HB Arnett’s
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West 800 South –
Vol. 33,
Issue 17 – November 26, 2012
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Jabari Parker
Sweepstakes
This Coming Saturday is More Important
than Last Saturday
BYU coaches and BYU fans pulled out all the stops last Saturday night in hopes of enticing Jabari Parker, the LDS basketball phenom to sign a letter of intent with BYU for next season.
Parker was making his official recruiting visit to BYU last weekend. It went well.
Parker had a good time. He looked amused and appreciative of the fan support and the tee shirts that were printed and worn to get his attention.
He hung out with current team members and even spent time with potential team members as evidenced by the Nick Emery instagram photo below.
It features from left to right, Dalton Nixon, T.J. Haws, Jabari Parker, Nick Emery and Eric Mika. Emery and Mika have both officially signed with BYU and Haws and Nixon, both of whom will juniors this coming season, have verbally committed to play for the Cougars.
Getting acquainted with Dave Rose and his staff during Parker’s visit was not difficult. Parker and Rose have a relationship that goes back a while.
Signing with BYU will not be about coaching and fan support. It will not be about academics and environment. While those are all important, the one key element that will put BYU over the top, in my opinion, has to do with players.
Parker and Players
Parker, and any top-ranked national recruit, wants to know with whom they will be playing. They also want to know if those players are any good and will give them a chance of playing college basketball at the highest level.
In case you forgot, Sonny Parker, Jabari’s dad, has incessantly been telling any media outlet that will listen that his son’s choice of college will be based on academics, coaching relationships, environment and a chance to win a national championship.
Again, I can’t speak for Parker and I certainly can’t speak
for him when it comes to what he saw last Saturday night in the
What I will speak to is what I saw on the court. Except for Tyler Haws, it is my opinion that there wasn’t a player on the current BYU roster Saturday night that says national championship, let alone WCC championship.
Guys like Nate Austin, Ian Harward, Matt Carlino, Josh Sharp and Anson Winder try and play hard, but BYU is not going anywhere above ordinary with that group of players as a core.
Now Tyler Haws and Jabari Parker is another story, but Haws by himself, isn’t going to sway Parker’s decision.
Nice and Successful
That is why, again in my opinion, last Saturday’s Parker visit was nice and successful in fulfilling the coaching, environment and academic requirements for Parker, but the player part of Parker’s paradigm he is looking for at BYU isn’t where it should be.
That is why this coming Saturday in
Parker knows and Dave Rose knows that other than Tyler Haws, the
players that could really entice Parker to
The players Parker and his family will be eyeing when it comes to BYU
will be those on the Lone Peak HS basketball roster who will be playing in the
same gym as Parker’s
Actually, it appears that Parker will not be playing and is still
nursing his broken foot. That won’t stop him from hanging out with the
Dave Rose made sure that Nick Emery, Eric Mika, T.J. Haws and Dalton
Nixon of Orem HS, were all present and accounted for with Parker’s visit
in
I would also bet money that Rose showed plenty of tape to Parker that showed Kyle Collinsworth playing the point for BYU.
This Parker visit was not about watching the current BYU basketball team, with the exception of Tyler Haws. It was all about introducing T.J. Haws, Nick Emery and Eric Mika.
Lone Peak HS will open their season this Wednesday night at home against Brighton HS. They then will travel to Chicago for a Saturday afternoon matchup in the Chicago Elite Classic with Proviso East HS with the tip set for 1:30 pm Mountain Time.
Proviso East was the
Absent in
Dave Rose won’t be there for the game. He will be in
While Rose won’t be their physically, you can bet that his hopes
for landing Parker will certainly be in
A good showing by Mika is especially important. It is no secret that
the Cougars have no post presence for next year based on what is currently on
the roster. Mika and Luke Worthington of
The Chicago Elite Classic will feature six games pitting
Last season,
They did it without any post presence. Now they have Mika in the middle.
No TV
There is no television coverage planned for the games, but here is the official announcement for the CE Classic put out by the organizers of the event.
The inaugural
Session One:
9 a.m. - Phillips vs. DeLaSalle (
11 a.m. - Normal U-High vs.
12:45 p.m. -
2:30 p.m. - Proviso East vs. Lone Peak (
Session Two:
6:30 p.m. - Whitney Young vs. DeMatha (
8 p.m. - Simeon vs. Milton (
“From Isaiah Thomas to Derrick Rose, when student
athletes from around the country think of great high school basketball, they
think of
“We are thrilled to team up with Whitney Young and host
some of the best teams in the country,” Simeon head coach Rob Smith said.
“
“We are so thankful to our partner Simeon and
especially to Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the City of Chicago for their support of
the Chicago Elite Classic,” Whitney Young head coach Tyrone Slaughter
said. “The community has rallied around our effort and it speaks volumes
about the passion for high school basketball in the city. Combining the talent
that
Hee Haws! No Guffaws, But Great Play
by Sophomore Sensation
I don’t know if Jabari Parker was paying attention (See article
above). But I was and you can bet that Cal State Northridge coach Bobby
Braswell also was engaged in what Tyler Haws was doing to his Matador team.
Braswell and his CSUN club came to
What Haws did Saturday night in
He did it the old fashion way. He did it the way Jimmer Fredette used
to do it by scoring 32 points and making big baskets when they were really
needed.
He used an assortment of long range bombs, clutch baskets at the rim
and his patented mid range jumper. He finished his night going 9-17 from the
field, including 2-4 from beyond the arc. He also was 12-12 from the free throw
line.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that by now, every opposing
coach on BYU’s schedule this year is also paying attention to Haws.
They will start planning their defenses around him. That means he needs
help and will need it soon from teammates if BYU is going to get wins and be a
threat in WCC play beginning in January.
It looks like Rose has found a serviceable solution at the point guard
position. He now starts Craig Cusick and brings Matt Carlino off the bench.
Despite being 0-for-eternity from beyond the arc, Carlino actually
played one of his better games against CSUN. He is now 1-17 from three point
land on the year.
That has to improve based on history. Last season Carlino finished the
year shooting 41-124 from beyond the arc. That was a .331 shooting percentage.
He currently is at just under 6 percent shooting from long range.
Next up for the Cougars will be
The Grizzlies are currently 3-1 on the year defeating WCC member
UNC 2 BYU 1
Grit and Determination Actually Means
Something in Women’s Soccer
The BYU Women’s soccer teamed bowed out of their hunt for a
national championship last Friday night at South Field in a 2-1 double overtime
loss to
They didn’t do so gracefully...except in post game interviews.
They did it with real grit and determination and were just one grain of grit
away from moving on to the Final Four this coming weekend in
Grit and determination has taken a beating lately when it comes to BYU
athletics. Instead of a paradigm to rally around, it has become a parody that
Cougar fans cite to express their concern for a football season that has gone
south.
Grit made a comeback for BYU Friday night against the dynasty of
That is because there was real talent on the BYU women’s soccer
roster to back up that grit. That talent wasn’t squandered on a
“woulda, coulda, shoulda” season but was manifested magnificently
by a 20-2-2 final record.
Grit without production has made Cougar fans a little leery for the
future of football.
Grit, with real talent and real production on the pitch has many Cougar
fans giddy for the continued success of Women’s soccer in
Actually success in
What used to be a fan base just beyond family and friends, hasn’t
yet gone global, but it has made giant strides in attracting much deserved
interest from many living outside the parameters of
That should continue to pay dividends in exposure and success in
recruiting and maintaining the current ground swell of success in the soccer
program.
In volleyball, the No. 12 seeded BYU Women’s team will host first
and second round matches in NCAA tournament action this Friday and Saturday in
Provo.
BYU will meet
The women finished their regular season as co-champions of the WCC
(13-3) and with an overall record of 26-3.
In addition to BYU, five other teams from the West Coast Conference
received NCAA invites in volleyball.
Here is a short clip from the WCC official announcement of the invites:
The conference's six bids is tied for the WCC's most ever, tying its previous record set back in 2003. The Big Ten Conference and the Pacific-12 Conference led all conferences with seven bids each. The WCC was next with six teams representing the league in the NCAA Tournament.
BYU, the
WCC's automatic qualifier and co-champion of the conference, will host
ACCOUNTABILITY ISN’T A ONE-WAY STREET
Accountability Avenue isn’t a one-way street. Traffic should be moving in both directions.
Bronco Mendenhall is the perfect traffic cop when it comes to accountability, as long as he has the whistle in his mouth. He holds players accountable when they violate team rules. Just ask Joe Sampson and Zac Stout.
He holds assistant coaches accountable when they aren’t performing up to his standards. Just ask Jaime Hill.
He
appears to still hold BYU football fans accountable for their lack of football
knowledge and for booing him in his first game against
Make a mistake and you should be held accountable. Except if your name is Mendenhall and somebody else is blowing the whistle against you. Then accountability appears to be optional.
Mistakes have been made this season when it comes to quarterback play at BYU. Mistakes were made by Mendenhall.
He still appears to not accept accountability for those mistakes. Saying things like I would do it all the same way again, is not accountability. It appears to be more arrogance than accountability.
Okay, the “Beat up Bronco” moment has come and gone. He isn’t going to acknowledge accountability for sub par quarterback play this year.
BYU fans won’t be allowed to have their “I told you so” moment because it won’t be acknowledged by Bronco.
But before we let the Beat up Bronco moment go entirely and move on to next season, we must acknowledge the crescendo of criticism for Mendenhall that was evident last Saturday in Las Cruces and accentuated by the play of James Lark.
The CofC (Crescendo of Criticism) for Mendenhall featured some fortissimo football turned in by James Lark. The senior back up to Riley Nelson completed 34-50 passes for 384 yards and six touchdowns. It was a display of Déjà vu BYU football. You remember those days when the ball came out on time and hit receivers on the numbers and in their hands, don’t you?
Granted, it was performed on an off-Broadway stage against an awful and off-Broadway team in New Mexico State, but any way you cut it or stage it, a 50-14 win over NMSU was music to the ears and manna from heaven for the eyes of quarterback starved BYU football fans.
Lark was lent a helping hand by wide receiver Cody Hoffman. The junior wide out had five of the touchdown passes thrown by Lark and left the game with 12 catches for 182 yards.
With the
win, BYU finishes the regular season with a 7-5 record and will now face
This season was a major disappointment, but it is over. Bronco is still going to be the football coach at BYU next season.
As long
as he is the traffic cop with the whistle in his mouth on
Like it or not, Beating up Bronco and going against his grain and the one-way flow of traffic isn’t going to change. We might as well fall in line with his way of thinking and fall in line with the one way traffic flow.
It is his way or the highway and the sooner we get in line on that one way street, the happier we will be as BYU football fans.
Bronco
isn’t going to change. For those who want to foment the Beat Up Bronco
theme, they will have plenty of help next season with Notre Dame,
The Beat up Bronco movement for this year is dead. May it rest in peace for another 9 months until we see who he anoints as his quarterback next fall.
Television Timetable
BYU vs.
Creighton (women)
Wednesday, Nov 28 at
Tipoff: 3:00 pm Mountain Time
TV: BYUtv
BYU vs.
Wednesday, Nov 28 at
Tipoff: 7:00 pm Mountain Time
TV: BYUtv
BYU vs.
Saturday, Dec 1 at
Tipoff: Noon Mountain Time
TV: Cyclones.tv (on line pay per view)
BYU vs.
Tuesday, Dec 4 at
Tipoff: 7:00 pm Mountain Time
TV: BYUtv
BYU vs.
Wednesday, Dec 5 at
Tipoff: 7:00 pm Mountain Time
TV: BYUtv
BYU vs.
Saturday, Dec 8 at
Tipoff: 7:00 pm Mountain Time
TV: BYUtv
BYU vs.
Saturday, Dec 15 at
Tipoff: 7:00 pm Mountain Time
TV: BYUtv
BYU vs.
Tuesday, Dec 18 at
Tipoff: 7:00 pm Mountain Time
TV: BYUtv
BYU vs.
Baylor
Friday, Dec 21 at
Tipoff: 7:00 pm Mountain Time
TV: ESPN2