HB Arnett’s
801
372 - 0819
1391
West 800 South –
Vol. 33,
Issue 32 – March 4, 2013
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Arranging
the Alphabet for BYU Basketball
BYU making another
appearance in the NCAA tournament this year is about as likely as me writing
this newsletter using the Cyrillic Alphabet. Neither will happen.
For BYU to get the
automatic WCC invite to the Big Dance, they will have to not only beat either
An NCAA tournament invite
is about as Cyrillic and surreal as it can get for the Cougars. Barring a
miracle in
They most likely will include
these letters of the alphabet: NIT, CBI or even the CIT.
That would be the
National Invitational Tournament, The College Basketball Invitational and of
course the College Insider Tournament.
All would be ETS and ETM
options for BYU.
That stands for extend
the season and extend the misery.
PFM is BYU’s best
option. That stands for pray for miracle in
Click
here for the official WCC post season tournament brackets, start times
(Pacific Time) and television options for both BYU’s men and
women’s teams.
BYU
Basketball…Handling the Truth
Jack Nicholson made the
quote “You can’t handle the truth” one of cinemas’ most
oft quoted lines in the movie A Few Good Men.
Nicholson is not a
basketball analyst, but he has likely stayed in a Holiday Inn before and has
front row seats to LA Lakers’ games. Those credentials unknowingly made
him a great analyst for describing BYU basketball this season: The Cougars were
“A Few Good Men” short, especially against good teams.
Basically, BYU had a
decent post player and a good three man in Brandon Davies and Tyler Haws. That
was good enough for 21 wins to date against the Mary Poppins on the schedule, but it was Gone with the Wind against the good teams
the Cougars faced this season.
It is just my opinion,
but if you are counting, BYU and Dave Rose had no 1, 2 or 4 man good enough to
beat decent to good teams this season.
It may be time for Rose
to start handling the truth.
BYU won’t and
can’t beat the two best teams in the West Coast Conference with its
present production at the point guard position. Over two seasons that seems to
be proven. Again, this is just my opinion, but there will be no WCC
championship in BYU’s future until the point guard spot is settled,
handled and upgraded.
Decision
Making
Matt Carlino, when he is
on his game, can shoot and get to the basket, but his decision making as a
point guard when games against good teams are on the line, sometimes seems
suspect. Again that is just my opinion. And it may also be Dave Rose’s
opinion based on the bench time Carlino has seen in recent games.
Handling the truth may
mean that Carlino and BYU’s future records may be better served if he was
moved to a shooting guard and put out to pasture at the point.
Again, he has at times
looked spectacular as a point guard, against teams, like BYU, that are a few
good men short on their roster, but against teams like Saint Mary’s and
Gonzaga, his line, in my opinion, is certainly not a box office hit.
In Carlino’s
defense, which is actually one of his strong suites, and in defense of Dave
Rose, Carlino is probably still the best option there is at the point this
season for the Cougars. It just isn’t good enough to beat good teams and
seriously compete for a WCC championship.
BYU’s biggest
player, Nate Austin, is a guy whose game is based on effort and hustle, but
after two years in the program, he still can’t defend anybody or score in
the low post. And he still likes to float away from the basket on offense and
doesn’t appear to have gotten stronger since he showed up as a true
freshman and back from an LDS mission.
No Noah
He, along with Josh Sharp
and Agustin Ambrosino were all tried at the four spot this season. None were
Noah Hartsock.
Hartsock averaged 16.8
points per game and 5 rebounds per contest his senior year. To date this
season,
A few more good men will
make BYU a better team. That’s why there is that thing called recruiting.
There needs to be some serious upgrades up and down the roster.
Unfortunately, Rose and
his staff can’t wait for the
Carlino, at the two, may
be one answer at shooting guard. The juco prospect from
At the point, Kyle
Collinsworth returning from an LDS mission will get a try. Even a juco point
wouldn’t hurt.
That leaves the 4.
Big
Bodies
BYU is getting two big
bodies next season in freshmen Eric Mika and Luke Worthington.
Mika might be a
possibility at the 4 because
I definitely see both
Mika and
Unless Rose and BYU make
some serious upgrades to the roster for next season, then another Jack
Nicholson movie, As Good as it Gets,
will not only describe this season, but next year as well.
Unfortunately for BYU
basketball fans, if this is as good as it gets, it won’t be good enough
to compete for a WCC title or earn an NCAA post season bid.
ONLY
There will be plenty of
interesting stories coming out of spring football this year, but only two
really matter.
Bronco Mendenhall and
BYU’s two main priorities are first finding a quarterback that can play
to the level of other past and productive Cougar quarterbacks, and then finding
an offensive line that can protect him.
It’s really that
simple.
All other aspects of the
BYU football team will work themselves out before the start of the season in
the fall.
But there will be no
season worth watching unless the Cougars can come up with a quarterback and an
offensive line to protect him.
Johnny Manziel, last
season’s Heisman Trophy winner, is already taken and playing at Texas
A&M. That means BYU’s options are narrowed to Taysom Hill, Ammon
Olson and Jason Munns.
Actually, Tanner Mangum
and Billy Green will both be getting reps this spring, but neither is an option
for the fall. Green is just like his name. He is green and Mangum will be
leaving for an LDS mission later this spring.
The real story is
Hill’s knee. He will be off limits to contact this coming month. But you
can be assured that he won’t be off limits to post practice training
staff and doctors to see how the repaired knee responds to a month of drills.
The equal opportunity
mantra coming from the new offensive coaching staff is that it’s a clean
slate for all quarterbacks and all will have a chance to prove themselves.
Just like in life, equal
opportunity has a nice ring to it, but it usually isn’t real. Same
with BYU football. Barring Olsen or Munns having a Johnny Football
(Manziel) like spring practice, BYU is already invested knee (literally) deep
in Hill being the guy.
There will be plenty of
stories about the progress the offensive line is making, but the real test will
be in the fall for this group.
BYU basically evaluated
the offensive line and found it wanting as evidenced by their signing a boat
load of new juco linemen.
Most of them won’t
be available until the fall.
If there is a third
priority, it probably is to find somebody to get BYU back in the tight end
business.
Since Dennis Pitta,
BYU’s tight end play has been suspect at best. If nobody emerges this spring,
fall won’t be any different and BYU will then be in its fourth year of a
tight end drought.
One tight end from last
year won’t be competing for the job. Austin Holt, who injured his knee
last season, is switching positions and will give the defensive line a try this
spring. Also, Blair Tushaus, who at times started at center, is transferring
from the program.
Bronson Kaufusi
won’t be joining the team until the BYU basketball season is complete.
That shouldn’t take long.
Jacob Hanneman, a true
freshman defensive back and returned missionary, will split his spring between
baseball and football. Hannemann is the starting centerfielder for the Cougars.
BYU will practice this
spring on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and hold a public full scrimmage in the
stadium for fans on Saturday, March 30. Drills will conclude the following week
on April 5.
FOOTBALL
FLUFF AND STUFF
Bronco Mendenhall named a
defensive first counselor for his coaching staff last week.
The actual announcement
said that Nick Howell, the assistant coach over defensive backs, was named as
the new defensive coordinator for BYU.
In reality, Bronco is
still the Bishop of the BYU defense, but now he can delegate some of his
responsibilities when needed to Howell.
It is still Mendenhall, however,
that will continue calling the plays and doing the heavy lifting.
Howell, who was the coach
over special teams, will be replaced in that position by Kelly Poppinga.
Robert Anae was also
named assistant head coach last week by Mendenhall. In other news, I was called
as my ward’s new hymn book coordinator. It is not a job title that is as
glamorous as assistant head coach, but the job descriptions are similar.
In an announcement that
actually means something, Mendenhall also said that he is in negotiations with
BYU for a contract extension. He last signed a three year deal that would
expire at the end of the coming season.
It is now apparent that
Mendenhall is interested in being employed long term as BYU’s head coach.
Sammy
Sosa and St. George
Former Chicago Cubs
slugger Sammy Sosa once said, "Baseball has been very, very good to
me." Actually, in his Dominican accent, all recorded sound bites of his
comments sounded like he was saying that baseball was actually "berry,
berry" good to him.
Here’s a thought.
When it comes to college baseball, St. George and BYU could actually be
“berry, berry” good for each other.
Mike Littlewood, the new
BYU baseball coach, has connections and a coaching history in St. George. He
was the head guy for years at
With his connections, the
Cougars have already spent the preseason practicing in St. George. This past
week they played a three game series with Creighton on
Why not take it a step
further and instead of playing early season road games ad nauseam as usual,
make St. George the early season home for BYU baseball.
There is a big enough
population of BYU fans in the area and it would be a good tandem for fans up
north to parlay a little golf and baseball into a nice weekend getaway.
How about BYU coming up
with some cash to install lights at the
BYU could team up with
UNLV, just 120 miles south of St. George to entice teams to play both schools
on the same road trip.
The NCAA isn’t
going to move the season to accommodate cold weather baseball schools. With
And, it apparently
doesn’t hurt the win-loss record. BYU took two of three games from the
Blue Jays of Creighton last Friday and Saturday. The Cougars split a double
header on Friday 9-0 and 1-5. They came back Saturday to take a 14-5 win over
the Jays.
BYU
Volleyball is Still Very, Very Good
Like the aforementioned
Sammy Sosa, volleyball has recently been very, very good for the BYU
men’s team.
The Cougars pulled off an
incredible come from behind win over then No. 1 UC Irvine lat Friday in
Next up for the Cougars are
matches on Friday and Saturday in
Making
Good on Promise
I promised a subscriber
last week that I would mention that BYU defeated
This week BYU was in
Television
Timetable
BYU vs.
TBA (Women BB
Friday, March 8 at
Tipoff: 1:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: BYUtv
BYU vs
TBA (Men’s BB)
Friday, March 8 at
Tipoff: 9:30 pm Mountain
Time
TV: ESPNU
BYU vs.
Friday, Mar 8 at
Start: 7:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: BYUtv
BYU vs.
Saturday, Mar 9 at
Start: 7:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: BYUtv
Radio
BYU vs.
UC Irvine (Baseball)
Thursday, March 7 at
First Pitch: 3:00 pm
Mountain Time
Radio: KOVO 960 AM
BYU vs.
UC Irvine (Baseball)
Friday, March 8 at
First Pitch: 3:00 pm Mountain
Time
Radio: KOVO 960 AM
BYU vs.
UC Irvine (Baseball)
Saturday, March 9 at
First Pitch: Noon
Mountain Time
Radio: KOVO 960 AM