (Haws) and that was just an invitation for abuse by the opposing team. Hartsock and Seljass could be a surprise here as well. Shaw is back from his mission but should red shirt to get the rust off.
Strong forward will be owned by Austin and backed up by all of the above at the 3 since we have so much more size next year.
Center is solid with Kaufusi, who I think will become a consistent scorer. Nielson will be his backup but needs a serious strength program over the summer. Nielson can make a shot but he just needs more muscle.

Will BYU be better next year? Will they be better at the point? Yes; At the 2? Yes; At the 3? scoring wise remains to be seen but inside play and defense BYU will be light years ahead as Haws did not play a lick of D. At the 4, equal but the Center position will finally be a strength.

BYU will be more balanced and have an inside game. BYU will also be a much better defensive team. With the addition of Emery, Davis and Aytes along with a more comfortable Kaufusi, I don’t see BYU’s scoring suffer too much.

2

Won’t TJ haws be back next year? He is suppose to be better than his brother…

3

Yes TJ will be back next year and he is better. Even Ty did say or was it ksl said TJ is better. When you have those three LP (Mika, TJ and Nick Emery), they know their system already during their time at LP. Who knows, we still haven’t heard who is our new Assistant Coach going to be and Quncy Lewis is one of them as a possibility. Right now, I am looking forward to this year for now.

4

I have heard we are 2-3 years away from greatness.

5

It is never too early to start talking about the greatness of BYU basketball and 2-3 years is a long time to wait.

Why not talk about how great BYU will be next season, after all that is what happened before this last season.

BYU proved it by beating (or being gifted) Gonzaga the last regular season game of the season to help them get into the ncaa tourney, where they were exposed as a not very good team… again.

So… there are some of those LP guys coming in this season and we all know they were awesome in high school. Let’s get the hype train rolling now, don’t wait for 2 or 3 years.

6

Well 2-3 years ago I was told we were on the edge of greatness, and just a few months ago on this board people were proclaiming again we were 2-3 years from greatness. I’m just going with the 2-3 years of greatness cause it fits the narrative for when local LP kids again are not enough to compete for a sweet 16 run.

7

To answer Jim, I still do not have an answer as to why BYU goes through periods where they don’t play any D. Its not like the aren’t a good them, the truth is that BYU was a good team that had periods of no defense. I blame the coaches for that.

As for KC; The lone peak boys are elite players (top 100 nationally) but being LDS, they go on missions and then its a year to get into shape…thats 3 years away from the sport…So you do have a point there but I still say that heart is where champions are made and these guys will compete.

It will be scary when the likes of Mika, Kaufusi meet up with TJ, Emery and Dahlstrup. And KC, you can rub in our faces now all you want but I hope you are around when these guys get up to speed