WCC play, BYU dominates Portlandia

Basketball
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As it stands, Gonzaga looks very average right now. SMC is very beatable outside of their own gym and that all points to BYU needing to be…very unBYUish…no losses to WCC bottom feeders, we can stumble at a SF or a SD maybe one game but we also have to get a couple of wins against the two top tier teams.

Against Portland:
1 the stars came out to shine. Childs and the book of Eli both had all WCC nights with Childs getting a career night, 26 p. and 13 rebs. Eli gets 22 and a career best 15 rebs. Childs put the Brit, McSwaggin in his place with a couple of swats. Swaggy averages a team high of 14ppg and he had only 9 which leads me to point #2.

2 Childs guards Portlands’ best scorer, sharpshooter, McSwaggin and shuts him down, Seljaas guards the 7’2 center and he gets a big 0 in scoring. says a lot about Shroyer’s mentalitly on Defense. Guard the scorers and dare the opponate to beat you with their non scorers.

3 You can tell that TJ is frustrated (T-ed up for attitude) but he made some great assists out there.

4 Seljaas was a very quiet 13 minutes, got replaced by Hardnett most likely because Rose was worried about the Portland sharpshooters…it worked. Hardnett brings better defense and he can drive/assist 3…Cannon also got some minutes and filled it with stats.

5 Worthington also seemed quiet until you look at the reb work, 5. Dastrup finally came back to earth with a quiet night, but hey, its Portland and they play a 4 guard system, shooting from outer darkness. Notice that they shot a dismal 7-27 from 3land. BYU shots a paltry 20% from 3 and will lose to SMC if we do that again…lastly

6 DEFENSE is back in Provo. 45…are you kidding…that was a half time score in the old BYU system. Now when BYU has poor shooting nights on the WCC road, BYU will have a chance to win.

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I also thought the defense was quite good, certainly much improved from last year. Childs and Bryant played well on offense also, but the rest of the group did not as the outside shooting was abysmal. Can’t understand how these guys struggle so badly hitting shots, even when wide open. Defense will win us some games in league play but outside shooting like last night may very well also cost us a few. I know these guys can shoot so it has to be nerves and confidence. I know Rose wants more ball movement before shots are taken but some of these guys are starting to look like they are almost scared to shoot it and that’s not a good recipe for a high percentage. TJ’s shot is way off, not only from outside but from anywhere. He gets good looks on penetration but just can’t finish. I really wish he would pull up more from around 10’ and shoot it as he doesn’t get up off the floor high enough to finish at the rim over anybody. Seljaas has lost his confidence on his shot and has gone from killer bomber to offensive non-factor. Hope he can turn that around.

I’m a bit worried that with the scenario above, teams are going to double on Bryant and Childs and if the rest don’t pick up there offense, that could potentially lead to very poor offensive games and losses. We’ll see. None the less, pleased with the win and very good D.

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We started the game with way too much one on one. Too many quick shots. If we can do what the coaches want the players to do and swing the ball at least once from side to side from the start we will shoot better too.
Seljaas shot is too high to be very consistent.

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We do better when we calm down and run our stuff. Completely agree.