801 372 - 0819 <mailto:hbarnett@fiber.net> hbarnett@fiber.net 1391 West 800 South - Orem, Utah 84058 Vol. 36, Issue 25 - January 25, 2016 Click Here To Order or Renew Your Subscriptions <http://cougarclicks.com/product/Order-Cougar-Sportsline?ID=3173> I received the following from a subscriber after the Saturday loss to Pepperdine. I have reprinted other emails from him before. He has asked that his name not be used and I'm not inclined to use it either because if he ever started up his own newsletter, he would put me out of business. Subpar Post Play, and Contra Collinsworth At some point you have to ask: Why is this BYU team so uninspiring? Why does it lose to marginal teams like Portland (#223, Pomeroy), Pepperdine (#117, Pomeroy), and Long Beach State (#100, Pomeroy)? This team isn't going anywhere. It isn't terrible, but it isn't good either, and nothing exciting is going to happen this season. There's even less suspense than usual for a Dave Rose team. Why? Well, there are lots of reasons. One reason is that BYU doesn't have a reliable scorer in the post. Davis, Kaufusi, and Austin were a combined 5-14 shooting against Pepperdine. When your big men can't score, it makes it a lot easier to defend everyone else. And it makes your team vulnerable to a bad shooting night. You can't run an in-out offense with any credibility. Kyle Davis is a huge upgrade from Worthington last year, for sure. Davis actually rebounds better, on a per-minutes-played basis, than Jakob Poeltl. But no BYU big man scores like Poeltl, who makes 64% of his field goals and scores as much as Davis and Austin combined. Good big men are always hard to find, and they always seem to be a little harder for Dave Rose to find. Then. . . there's Collinsworth. We keep hearing about how great he is, and Greg Wrubell loves to wallow in Collinsworth's statistics. But there's only one statistic that really counts--wins. Collinsworth isn't doing so well in that department. And there are some other statistics too, that don't get played up as much as raw points, rebounds, and assists. Mainly, Collinsworth is not an efficient player. He piles up numbers, but he doesn't do it in a way that is terribly helpful. For example, Collinsworth has taken 23 three-point shots this year. He's made four of them. He's hurt BYU by taking those shots. When you know you can't make a shot, but you keep taking it anyway, it's like a turnover. And speaking of turnovers, Collinsworth has 69 of them. That's a freaking lot of turnovers. Yes, Collinsworth handles the ball a lot. But other, better ball-handlers do that, and they don't turn the ball over. This year, Collinsworth has 151 assists, 44 steals, and 69 turnovers. Back in 2010-2011, Jackson Emery had 97 assists, 101 steals, and only 35 turnovers. Emery had 2.5 times as many steals as Collinsworth, but half as many turnovers. Emery was probably a more valuable player. (Steals are the most important stat, and a turnover is like a steal for the other team.) Another example: two years ago, Matt Carlino had 70 turnovers for the entire season--about the same number as Collinsworth has now. Carlino also had 61 steals (compared to Collinsworth's 44) and 151 assists (the same number as Collinsworth now). Carlino had a reputation as a sloppy guy with the basketball, and Rose benched him. But he was more careful than Collinsworth. He was a more efficient player. Both Emery and Carlino scored at about the same rate as Collinsworth. To be blunt: Collinsworth is probably overrated. He's a nice player and I'm glad BYU has him. And Collinsworth is far from the only problem on this team. But people are hypnotized by his "triple doubles" and other bulk numbers. The fact is that he's a fairly chaotic player. He produces lots of highlights, but you can't run a coherent offense with him. He's not careful with the basketball. He's a poor outside shooter, and while his free throw shooting has improved, it's still only 67%. If you want to know why this BYU team is ordinary, one big reason why is that its signature player isn't quite as good as people think he is. My Reply and Response I didn't reply personally to this subscriber because I was engaged in other matters on Sunday. Now its Monday so I will just respond via the newsletter and let the rest of you listen in. Dear FNC (Future Newsletter Competitor), I agree, as a player and pro prospect, Collinsworth is overrated. But he certainly is entertaining. You and I have exchanged viewpoints on movies before. Both of our choices in films tend to be a little eclectic. But we know what we like. He's not eclectic, but I like Bruce Willis movies. He is not a great actor and never going to win an Oscar, but he does sell tickets and is entertaining to watch on the big screen. He is a lot like Collinsworth. He tends to be reckless in his roles, cocky and flamboyant, but he is a very good entertainer. To me that is also what Collinsworth is. He is flamboyant, a little cocky and entertaining to watch. He will never win an Oscar or play in the NBA, but I still like to see him play. When it comes to BYU's post play, we agree. There is nothing that I have seen recently that is worth the price of admission. I know there are tons of fans that are excited for the future of BYU basketball in the post, but I'm not one of them. It's like watching movie trailers. You know that they include the best parts of the movie to entice you to buy a ticket. Here's my trailer takes on BYU's future in the post over the next few years. Kyle Davis.Fundamentally sound and a hard worker. He actually has some polished post moves, they just don't produce at a high enough scoring rate, especially against bigger post defenders. Eric Mika.Very athletic and can run the floor. He still has no go-to move in the low post. He can dunk and flourishes in the open court, but his go-to move is still the bull rush down low. Payton Dastrup.I look for him to do in college what he did in high school. That is to drift away from the hoop and shoot from outside. He is a decent outside shooter, but is no Kyle Wiltjer. Corbin Kaufusi.We can now officially put the Hakeem Olajuwon comparisons to bed. Jamal Aytes.Somewhere between Las Vegas and Provo, his game stopped off in Parowan. Yoeli Childs.The most recent post signee out of Bingham HS keeps hope alive. We shall see. He may be a Davis clone. A post player with moves, but too small to really be effective. Unless Rose and his staff can find a post presence they can count on consistently sometime in the next 5 years, we will still have to live with the current "weave and heave" offense. For the uninitiated, that is when the Cougars can't get any consistent production down low and resort to running a three-man weave at the top of the key hoping that one of the trio of guards can jack up a three with the clock running down. Football Recruiting is all "Atwitter" Football coaches across American, including those at BYU have figured it out. By NCAA rule, they cannot comment on the prospects they are recruiting or have committed. There is nothing to say that the prospects themselves can't talk. And they are talking on Twitter. Below are some Twitter links of players that BYU has committed or is hoping to sign. It is very entertaining to see and hear what they are saying. The Cougars won't get them all, but they are in the mix. Click on the photos and video section to see the latest BYU coaches and home visits with the prospects. Plus, if you want to get an unedited version of what these kids are thinking and saying, click and check out their twitter accounts below. https://twitter.com/jt_gentry (Committed) https://twitter.com/caden_haws73 (Committed) https://twitter.com/supercflash (Committed) https://twitter.com/clarkbarrington (Committed) https://twitter.com/lisalatai58 (Committed) https://twitter.com/campbel33563194 https://twitter.com/thedaw44 https://twitter.com/champfinau https://twitter.com/painkilla6 https://twitter.com/fua_pu2tau https://twitter.com/Simi_Fehoko/ https://twitter.com/handsometanielu https://twitter.com/little_bill6 https://twitter.com/sfuna47 https://twitter.com/McFarlandDarius https://twitter.com/AHifo7 https://twitter.com/j_tom24 https://twitter.com/freddylivai https://twitter.com/jensen_drew https://twitter.com/keenanpili7 https://twitter.com/Skyler_Southam https://twitter.com/MaxTooley23 https://twitter.com/TroWarner https://twitter.com/lotulelei_4 https://twitter.com/TJJACOBSON10 https://twitter.com/mccheezy20 https://twitter.com/thomas_shoaf_56 And don't forget Basketball signees from November. https://twitter.com/gbax35 https://twitter.com/yochilds22 https://twitter.com/cjaxharding11 New Coaches for Football Kalani Sitake will introduce his new football staff to the public at halftime of this Saturday's BYU/Pepperdine basketball game in the Marriott Center. His latest announcements include Mike Empey, Steve Kaufusi and Ben Cahoon as the offensive line coach, defensive line and receivers coach. Look for him to announce Jenaro Gilford as the defensive backs coach. Empey and Cahoon are both retreads having previously coached at BYU. Kaufusi is being retained from Mendenhall's staff. Gilford is currently the cornerbacks coach at SUU and comes highly recommended by his former boss and current Cougar assistant head coach Ed Lamb. If you are counting that makes 6 new assistants. You are allowed 9. If you count Gilford, which you should, that means 2 more assistants will be announced on Saturday. The current 6 are: Lamb, Steve Kaufusi, Ty Detmer, offensive coordinator, Cahoon, Empey, and Ilaisa Tuiaki, defensive coordinator Men Split on Road, Women Sweep at Home Glenn Frey, one of the founders of the Eagles died last week. The song Hotel California <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puHoadtIivc> was a big hit for him. California wasn't such a blockbuster for BYU men's basketball and volleyball. Dave Rose and his crew split games with LMU and Pepperdine. They are now 14-7 on the year and 5-3 in WCC play and in fourth place in the conference standings. Shawn Olmstead's team also split two matches against Long Beach State. The BYU women keep Taking it to the Limit <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7hmF_IX9Ic> at home in the Marriott Center with a sweep over LMU and Pepperdine. They are now 16-4 overall and 8-1 in league play BYU will get an immediate rematch with LMU and Pepperdine this week in the Marriott Center while the Witchy Women <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pzvqunZlLc&list=PL97Pw8BUdIrz52HHYskICQgoU EwmWqTs1> also hit the road to California for a rerun with the same two teams. Television Timetable BYU vs. Loyola Marymount (M Basketball) Thursday, January 28 at Provo Tipoff: 9:00 pm MST TV: ESPNU BYU vs. Pepperdine (M Basketball) Saturday, January 30, at Provo Tipoff: 8:00 pm MST TV: ESPN2