vs. Pepperdine

[MikeWaters]

We're seeing how bad this team can be in the first half. Just giving up open looks to the other team all over the floor. Easy buckets to the rim.

And then jacking up shots on the other end.

Perhaps all the CB talk of Collinsworth to the NBA is premature. Haha. Like he has a chance. You're seeing how one-dimensional his game is in the half-court set. His first shot was stuffed in his face.

This is embarrassing on your home floor.

[MikeWaters]

This is a bad loss. A lot of blame to go around.

Some takeaway points:

1. Small ball failed miserably this game. Credit to Pepperdine for scouting this and taking advantage of it. Too many mismatches this game for BYU. Esp. at the power forward position.

2. Pepperdine had a huge mismatch with Davis. We didn't have a guard who could guard him. And we didn't have a big who could match up with him. It was a huge mismatch and they took advantage all night.

3. Collinsworth was not a mismatch for BYU. He was outplayed by his opposing guards, and was ineffective. He can't shoot from the outside, and he was tossed around like a ragdoll when he went into the lane. No elevation, no explosion.

4. So you flip two positions and that's enough to lead to a loss.

5. Winder had a horrid start to the 2nd half, both on offense and defense.

6. Great transition D by P. And BYU was forced into a half court offense. And it was awful.

7. Let's face it...not that familiar with P., but it seemed like they had a great night shooting. Ball as going into the hoop. But part of that is the lack of defense from BYU. Not enough effort. Too many wide open looks, esp. in the first half. Too many easy layups at the rim in the half court set.

Oh well, at least we are good at football. I mean, umm, rugby. And women's volleyball.

Bye, bye, RPI.

[BlueK]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

This is a bad loss. A lot of blame to go around.

Some takeaway points:

1. Small ball failed miserably this game. Credit to Pepperdine for scouting this and taking advantage of it. Too many mismatches this game for BYU. Esp. at the power forward position.

2. Pepperdine had a huge mismatch with Davis. We didn't have a guard who could guard him. And we didn't have a big who could match up with him. It was a huge mismatch and they took advantage all night.

3. Collinsworth was not a mismatch for BYU. He was outplayed by his opposing guards, and was ineffective. He can't shoot from the outside, and he was tossed around like a ragdoll when he went into the lane. No elevation, no explosion.

4. So you flip two positions and that's enough to lead to a loss.

5. Winder had a horrid start to the 2nd half, both on offense and defense.

6. Great transition D by P. And BYU was forced into a half court offense. And it was awful.

7. Let's face it...not that familiar with P., but it seemed like they had a great night shooting. Ball as going into the hoop. But part of that is the lack of defense from BYU. Not enough effort. Too many wide open looks, esp. in the first half. Too many easy layups at the rim in the half court set.

Oh well, at least we are good at football. I mean, umm, rugby. And women's volleyball.

Bye, bye, RPI.

Pretty sure it was reported yesterday that Collinsworth and a couple other unnamed players were battling the flu this week. Collinsworth just playing normal would have been enough to win the game. He was clearly sick, which would also explain his lack of explosion and elevation, as well as spending more time on the bench than usual. We need him to play at his normal level.

This isn't a great team but they're a little better than last year's and still capable of making the tournament. But their window is smaller than last year's because the OOC schedule, while good, isn't as hard as last year's.

[BlueK]

Apparently ESPN was also trying a new idea last night by having the announcers doing the game from a room in their headquarters in CT instead of being at the game. That explains why I thought it was the worst ESPN broadcast ever. They seemed unprepared and lost the whole game. The bad audio combined to give it a mtn channel feel, but the announcing was worse than the mtn. The camera work was also well below typical ESPN standard.

[MikeWaters]

Originally Posted by BlueK

Pretty sure it was reported yesterday that Collinsworth and a couple other unnamed players were battling the flu this week. Collinsworth just playing normal would have been enough to win the game. He was clearly sick, which would also explain his lack of explosion and elevation, as well as spending more time on the bench than usual. We need him to play at his normal level.

This isn't a great team but they're a little better than last year's and still capable of making the tournament. But their window is smaller than last year's because the OOC schedule, while good, isn't as hard as last year's.

I think the idea that this loss was just about Collinsworth being sick is not accurate. for reasons I listed above.

[MikeWaters]

Originally Posted by BlueK

Apparently ESPN was also trying a new idea last night by having the announcers doing the game from a room in their headquarters in CT instead of being at the game. That explains why I thought it was the worst ESPN broadcast ever. They seemed unprepared and lost the whole game. The bad audio combined to give it a mtn channel feel, but the announcing was worse than the mtn. The camera work was also well below typical ESPN standard.

I heard this by halftime. I didn't mind the announcers. Yes, there were confusing moments where announcers who were on scene could have explained things that weren't apparent on camera. Like why did Pepperdine get a wide open layup after a timeout (because Rose thought that BYU had the ball out of the timeout).

It was also unusual to not have any crowd noise (at the beginning), and only a little thereafter.

But you actually can learn more about a team with the sound off. Your analysis will be less biased. Unless you are way dumber than the announcers, in which case the announcers will have better analysis than you (speaking generically, not to anyone in particular).

[MikeWaters]

I have to give out my new award which is titled "Worthington's latest extremely dumb foul".

Transition. Worthington flashes in the lane past the defender. For reasons unknown as he goes by, he grabs the defender's arm and yanks it towards the basket (i.e. towards himself). The defender sold it, and fell to the ground. Worthington was actually pulling the defender into position. And this was an extended arm, obvious to any official.

Worthington is one of the dumbest players I have ever seen start for Div IA team.

He is flat out basketball stupid.

[BlueK]

It was a very badly played game. I'm just saying it wouldn't have taken much for BYU to win instead of lose. It would have been an ugly win, sure. Heck, just one single shot taken by Haws with about 30 seconds to go would have probably won the game had it bounced in instead of out. Collinsworth not playing like he was about to puke at any moment would have been another one of those things. It was a close game. Just a couple more rebounds he grabs instead of Pepperdine getting it and scoring could have been the difference. Just 3 assists and 3 rebounds against Pepperdine? It's not like he was playing Gonzaga or Arizona. Wait, he has had great games against teams like that before. He just doesn't have games like he did last night unless something is physically wrong. That doesn't make up for the deficiencies you mentioned, but all of those haven't been showing up in every game. USF isn't really any worse than Pepperdine, so what happened between beating them by 30 on the road and losing to Pepperdine at home?