At this point, I have become sooooo superstitious of my watching or posting important games, I don’t want to jinx the Cougs. hahahaha. So I won’t and I just want this TCU game over with a win. As much as we need this win, I think TCU needs it even more so prepare for a big battle on Sat.
BYU has so far over performed in the 1st Big 12 year that collectively, we should all exhale and savor the big Kansas win, look at what Pope has done with this group to date because BYU could easily be where Cinn. sits (with a pretty good team) lying in the bottom half of the Big 12.
In spite of
1The flu bug that hit half the team 2The transition of Waterman into who he is today vs. 15 or so games ago, I really think that being the MVP of that Vegas tourny really impacted Waterman in a big way. Tom tells me that he comes from a super religious family from Savanah, NY so I took the time to view his BYU video. If you do one thing the week, watch it…I dare you not to cry! Noah Waterman - Men’s Basketball 2022-2023 - BYU Athletics - Official Athletics Website - BYU Cougars
3The injuries of Foos and Khalifa’s knee
and yet, here we are!
This really is a special year with some great players that have blown the door off of what we all thought would happen.
Enjoy.
Great video, very inspiring. Waterman is the kind of guy you want to see do well. I have always found him very likable.
You could see the talent last year but the production wasn’t there. He is tall, mobile, has a great touch, passes well, moves well without the ball, dribbles very well for a guy 6’11”. His defense is decent and he has some toughness for a thin guy. This year he has blossomed. His one drawback is that he is thin. If he had Khalifa’s weight without losing any mobility he would be a beast.
I hope he comes back another year, but given where he has come from if he gets a good offer to go pro and he leaves you would have to be very happy for him. Whether he is NBA material or not he can make a bunch of money in Europe.
He’s put on like 20-30 pounds of muscle since last year. Needs to keep working on that. I was at BYU when Mark Wilson played and he had the same issue. Too skinny. They tried to beef him up but he just didn’t gain weight like they wanted. They even gave him near beer to try and get his weight up. That was fattening stuff. But, he also gained muscles strength and it paid off. I think it was Mark’s senior year, going into the season he had an appendectomy. Three weeks later with a flap jacket on he played and took some good hits. Like 10 years earlier, I tried to just throw a dart at a balloon at a city fair and couldn’t do it after 4 weeks. After 6 weeks it was like I never had the surgery. So, when he played after 3 weeks I was flabbergasted. Must have improved everything in those 10 years.
I think it was fair to criticize his play earlier this season. But like you say, he has gained confidence and his recent play has earned ALL of our respect for what he does on the court.
The off the court story is simply awesome. Noah loves BYU. His whole family loves BYU. My in-laws live very near Savannah NY and met Noah’s mother, and said 1) she is awesome and 2) was gushing about BYU (while rocking her BYU gear around town). When they showed Noah’s mom at the gmae and I could see the pride on her face for her boy, I cried real tears. With what she has been through, that woman deserves EVERY BIT of pride and happiness this team can give her. Mad props to her for raising Noah (and his brother who is in the video) the way she has.
I LOVE when BYU recruits great kids who are not members of the LDS faith and those kids have a great experience at BYU, and spend the rest of their lives as positive messengers about BYU. BYU fills an important role for kids with high standards, regardless of religion, who need a school and teammates with similar values so as to reinforce their strengths instead of being around people looking to exploit their weaknesses. Noah is only one of several on this team. This week a person very close to these kids who works with them every day told me “this may be the best group of kids we have ever had since I have been here.”
Thanks again for reposting the video about Noah and his family. Truly a must watch.
I was pretty hard on him as well but the guy has worked his tail off and it is paying off for him. I won’t go so far as to call myself what you called yourself but I have changed my opinion about his potential and ability which goes to show that if you work hard and believe in yourself you can do more than anyone thinks you can, including yourself.
Thank you so much for the Waterman link. Had my wife watch it too. Impressive story. Impressive mom. Her „because they breath“ about her kids left an impression on me.
I could work a talk around that. Definitely.
I would think gathering up bags of toilet paper to take home after someone’s party as a little kid and scrounging for food and trying to pick up odd jobs starting very young makes you pretty fearless
Contrast many of his generational peers
TCU game, Waterman landed wrong, tweaked the foot, hope he is OK?
I was so nervous about TCU, I had to record the darn thing after about 10 minutes, sure felt like a major let down would happen after the KU win.
Shout out to 4 guys who would not quit last night
Spenc Johnson
Dallin Hall
Richie Saunders
Foos Treore
one can be wirey and still strong.