vs. Texas

[MikeWaters]

A game that gave me ulcers.

BYU started out hot from the outside. But we knew that was unsustainable. BYU had no answer for the Texas bigs. Esp. when Mika got into foul trouble. Texas very much exposed the achilles heel of this team--no bigs outside out of Mika. Nate Austin tries hard, but he plays small, is weak, and smells like tuna. Luke Worthington does not even look like a scholarship player. He ought to be the walkon guy that comes in when BYU is winning by 40 with 2 minutes left. Instead he is the 3rd big off the bench. I'm wondering why Josh Sharp isn't seeing the floor at all. When we are so small. You can't have Tyler Haws guarding guys who are 6'9" and 240 pounds. Playing zone against this bigger more athletic team, couldn't block out and they killed us on the offensive boards. Playing beach volleyball until finally the ball would randomly fall through the hoop.

Carlino started hot. Collinsworth did some stuff as well, esp. in the first half. But as the game went on Carlino had less opportunities. And Collinsworth started sucking. On one possession he decided to go Kobe, but then realized he had nothing and threw the ball directly to a Longhorn. He had 6 turnovers and 5 assists. That ratio is going the wrong way. But his height is essential on this very small lineup. There was one offensive possession in the 2nd half where they gave the ball to Worthington on the block. Hello? Worthington has not demonstrated that he has a vertical greater than 6 inches. So what does W do? He decides it's time for him to take over and put this team on his back. Comical. Swatted before it left his hand. I was screaming at my TV. Worthington, there should NEVER be a time that you shoot the ball. NEVER.

Haws in the first half realized this was a big game, so he sucked. And was dominated. In the second half he decided this was not a big game, and started hitting some shots. Had he not heated up the game would have been lost. His shot in the corner running out of bounds, while not quite Moses Malone's famous shot, was absolutely the play of the game.

Haws is a very skilled player. But he suffers due to lack of size and strength. And speed. But if he can get a little space, he is deadly. He's still yet to show us that he can really step up in the big games against the best competition. I certainly hope he can show us.

I'll repeat myself. This season may depend on whether we can get Bronson Kafusi and whether he can play smarter than a tin can full of dirt. We need a big body that is more athletic than Luke Worthington. If Mika gets hurt, the season is over.

Another thing that is apparent and which I suggested/predicted is that Bartley is now ahead of Winder on the depth chart. Bartley came off the bench before Winder. Bartley is better than Winder is every aspect of the game. Offense/defense/IQ. Now it remains to be seen whether Halford will pass Winder on the depth chart. So far Rose is reluctant to give Halford much in the way of minutes. Probably due to concerns about defense.

I had thought BYU was going to play more man to man this season. But I guess due to the lack of bigs, he just can't.

I haven't seen Wichita State play. But given their ranking and how BYU looked tonight, we can expand BYU to lose soundly. If they have half-decent bigs.

However frustrating that was, it sure was good to beat the Longhorns. They are evil creatures not worth turning over a spade of dirt when you are done with them.