Cougars in the NIT 2016
 

It will be shameful if they don't win at home tonight.

I agree. We have to win tonight. I think we will. The NIT can be weird, but it's usually the teams that really thought they were going to make the NCAAs who play crappy in the first round. BYU knew they weren't getting in and have had 10 or so days to practice and get ready mentally for the NIT.

Sagarin has us rated higher than anyone in our bracket, including the #1 seed St. Bonaventure. Higher seed hosts, so that's the only team we'd have to play on the road before going to NY. We'll see what happens. We had a nice run last time.

Fischer shot very, very well. The degree of difficulty on many of his shots is very high. Coming around screens, pivot, shoot.

When UAB came back in the 2nd half, it was interesting what they did. They targeted Collinsworth 1:1. KC's man would break him down off the dribble, go right by him, then kick the ball. I was reading NBA draft express' writeup on KC. One of the concerns is his lack of defensive effort and ability.

There was one stretch where Emery was so gassed, that he couldn't run up the court. Rose needs to manage these minutes better. Wish they could get more minutes and production off the bench.

Glad these seniors could win last night.

Nice win against Virginia Tech. Buzz Williams is a great coach and it won't be long before VT is competing for the ACC title.

1. VT did a great job denying the 3 point line, esp. to Fischer.
2. Fischer did a great job gutting it out and coming up with key improvised baskets.
3. Seljaas--I love this kid. He has a great shot, he is high percentage. But what I like even more is how good he is on defense. He's long, he's active, he's determined, and he plays smart. He gives great effort on defense. He had a key steal at the end of the 2nd half that led to a BYU bucket. I hope we see an even better Seljaas in the future. One that looks for his shot more, and can do more on the bounce.
4. Really disappointed in the defense by Collinsworth. They just destroyed him with penetration. I don't know who in the world KC could guard in the NBA.
5. I was watching Emery's defense as well. Lack of effort. Losing his man. It's just not a good look. He's small, he's not strong, he at the very least has to play SMART and give EFFORT. In his defense, Rose plays him too many minutes and he is gassed. But for BYU to be a better team, he HAS to do better. You could put together a reel of defensive lapses by Emery and would look like James Harden.
6. Killing me that BYU would close out hard on the 3 pointers for so many of their guys who can't shoot, and then give up the drive. As the announcer said "KNOW YOUR PERSONNEL." Buzz Williams is twice the coach that Rose is.

In some ways it's amazing that the game was close. Given that VT had only 1 player who could shoot. Otherwise it was a relentless barrage of drives to the basket. All shots taken from the outside were created by drive-and-kick. Had this game been played on a neutral floor, BYU would have lost. They had the formula for stymying BYU's offense, but they only had one method of scoring. And it wasn't quite enough.

Creighton will give BYU all it can handle. Creighton has a capable big and some good guards. Unless we turn around what BYU did last night, Creighton will come in and steal a victory.

BYU played a lot better than they did against VT, even with Collinsworth not being close to 100%. It's just the NIT but the games have been entertaining.

Always better to win than to lose.

They have a decent chance to win the whole thing -- much better than in 2013 when Baylor stood in the way.

How good is Valpo? I only watched parts of the St. Mary's game but not enough to focus upon strengths and weaknesses. I have read Valpo was unjustly snubbed by the Tourney committee.

Some seem to indicate they are a Gonzaga type team relying upon their bigs to win games.