Actually, I didn't notice the thread until now. I got distracted by some Cougarguard religion thread that claimed that Joseph Smith somehow ripped off Mother Goose to write the Book of Mormon.

Here is what I am putting forward:

1. Trent was a disappointment this year overall in terms of improvement and expectations.

2. Trent was a *tremendous* disappointment in the Xavier game.

1. He went from no longer being the main focus (while KY became the conference POY) compared to last year. He may have deferred too much in accepting his role. He needs to be more assertive on both ends of the floor. I think he actually improved this year in a few facets of his game, but he was inconsistent (23 ppg, 9 rpg in the 1st two rounds of MWC tourney to what happened the next two games). Measuring up to expectations is a fruitless task.

It will be interesting to see how hard he works on his weaknesses during the offseason and what role he takes in the absence of Keena Young.

2. Yes, but I'd also say that Lee Cummard was twice the disappointment.

The announcers all talked about him being able to use either hand in moving to the middle. But often, it seemed like that was the only move in his repertoire. And perhaps worse than that, was his inability to get the ball in good position to score. I think opposing coaches know that if you can get him off the block, he can't score. Trent is not strong enough to get on the block (in the games I watched).

About Lee, he is going to have to step up his game a bit. I think he is a little too comfortable in his role. He's going to need to be more aggressive, esp. on the offensive end.

I think Burgess needs to give these guys lessons in mental toughness and aggression. From what I have seen Burgess has that in spades.

Am I on glue, or didn't the guy just dominate a couple games ago? I'm a big believer in Plaisted. He won freshman POY, then followed it up with 2nd team all-MWC. Please leave the words "bust" and "Plaisted" out of the same sentence. What are these standards?

This is a guy that people were saying would be in the NBA during his freshman year. He was a "raw" talent.

The problem is that he is still pretty dang raw. And when you are a 6'11" white guy who doesn't rebound extraordinary well, doesn't have a face-up game, only has one back-to-the-basket-move, can't shoot freethrows, and can't pass very well.....these sorts of guys don't get drafted.

I think many of us thought during his freshman year, this kid will get drafted eventually. Now after his sophomore year, I am not so sure. Without A LOT of improvement, I just don't see him sniffng the NBA.

Rafa as a senior is twice as good as Plaisted as a sophomore, and I think that is being conservative.

Hafa was twice the player as a senior as he was a junior at BYU. If Plaisted has the work ethic (I don't know one way or the other about his work ethic), he has plenty of time and ability to be pretty damn good by the time he's done at BYU.

Trent's problem is not necessarily that he can't use his right hand. His problem is that he does the same move every time. He always goes to the middle. He needs to learn how to drop step baseline, fade away j, drop step j, square up and go up and under, etc. Out of the ten or so common big man moves he only has one or two. The right hand is not really the issue. Along with that, he has defensive issues and rebounding issues and aggressiveness issues in general--not to mention FT shooting. But the guy is so talented, with what little of his game that he's developed he's still a good college center.

Plaisted is the least athletic dude I've ever seen who can run a 4.6 40 and has a 46 inch vertical.

I've seen the 'arm in the rim' dunk Indy, and that's impressive... but where is that type of athleticism in the game?

That, to me, is where Plaisted is a disappointment.

Granted, I haven't been able to watch every BYU game this year (Gracias Señor Thompson) so maybe he has showed it in other games. Just not what I've seen.

I'm only a self-proclaimed expert, but I did watch all but a handful of games this year. I wouldn't say Plaisted lacks athleticism--at all. He shows it in bursts. I would say Plaisted's lack of smarts, aggressiveness, and confidence (at times) restrains that athleticism. I've seen Plaisted switch off on a 6'3" quick perimeter player, and work hard, move his feet and stop him from penetrating. Then you see a guy like Dohlmann, who's not half as athletic as Plaisted, make him look like a stiff on the perimeter. Dohlman did it with his brains not his athleticism.

Plaisted played great in several times this year, and at times you thought he was getting consistent enough that he was ready to break through to the next level, but then he'd regress.