HB Arnett’s
COUGAR SPORTSLINE
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hbarnett@fiber.net and hbarnett@xmission
Vol. 28,
Issue 29, February 19, 2008
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BYU
TAKES TWO GAME LEAD IN MWC RACE
BYU took another
big step towards repeating as Mountain West Conference basketball champs this
last Saturday when they trounced UNLV in
The win puts BYU
at a 9-1 record in conference play and a 20-5 mark on the overall season.
The victory also
avenged BYU's most embarrassing loss of the season, a 70-4 setback to the
Rebels in
UNLV is still in
second place in the league standings, but now is two full games back with an
8-3 record.
BYU's big two of
Trent Plaisted and Lee Cummard led the Cougars in avenging the previous loss to
the Rebels.
Plaisted had 22
points and Cummard added 18.
Jimmer Fredette
came off the bench to play 24 minutes and add 9 points.
The Cougars now
will get a chance to all but put the league title on ice this Wednesday when
The Utes are on a
roll with four straight wins under their belt and a 6-4 conference record. They
are 15-8 overall.
The Utes will try
and make this a half court game and get the ball down low to their 7-foot post
man Luke Nevill.
If BYU has to
double the big Australian, the outside shooting of Utes Johnnie Bryant and
Lawrence Borha could become a factor.
BYU's 53-50 win in
If the Cougars get
by the Utes, it would give them a 10-1 conference mark with just 5 games
remaining.
After the Utes,
BYU will have little time to catch their breath. The Cougars hit the road for a
game with
IT'S
That's the phrase
we used to describe our disappointment with BYU's 73-70 loss to
How could BYU blow
a double digit halftime lead to the Broncos?
It's
Don't look now,
but the Broncos are currently 19-6 on the year and, as of this weekend, hold
down first place in the WAC with a half game lead.
Big deal. It's
still
What is a big
deal, however, is as of Monday of this week, ESPN's Joe Lunardi, he of
bracketology notoriety, had the Broncos in his brackets as a NCAA tournament
invite and a 14 seed.
A complete perusal
of Lunardi's latest projections, showed that of the five teams that BYU has
lost to during this season, all but one are projected as Big Dance
participants.
He currently
doesn't have
Lunardi also has a
couple of teams that BYU has defeated as dancers. He has Lousiville as a 4 seed
and Lamar currently squeaking in as a 16 seed.
What about BYU?
Glad you asked. Lunardi in his latest projection has BYU as a 7 seed and
matched up against
Get Out
Your Map
NCAA selections
and seedings will be officially made March 16, but sites and dates for the
tourney have already been set in stone.
Because of BYU's
"No Sunday Play" stance, the available sites and dates in which BYU
can play are automatically constricted. BYU's opening round game can only be
played at "Thursday-Saturday" sites that feed into the only two
"Thursday-Saturday Regional sites at either
Blood
Pressure Going Up, But RPI Coming Down
You can bet that
Dave Rose and his assistant coaches' blood pressure is going up as the season
winds down and games become more critical and intense as league teams jockey
for seeding in the upcoming MWC post season tournament in Las Vegas.
While the blood
pressure may be rising, BYU's RPI rating is lowering.
That is a very
good thing.
As of early this
week, heading into the
RPI is an
acronym for Ratings Percentage Index and is a formula used by the NCAA
Tournament selection committed to help them rate teams. The lower the RPI, the
better the team.
The formula is a
little convoluted, but basically 1/4 of the rating is determined by a team's
winning percentage, 1/2 of the equation includes a team's opponent's winning
percentage and another 1/4 of the formula is made up of an opponents'
opponents' winning percentage.
Just look it up on
the internet and save yourself the math.
BASKETBALL
NAMES AND GAMES
Noah Hartsock...It depends on the kind
of shape he can get in by next fall and the start of the 2008-09 season, but
BYU will be getting a major offensive force added to the roster when Noah
Hartsock, the 6-8 forward from Bartlesville, Oklahoma enrolls as a freshman.
He will be coming
off a two-year LDS Spanish speaking mission in
We can make this
assessment with more qualification that most BYU fans.
We have actually
seen Hartsock play at least 7 games two summers ago in
The game that
impressed us the most was a quarterfinal game against EBO, a loaded AAU team
from
This team was
stacked with talent. Stanford's twin 7-foot towers, Robin and Brook Lopez were
on the roster along with Quincy Pondexter, who is currently at
Hartsock was on a
team from
Hartsock was a
scoring machine. He would post up low on the block against the Lopez twins and
do a couple of nice up and unders. When EBO started to double him down low, he
would use the Jonathan Tavernari step-back fade and nail jumpers over their
heads. He has legitimate range out to 20 feet.
Point Guard Pool...Jimmer Fredette is
seeing more time at the point because he is the best current option that BYU
has to create off the dribble and get to the basket.
Even when he isn't
at the point, Fredette still provides the option of taking a defender off the
dribble.
BYU is still
looking at the juco ranks for a point. If they can find one that they think is
significantly better than Morgan or Fredette, we expect them to try and sign
him.
Jeremy Olsen...BYU has reportedly
offered Jeremy Olsen a scholarship. He is 6-10 and is a junior out of Collin
Hills HS in
We watched him
play three games this past summer in
He has a body to
be a banger, but he was on a team called the Worldwide Renegades out of
Olsen isn't
athletic enough to play that way.
We also observed
in Vegas that he had family in attendance, one of which was wearing a t-shirt
that prominently stated, "Friends don't let friends go to BYU"
We aren't holding
our breath on this one.
Comparing The Two...While we are
talking about players that we have watched at AAU tourneys in Las Vegas this
past summer, we were able to get some good looks at two local prospects that
were on the same team.
Jace Tevita is a
6-3 guard from Brighton HS who has signed with
Charles Abouo is
6-5, and much, much more athletic with a huge upside. He signed with BYU in
November and will join the team in the fall. He prepped at Logan HS a year ago.
Abouo has a body
like Lorenzo Wade of
He is making
strides in improving his outside shooting this year while playing at Brewster
Prep in
BYU MVP...If we had to pick a team MVP
right now, our choice would be Lee Cummard. He has done it all for the Cougars,
but the stat that sealed the deal for us was one we heard last week.
Cummard is
currently scoring at a 16.2 points per game average in league play. More
importantly, Cummard is currently averaging 19.6 points in conference road
games. As you know, Mountain West Conference basketball championships are won
on the road. That is where Cummard has been needed the most and been at his
best.
GET A LOOK...If you want to get a
glimpse of BYU and Utah basketball coaches next week, take a trip to Ogden
during the 5A and 4A state basketball tournaments.
Just check out the
brackets and game schedules. Look for games involving
The state tourney
kicks off Monday, Feb. 25 for the 5A bracket and begins Tuesday, Feb. 26 in 4A.
State title games
for both brackets will be played on Saturday, Mar. 1.
2008-09 BYU BASKETBALL ROSTER...Here's
a look at a preliminary BYU Basketball roster for next season.
Charles Abouo, 6-5, 215,
Wing, freshman
James Anderson, 6-11,
220, Center, redshirt freshman
Lee Cummard, 6-7, 190,
Wing, senior
Jackson Emery, 6-3, 180,
Guard, sophomore
Noah Hartsock, 6-8, 205,
Forward, freshman
Jimmer Fredette, 6-2,
190, Guard, sophomore
Michael Loyd, Jr., 6-1,
175, Guard, sophomore
Gavin MacGregor, 6-10,
235, Center, junior
Chris Miles, 6-11, 235,
Center, junior
Lamont Morgan, Jr., 5-10,
170, Guard, junior
Matt Pinegar, 6-0, 185,
Guard, redshirt freshman
Trent Plaisted, 6-11,
245, Center, senior
Archie Rose, 6-5, 205,
Wing, senior
Jonathan Tavernari, 6-6,
215, Wing, junior
It still wouldn't surprise
us to see BYU add maybe one more recruit to their roster for next year. Dave
Rose and his staff are always looking at the juco ranks in hopes of improving
the talent on the team. At this point, we don't see any signs of BYU adding a
high school player during the April signing period.
OTHER
SPORTS
The BYU baseball
season kicks off this week with a three-game series for the Cougars against
Coach Vance Law
expects to have an explosive offensive team this season, but he will be hard
pressed to come up with the same quality of pitching which he had last season.
In Men's
volleyball, the Cougars remain undefeated after defeating UC Irvine twice last
week in
The Cougars
defeated the defending National Champions 3-2 and 3-1 to run their season
record to 11-0.
TELEVISION
TIMETABLE
BYU vs.
Wednesday, Feb. 20 at
Tipoff: 8:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: Mtn
BYU vs.
Saturday, Feb. 23 at
Tipoff: 9:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: CSTV
BYU vs.
Tuesday, Feb. 26 at
Tipoff: 8:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: Mtn
BYU vs.
Air Force
Saturday, Mar. 1 at
Tipoff: 7:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: none
BYU vs.
Wednesday, Mar. 5 at
Tipoff: 8:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: Mtn
BYU vs
TCU
Saturday, Mar. 8 at
Tipoff: 6:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: Mtn
Rebroadcasts
Here is a list of games
that will be rebroadcast in the Utah Market only on KBYU:
BYU-Utah: Saturday, Feb.
23, 10:00 pm
BYU-New
BYU-Wyoming: Saturday,
Mar 8, 11:30 pm
BYU-TCU: Wednesday, Mar.
12, 10:30 pm