I always promoted Winder, because of his defensive skills and he provided an offensive spark until his injury slowed him.

I also liked Bartley's potential, as I did Michael Lloyd.

I want defensive specialists.

Haws will never be a defensive specialist, and may learn to be adequate, but he is no Ginger Mamba. He is a bust, unless he magically learns to shoot and to defend.

He should start and play for forty minutes to increase his total average, and encourage to shoot from 30 feet so it will look like a pass to the bigs.

Haws played better against Weber State. He didn't look lost.

He had a strong start to the game hitting a couple of uncontested 3-pointers. He ended up 2-5. He missed the attempts that were contested, including an air-ball. He had a couple three assists to Mika where he drove in and dished. Five assists and 3 TOs. A couple of those TOs were pretty bad.

Mysteriously, he again led the team in minutes played. 37 minutes.

My scouting report on guarding Haws. Don't give up the wide-open three and take away the right-handed drive. Overplay the right hand.

The BYU defensive effort was better. The Weber guards were either not very good, or possibly just ineffective in terms of driving against the BYU guard. I suspect it is the latter. BYU will face better guards, particularly in terms of breaking down the defense via drives.

You look at this team and ask yourself, who would play for Gonzaga? Mika. And probably no one else. That's how much better Gonzaga is. Would Haws sniff the court for Gonzaga? Not a chance.

I think part of the depression for cougar fans is that the "Lone Peak Troika" has really no short of overtaking Gonzaga. And the best player is probably soon to be gone. I expect Mika to possibly go pro after this season. I don't see a particular incentive for him to stay. Not that I expect him to do a lot in the pros. I could see him being a 2nd round draft pick, which would be a pretty good accomplishment. And making a roster.

Expecting BYU to accomplish great things in the two revenue sports is currently unreleasitic. Maybe more funds should go to non-rev sports garner some accolades where the field is more level.

We are what we are.

In football, we are at a #30 - #45 level.

In basketball, we are a perennial bubble type. Right now it's hard to see this BYU team maturing into a 5 seed or better in the next couple years. Athleticism is not superb, and frankly the chemistry/IQ is not very good. That last Jimmer team was the jackpot in terms of offensive and defensive chemistry and ability. Too bad it got wrecked by consenting sex.

These two are exactly the same thing, although in a sense, not really because there are three times as many basketball teams. Relative to the number of competitors, basketball is doing better. But since most people like football better they discount basketball accomplishments to an extent. BYU could make the sweet 16 in basketball but most BYU fans would probably equate it in their minds to winning the Las Vegas Bowl, or something like that. At least that's my perception. Maybe I'm the opposite. I see beating a MWC team in the Pointsettia Bowl as something about as impressive as winning a game in the NIT.

Any thoughts about Haws against Colorado? I think he had a better game than against Weber state against a much better opponent. That's a good sign. CU had pretty decent guards. In fact that's about all they have. BYU did ok against what is likely an NCAA bubble type team. They're slightly below USC, probably better than Utah.

No one should leave early if they're only a second round pick. No guaranteed money.

At a certain age, your value actually decreases. Better to be 2nd round pick than not a pick at all probably.

depends. If you're an early 2nd rounder you can sometimes negotiate some sort of guarantee. But most second rounders give up a lot because they're tied to just one team until they cut him loose. And usually that only happens at the very last minute when other teams have their rosters pretty much set. A non-drafted player can tryout with multiple teams and usually ends up better off in the end than a late 2nd rounder does in terms of money in Europe or wherever.