HB Arnett’s
COUGAR SPORTSLINE
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hbarnett@fiber.net and hbarnett@xmission.com
Vol. 29,
Issue 24 – January 19, 2009
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DISAPPOINTMENT
AND DISAPPOINTMENT
There is the
disappointment of BYU losing its first MWC game, a 62-81 loss to
The Rebels are
actually coming off a win over
The disappointment
is based on the Rebels being the pre season pick to win it all in the Mountain
West Conference race this year only to stub their toe in their first two league
road games. UNLV lost to TCU in
Speaking of
pre-season picks, BYU's Lee Cummard and UNLV's Wink Adams were selected at
co-players of the year by the media.
It should be a
good matchup between two of the premier players in the league when they face
each other on Wednesday, Jan 21 in
UNLV will have plenty
of motivation and so should BYU. The Cougars will be intent on redeeming
themselves for a lackluster performance at
The game is set to
tip at 8 pm Mountain time and will be televised on CBS C.
Regardless of what
happens against the Rebels, BYU will still have their feet to the fire on
Saturday when they go up against
They get
Speaking of the
Lobos and the loss BYU suffered,
Jimmer Fredette
led the Cougars in scoring with 15 and Jonathan Tavernari added 13 points.
Conspicuously absent was Lee Cummard. He had just 7 points on 1-of-7 shooting
for the night.
MISSING
INGREDIENT?
It was a nice
seven-day stretch for BYU-bound Tyler Haws. All the 6-5 wing from Lone Peak HS
did was lead his team to three straight wins. He scored 33 and pulled down 19
rebounds in a 94-72 win over
When Lone Peak
defeated Pleasant Grove last Friday night, 64-57, it was a match up of two
Division I players. C.J. Wilcox, who is headed to the
We bring all of
this up because as good as Haws is in high school, we don't expect to see those
same prolific scoring numbers at the next level with BYU - at least early in
his career.
BYU has plenty of
scorers from the wing already, but what they don't have and haven't had since
Travis Hansen was in the program, is a player that can consistently get to the
foul line.
Attack
the Rim
They will get that
again with the arrival of Haws. He is a decent perimeter shooter, but not a great
one. His game is based on his ability to attack the rim and score from the open
court. He is a fixture at the foul line because he can get to the
rim whenever he wants. When he doesn't, it is because he has been hammered and
mugged and finds himself at the charity stripe.
In case you
haven't been paying attention, BYU is scoring a lot of points, but in crunch
time, they seldom get to the line.
We don't think it
is a coincidence that in the Cougars' three losses, their opponents all shot
more free throws.
Against ASU, the
Sun Devils had 31 attempts to BYU's 19.
In all three
losses, Lee Cummard has been a non-factor. He also has been missing in action
at the foul line in those same three games.
Against ASU,
Cummard was just 3-5 while James Harden, the Sun Devil star was 16-21 in the
same contest.
Jeff Teague of
As a team you can
take it further back to BYU's last three post season games, all of which were
losses. Last year against Texas A&M, the Aggies shot 17 free throws and BYU
13. Against Xavier, the previous year, the Musketeers shot 29 free throws to
just 13 for the Cougars. Against
Not in
Same League
Granted, Cummard
is not in the league of Teague and Harden, both of whom are sure-fire NBA first
round picks.
He is also not in
the same league when it comes to free throw attempts. Cummard as shot just 65
free throws in 17 games. Teague has 131 attempts and Harden has 149 tries in
the same amount of games.
A more fair talent
comparison would be found in the MWC.
Wink Adams, who
was selected as the preseason co-mvp, along with Cummard has shot 85 free
throws so far this season.
Jimmer Fredette,
BYU's best penetrator and most consistent player in getting to the front of the
rim, has just 51 free throw attempts on the season.
If you want to
make an in-house comparison, Cummard is currently averaging 3.8 free throw
attempts per game in this, his senior season.
Travis Hansen
attempted 204 free throw attempts during his final year of eligibility which
worked out to be 6.4 attempts per contest.
Convert
To BYU's credit,
when Cummard and Fredette do get to the line, they convert most of the time.
Cummard is currently shooting .831 from the charity stripe and Fredette
converts .843 of his attempts.
They just aren't getting
there often enough, especially in games against good teams.
BYU does get a few
free throw attempts from the post, but they aren't productive attempts. Chris
Miles has been at the line 43 times this year, but made just 19 free throws for
a .442 percentage. Gavin MacGregor has attempted 28 free throws and converted
just 16 for a .571 rate.
Those both are
Trent Plaisted-type percentages. The former BYU post player had no trouble
going to the line last season for the Cougars. He was there 260 times, but shot
only .542 on his free tosses.
Dave Rose is
always talking about attacking the basket and getting to the foul line, but
from our vantage point, it looks like he will have to wait until a player like
Haws arrives to get his wish.
Last
Thought
One last thought.
BYU currently has a player on the roster that does get to the free throw line
consistently and can covert. It takes some extreme extrapolation to make a case
for Archie Rose, but in just 100 minutes of action this season, Rose has attempted
25 free throws and made 21 of those attempts for a .840 shooting percentage.
Cummard has logged
510 minutes this year and that works out to a free throw attempt for every 7.8
minutes he is on the floor. Rose gets to the line every 4 minutes.
Travis Hansen went
to the line for every 5.02 minutes he was on the court. For the record,
Jonathan Tavernari, has played 511 minutes so far this season and attempted
just 28 free throws. That is one attempt for every 18.25 minutes he is on the
floor.
Again, it requires
some creative extrapolation, especially since complete stats for high school
games are hard to come by, but in the two game we personally watched Tyler Haws
play this season, he went to the line at an average of once for every 2 minutes
he was on the court. We would bet that over the current season he is probably
at the 3.75 minute or under ratio for free throws to minutes played.
That is an
incredible stat regardless at which level, high school, college or pro level,
it occurs.
NAMES
AND GAMES
BYU Volleyball...Timing is everything.
BYU finally gets a chance to host the NCAA Men's Volleyball Championship in
The Cougars are
currently just 2-3 on the year.
It wasn't much
better for the women's program. The Lady Cougars finished with a lackluster
14-12 record and a 7-9 losing resume in Mountain West Conference play.
Add another loss
to the record.
BYU was happy to
announce the signing of Kylin Munoz to a letter of intent in November when the
highly touted prep prospect from
She was touted as
the No. 6 volleyball recruit in the nation by prepvolleyball.com. It was a
major recruiting coup for first-year coach Shay Goulding to get Munoz from
under the noses of Washington, one of the top women's volleyball programs in
the nation.
Munoz recently
sent an email to the media in
"I have
received several inquiries and questions about where I will be attending
college next year. I am sending this email to let you know that I have asked
for a release from BYU and have decided to not play volleyball or attend the
university in 2009. My decision to forego playing for the cougars next year was
not made easily, but ultimately something I felt necessary for personal
reasons. I wish the BYU program and Coach Goulding the best of luck in their
volleyball future. I have applied to, and hope to attend, the
While she can
enroll at
BYU vs. USC...BYU football fans are
hoping that this is the year that the USC recruiting spell over BYU is broken.
In case you
haven't been paying attention, Pete Carroll and his Trojans have repeatedly
whipped the Cougars when it comes to signing the top LDS Polynesian prospects.
Hope springs
eternal and this year is no different. BYU has offers on the table to Xavier
Su'a Filo, an offensive lineman from Timpview HS in
The Cougars and
Bronco Mendenhall would desperately love to sign both. As history has shown,
however, if USC wants the same recruit, BYU's recruiting success is not good
when going head-to-head with the Trojans.
USC has already
snared one of the premier LDS juco talents when they received a commitment from
Hebron Fangupo, a defensive lineman from Mt. Sac JC in
Peter Carroll was
in the home of Su'a Filo on Sunday and Te'o has saved his last official visit
for USC later this month.
BYU thought they
had Unona Kavienga locked up last year only to have USC cast their spell.
Others that BYU coveted
that signed with USC include Duce Lutui, Kaluka Maiava, Stanley Havili, and
Christian Tupou.
All are LDS. Fili
Moala wasn't recruited by BYU, but he is LDS. Jordan Cameron is also LDS and on
the USC roster, but after signing with BYU in basketball, his stay was short
lived in
Because most of us
are too caught up in the BYU football scene, we have a hard time being
objective when it comes to the BYU-USC recruiting battle.
From what we have
seen and heard, it appears that those LDS Polynesian players that sign with
USC, have a good experience and enjoy their stay in
The BYU fan retort
always revolves around LDS missions. They are quick to point out that the
chances of these players serving LDS missions are diminished by going to USC.
Here
is another huge factor, in our opinion. Playing for the Trojans gives these
kids an NFL exposure.
We aren't talking
about actually playing in the league, but are talking about the NFL type
adoration and attention these kids receive from fans and the
Remember, there is
no NFL team in
Dave Rose was 6-0
against
We aren't going to
hold our breath.
BYU BASKETBALL EMPLOYEES...The
19-point loss to
Two ranked teams
that didn't lose on the road, actually helped the Cougars immensely this past
weekend.
Both
Wake went to No. 9
Clemson and in a battle of undefeated teams, stayed that way. The Demon Deacons
are now 16-0 on the year.
Both of those wins
will help BYU's strength of schedule and RPI.
ONE MORE
RECRUIT ON BOARD
Thomas Bryson, a
6-5, 215 pound defensive end/linebacker, committed to the Cougars this past
weekend.
He wasn't even on
the BYU recruiting radar until about a week ago. He visited BYU's campus this
past weekend and BYU offered. He had other offers from
He prepped at
Layton HS in
Also in for a
visit this past weekend was Cody Hoffman, a 6-3, 210 pound receiver/defensive
back from Del Norte HS in
He is not LDS and
as yet has not received an offer. That may change if BYU isn't able to land
their remaining "big three" on their priority signing list.
That refers to
Here is BYU's
current list of verbal commits.
Terry Alletto, OL, 6-3,
260, Ponderosa HS, CO
Trevor Bateman, DB, 5-11,
180,
Craig Bills, DB, 6-2,
205, Timpview HS, UT
Thomas Bryson, DE/LB,
6-3, 215,
Tui Crichton, OL, 6-4,
280, Timpview HS, UT
Jray Galea'i, DB, 6-0,
175, Kahuku HS, HI
Anthony Heimuli, RB,
5-11, 225,
Peni Maka'afi, RB, 5-10,
215,
Mitch Mathews, WR, 6-5,
195, Southridge HS, OR
Ryan Mulitalo, OL, 6-3,
285, Hunter HS, UT
Riley Nelson, QB, 6-1,
190, transfer from
Remington Peck, TE/LB,
6-5, 215, Bingham HS, UT
Brett Thompson, WR, 6-3,
210,
Adam Timo, RB, 6-1, 190,
Fono Vakalahi, OL, 6-4,
320,
Kyle Van Noy, LB, 6-4,
215, McQueen HS, NV
Brad Wilcox, OL, 6-7,
240, North HS, OK
Richard Wilson, TE, 6-3,
225, Spanish Fork HS, UT
TELEVISION
TIMETABLE
BYU vs.
UNLV
Wed, Jan 21 at
Tipoff: 8:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: CBS C
BYU vs.
SDSU
Sat, Jan 24 at
Tipoff: 7:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: Mtn
BYU vs.
Tue, Jan 27 at
Tipoff: 8:00 pm Mountain
Time
TV: Mtn