vs. Utah Dec 2015
 

well that was an ass-kicking. Not unexpected. I'll write more later. I'm just laughing about the guy on CB who said that Utah was better at only one position compared to BYU (5, with Poetl).

This was a beat down on both sides of the court.

BYU could not control drives to the paint. Taylor was consistently probing through the lane, causing the defense to collapse and then kicking out to the wing. Which was either wide open for a 3, or led to a pass that was a wide open 3. Such easy looks. And because of that, they were knocking them down. It felt like a mismatch at every position. And of course BYU had no answer to Poetl. Kaufusi looked like a grade school kid playing his first basketball game in there compared to Poetl. It looked like NBA talent going up against Div III talent.

Offense was just as bad. Where are the shots going to come from? Collinsworth is good at one thing. Driving into the lane and putting up shots at the rim. But Utah's length and strength made this largely ineffective. BYU bigs were ineffective as well in posting up. So that leaves it up to the guards to get something done. And who is going to do that? Almost no one among BYU's guards can create their own shot. Nick Emery being the modest exception. He hit a few shots, but that was all. He missed a lot.

We talk about how skilled our players are. But it was very clear that Utah was MUCH more athletic than BYU. Quick, explosive, strong. And actually MORE skilled as well. Better shooting, better IQ, better passing, more disciplined. Dare I say it, Utah looked better coached as well.

Davis, that kid can school a team with bad bigs. But he was very pedestrian out there last night. Looked every bit the unathletic white stiff that he is. I can't blame him for that--he is who he is. He relies on his skill and craftiness. But that's not enough against better competition.

This was also on BYU. Utah may be considerably better in general but BYU should have played A LOT better than they did to start the game. That was ridiculous. The fact that in the second half BYU was able to take 17 points off of Utah's lead in less than ten minutes tells me it shouldn't have been as one sided as it was at the beginning. It's not like Utah was happy about letting BYU do that. When it was down to a 7 point game and Emery barely missed an open three that would have cut it to 4 with just under ten minutes to go you could tell the crowd was nervous and their coach and players were freaking out. Yeah, it was a horrible game for BYU, but at least some of that was their own fault and not just for not being athletic enough. There are some significant mental issues with this team as of this point. I hope they can fix that. For example, it's not normal for Fischer to look like a backup HS player in one half and the best player on the team in the second. That makes no sense.

Fischer is a huge defensive liability. And on offense, he is good for only one thing. Jacking up three pointers. But he puts in the ball on the floor and does nothing.

Too bad he can't be like that guy last hear, the guy who looked like the house elf on Harry Potter. That guy could actually create his own shot.

Let's not give too much credit to BYU for Utah's letdown and settling. Utah was a little bit flustered by the zone D, but they started being selfish. Didn't work on getting the ball to Poetl. Then they turned it up again, and pulled away from BYU.

I would expect Utah to win 9 out of 10 games against BYU. if I'm generous to BYU I would only give them 8 out of 10.

Here is a video of Taylor's cheap shot.

https://youtu.be/O2I4D57UW-s

elbow or forearm? If forearm, I think he was just extending his arms, with Emery being in his peripheral vision. Nobody likes to be hit in the head though, accidental or not.

And the fact is that Taylor schooled Emery all night.

Kaufusi has 0 rebounds. That's the statistic that pops.

Which is sad because Taylor has been awful against everyone else this season, including freaking SUU!

http://espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?gameId=400816754

https://twitter.com/bluebrethren/sta...47285574373377

Hard to be upset. When it is true.

Utah was getting easy open looks, BYU was getting contested looks. That's the difference.

One can go backwards to extrapolate why. But at its core is this simple fact: better athleticism, height, skill, and IQ. They're just better.

Collinsworth and Emery could play for Utah. But the rest of the BYU players wouldn't be good enough.