HB Arnett’s
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West 800 South –
Vol. 32,
Issue 35 – March 19, 2012
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BYU BASKETBALL A FEEL GOOD STORY
Everybody loves a feel good story.
That’s why “Hoosiers” and “Rudy” were
popular movies
BYU basketball this season was also a feel good story.
The Cougars cobbled together a nice 26-9 record and had a few
“Hoosier” moments while doing it.
Even Jimmy Chitwood couldn’t have matched BYU’s spectacular
comeback victory over
But let’s be clear.
So was BYU.
Give Dave Rose some credit. He didn’t play the toughest schedule,
but still managed to find a way to come up with 26 wins with a team that has
nobody that is headed for the NBA.
The Cougars overachieved with a bunch of under athletic
players…especially on the guard line.
Let’s be real
BYU’s most successful teams, judged by NCAA performances, have
had NBA talent on them.
Most recently, that was Jimmer Fredette and his crew. You have to go a
ways back to Danny Ainge, Fred Roberts and Greg Kite to find BYU’s most
successful team. Again, the criterion used is NCAA play.
We didn’t forget about Raphael Araujo. He certainly was drafted
in the first round, but it didn’t take long to figure out that he
wasn’t NBA material.
You don’t need NBA players to be a good and entertaining team.
BYU proved that this year, but really great teams do not exist in college
without NBA caliber players.
There are the occasional short-lived anomalies, such as George Mason
and VCU and there are always going to be the No. 15 vs. No. 2 seeded games when
gigantic upsets occur, but to consistently advance in NCAA play, it takes NBA
caliber players.
There is a reason that teams like
The sooner BYU fans realize this the easier it will be to recognize and
appreciate what Dave Rose and BYU basketball has done in the last seven years.
The Cougars have over achieved with mostly under athletic players and
with the exception of Jimmer Fredette, no NBA players.
Great Coaches or Great Players?
So called great coaches have to have great players if they want to be
good. The better way of judging those coaches is by how they recruit.
Really good coaches can recruit to their limitations and still win.
That certainly sounds like Dave Rose to me.
One of my favorite basketball stories was related by Dave Rose’s
predecessor, Steve Cleveland when talking about his first season at BYU. He
relates his first encounter with UTEP’s legendary coach Don Haskins. You
can read the entire story online here.
I recommend reading all of what
“Then I'm sitting in The Bear’s office. He
looked me in the eyes and said, "That was a big win at UNM. I know you can
coach, but understand this: everybody can coach at this level. There are
three things that you must understand to survive in this business.
"Number One: Recruiting is the most important
thing you do. Did you hear me? Recruiting! You can’t win
without good players.
"Number Two: Scheduling! I don’t know
who made your schedule, but you, the head coach, need to get control of that
right now. Find a good balance. If you don’t do this right, you
might just schedule yourself out of a job.
"Number Three: Coaching! When you win
you’ll get more credit then you deserve, and when you
lose you’ll get more blame then you deserve. Don’t read
the papers and don’t listen to talk radio. There is no one way to
coach or win games. Commit to a system and teach it with a passion."
Coach Haskins then stood up, smiled and said, "Take it
easy on us tonight," and walked out of the office.”
Great
coaches, including Dave Rose, understand the first principle. It’s all
about recruiting. Everything else is ancillary. That fact that Rose, given his
recruiting parameters at BYU, which means that NBA talent is going to be few
and extremely far between, needs a pat on the back for what he has done with
strictly the LDS recruiting pool. It is the only option he has.
Is there
any one out there that thinks that BYU’s slim to none chance of landing
Jabari Parker would even be possible if Parker wasn’t active LDS?
I am
aware that there will be some who will let me know that they think Brandon
Davies is NBA material. If you count the three steps he takes every time he
goes to the basket, he is already NBA ready
In my
opinion, if Davies is to make it in the NBA, he will have to be in the low
post. That means he will need to be much stronger and tougher to bang and beat
against other low post players and earn a paycheck.
We will
see.
Most of
this is rambling, but here is the reality of BYU basketball. It will take more
talented LDS players if BYU is to ever be a serious NCAA contender.
The good
news is that more talented LDS players are in the pipeline and if the Jabari
Parker lotto sweepstakes ticket somehow turns up being purchased in
Meanwhile,
let’s appreciate what we have. We don’t have a BYU movie like
Hoosiers or Rudy, but we do have a very entertaining and most of the time
exciting basketball team to watch and cheer for.
That is
more than 90 percent of other college teams can say with consistency.
BYU is
what it is and it isn’t yet an NCAA big boy when it comes tournament
time.
ROSTER REVIEW
As a
movie critic, I gave Hoosiers 3 stars. I gave Rudy just two stars, not because
of the movie, but because I never like Dan Devine, the Notre Dame coach.
Here is
my review of some of the BYU basketball roster of this year.
Noah
Hartsock…Hands down, the undisputed MVP of the team. When he was healthy,
BYU was good. When he wasn’t healthy, the Cougars weren’t as good.
Brandon
Davies…The next best player on the team, but the most physically gifted.
He has improved each season, and will be BYU’s go to guy next year. He
won’t be doing much going, however, if BYU can’t find another
scoring threat on the front line to keep teams from doubling and triple teaming
him.
Nate
Austin…A big bruiser with a great competitive attitude. If somehow he can
find a dependable low post scoring move, he could be dynamite. If the only
scoring he can provide is the occasional three point shot, he will be relegated
to journeyman status.
Chris
Collinsworth…Here’s hoping that he is the next Haley Steed story
for BYU. Steed is the BYU women’s guard who suffered through three ACL
tears before finally getting to play. She was never the same player, but was
productive. After two years of knee problems, here is hoping that Collinsworth
at least can see the court next season. That’s the first place to start.
Any productivity would be a bonus.
Stephen
Rogers…Another player knee deep in knee problems. Has a nice mid range
game, and when hot, can hit the three ball, but the biggest question on him, in
my opinion, is toughness. We will find out how tough he can be next season.
Brock
Zylstra…Toughness is not an issue for him. What is an issue is his
erratic scoring. With the return of Tyler Haws and the infusion of juco guard
Raul Delgado, we don’t see how Zylstra’s minutes for next season
can do anything but go down.
Matt
Carlino…The sooner he realizes that he is not NBA material, the better he
will be. He gets caught up in playing against good athletic guards thinking he
can be just as athletic. A good dependable two guard that can knock down a
shot, may do wonders for Carlino’s game. He will be much better when he
gets a better grasp on his role and future.
Charles Abouo…Always played hard, but was always inconsistent.
You never knew what you were going to get on any given night.
Anson Winder…The only player on the team with any hope or ability
to stay in front of opposing point guards on defense. He had some very nice
games. He needs more of them next season to be a factor.
Damarcus Harrison…A total enigma. The athletic ability was
obvious, but it never materialized into anything productive until his last two
games of the season. An LDS mission should do him a lot of good as a person and
as a player when he returns.
Craig Cusick…The ultimate first responder. When Carlino was
playing like a freeway wreck, Cusick was the guy Rose called on to try and
stabilize BYU as a patient. Never going to be a star, but played a vital role
keeping the guard line from going off the deep end. More often than not was
successful in that role.
THREE OUT, TWO IN?
The math is not that hard. BYU had the allowed 13 players on
scholarship this past season….Hartsock, Abouo, Davies, Zylstra,
With Hartsock and Abouo gone to graduation and with
Two are already spoken for and allocated. Tyler Haws will be back from
his LDS mission to the
Delgado wasn’t on a mission in
The third scholarship will more than likely go to Craig Cusick. He
played as a walkon this past season.
This fall, it will be very interesting to see what takes place.
BYU will sign at least six players during the early signing period in
November.
That will be Nick Emery, a 6-1 guard from Lone Peak HS in Utah, Eric
Mika, a 6-8 forward from the same team, Braiden Shaw, another 6-8 forward from
Eagle HS in Idaho, Jakob Hartsock, another 6-8 forward, Jordan Chatman, a 6-4
guard from Union HS in Camas, Washington and Cory Calvert, another 6-4 guard
from Chaparral HS in Parker, Colorado.
Of course the big fish and big long shot is Jabari Parker the 6-7
forward from Simeon HS in
That would make seven signees in November. All are committed with the
exception of Parker.
Chatman, Hartsock and Calvert are for sure going on LDS missions before
enrolling in school, but no word yet on the plans of Mika and Shaw. Emery is
expected to play his freshman season before leaving on a mission.
BYU will also have to find a scholarship for Kyle Collinsworth who will
be back from his mission to
Looking for Playmakers
Let’s cut to the chase.
You can’t win football games without controlling the line of
scrimmage, but more importantly, you can’t win football games without
playmakers.
That is why you have spring football. Coaches are looking for
playmakers.
Bronco Mendenhall and his Cougars already know that they will have
solid, but not spectacular offensive and defensive lines.
There will be no surprises coming out of spring ball on that front. As
a matter of fact, his best offensive linemen are not even participating in
spring drills and if they are, it is in only non contact drills.
Football coaches don’t need spring practices to determine who
their best interior linemen on both sides of the ball are.
What they need spring football for is to determine if there are any
legitimate playmakers that are being overlooked.
You already know who the playmakers are and will be for BYU next season
based on what we all saw last year.
Riley Nelson and Cody Hoffman are the playmakers on offense. We thought
towards the end of the season that Ross Apo might take a step up in that
category, but that is still a wait and see deal.
There were no other legitimate playmakers on offense last year. There
were some nice solid players, but only the two playmakers; Nelson and Hoffman.
Based on this spring, our opinion is that BYU is still looking for more
offensive playmakers. It would be nice if one could emerge at tight end. There
are plenty of bodies and good solid players, but nobody is screaming,
“Look at me, I’m a playmaker.”
There is still hope for help for Nelson and Hoffman. We think it will
show up in the fall. That will be when we expect and BYU coaches expect Taysom
Hill and Jamaal Williams to be the two most likely suspects as potential
playmakers.
Spring football is for political correctness. Everybody gets a chance.
Fall is for real when coaches forget seniority and politics and do all they can
do to get playmakers on the field.
Expect to hear more of Hill and Williams this fall.
On defense, last year the playmakers were Kyle Van Noy and Loni
Fangupo, the USC transfer. Fangupo is gone to the NFL and Van Noy is
rehabilitating his shoulder after off season surgery.
He will be back in the fall and still be the premier playmaker for
Mendenhall on defense.
There are plenty of solid journeyman players at almost all defensive
positions, but it appears that there is a chance there could be some future
playmakers to join Van Noy this fall on defense.
We talked last week about Manoa Pikula, the redshirt freshman
linebacker. Athletically, three other defensive guys have playmaking ability.
Ziggy Ansah and Alani Fua are making some noise this spring.
They both are athletically superior to other defensive players, but
both have flaws. Ansah is being worked at both outside linebacker and defensive
end. He could be an awesome pass rusher, but lacks experience and a legitimate
feel for the game.
Remember, he came to BYU from
Fua is showing that he is athletically gifted also. His flaw is that
after two years, he still hasn’t put on the needed weight or added the
needed strength to be a star.
The third playmaker we had pegged from the time he arrived on campus.
We saw glimpses of Joe Sampson and his abilities last season. They should be
much more prominent this coming fall.
In football, talent is nice, but it is all about making plays. We saw
that epitomized last season with the play at quarterback.
BYU WOMEN FALL IN FIRST ROUND 59-55
TO DePAUL
Here’s
a short synopsis of BYU’s official report on BYU Women’s first
round loss to DePaul:
The West Coast Conference Tournament champions finished the season with a
record of 26-7 overall.
“Congratulations
to DePaul,” said BYU head coach Jeff Judkins.. “They executed very
well. I was impressed with their point guard. I’m really proud of our
team. They’ve played hard and worked hard. We have some things that we
need to work on for next season. I’m really proud of Kristen. She’s
had a great career her at BYU.”
Jennifer
Hamson scored a career-high 21 points in the loss and added a season-high 11
rebounds for her fourth career double-double. Senior Kristen Riley also scored
in double figures with 10 points and added 12 rebounds for her 15th career
double-double. She also had a career-high seven assists.
The
Cougars’ 20 turnovers and 25 percent 3-point shooting hurt them. DePaul
had 15 turnovers, but connected for 30 points off BYU’s turnovers
compared to the Cougars’ 11 points off turnovers. BYU shot 33.9 percent
on the night compared to the Blue Demons’ 42.6 percent.
TELEVISION TIMETABLE
BYU Women’s Softball
BYU vs.
Tuesday, March 20 at
First Pitch: 6:00 pm Mtn Time
TV: BYUtv
BYU vs.
Friday, March 23 at
First Pitch: 6:00 pm Mtn Time
TV: BYUtv
BYU vs.
Doubleheader
Saturday, March 24 at
First Pitch: 1:30 pm Mtn Time
TV: BYUtv