loss to San Diego probably ended tourney bid chances - cougarguard.com — unofficial BYU Cougars / LDS sports, football, basketball forum and message board

MikeWaters · 02-08-2013, 12:48 PM

with no resume wins under their belt. would have to end season beating Gonzaga and st. Mary's and then excel in conference tourney. extremely doubtful.

MikeWaters · 02-11-2013, 02:32 PM

Loss to San Francisco definitively ended chances for an at-large bid.

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/sports/...u-san.html.csp

This article highlights a couple of things that I have been harping on (in my mind, if not in print):

1. BYU's defense is bad. Both interior and perimeter. No real shot blocker that can corral the lane (we lost that in Hartsock, who was hugely underrated as a defender, we are seeing that this season). No ability to stop the dribble-drive.

2. Haws is great. But on a very good/great team, Haws would be your third option. He is your Hornacek, in combination with your Stockton/Malone. He's the guy who has to be left open because of the stars, and he just devastates you knocking down open shots. Unfortunately BYU doesn't have the talent right now to put Haws into that role.

3. Absolute recruiting fail. Cory Calvert has given the Cougs nothing. He may end up being a fair player, but in this year of down talent he couldn't contribute meaningfully (mainly because of coach's discretion in not playing him). Then the two huge JC failed recruits (I don't consider Calvert a fail, I consider these two guys the fail). Ambrosino and Delgado. When you bring in JC guys on a depleted squad, they had better at least be good enough to be backups. They weren't. Just two wasted scholarships. Ambrosino is a poor defender, and below average offensive player. Delgado shows a little something more, but not enough to pull in minutes.

I think we were willing to trust Rose on the JC recruits when we heard about them. But this experience ought to tell us that Rose's evaluation skills are suspect, or perhaps even more frightening, they are not suspect--Rose just didn't have any Div 1A caliber players who were willing to come.

Ian Harward never gave anything, and probably never will. Nate Austin is playing under his potential and didn't make significant strides this year in improving the weaknesses of his game.

As frustrating as DeMarcus Harrison was, he would have been very useful to have on this team. With this defensive skills and athleticism. Some may say he tosses bricks at the basket, but look at the guards we have. They were tossing bricks too.

4. One gets the impression that Rose had mishandled the roster this season. He could never find effective rotations. He made head-scratching decisions and never could seem to instill confidence into this team--on the contrary it seemed like his decisions undermined confidence. I think not integrating your experienced guard with good defensive skills (Winder) earlier in the season was a HUGE mistake.

02-08-2013, 12:48 PM	#1
MikeWaters Demiurge Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 36,365	loss to San Diego probably ended tourney bid chances with no resume wins under their belt. would have to end season beating Gonzaga and st. Mary's and then excel in conference tourney. extremely doubtful.

02-11-2013, 02:32 PM	#2
MikeWaters Demiurge Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 36,365	Loss to San Francisco definitively ended chances for an at-large bid. http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/sports/...u-san.html.csp This article highlights a couple of things that I have been harping on (in my mind, if not in print): 1. BYU's defense is bad. Both interior and perimeter. No real shot blocker that can corral the lane (we lost that in Hartsock, who was hugely underrated as a defender, we are seeing that this season). No ability to stop the dribble-drive. 2. Haws is great. But on a very good/great team, Haws would be your third option. He is your Hornacek, in combination with your Stockton/Malone. He's the guy who has to be left open because of the stars, and he just devastates you knocking down open shots. Unfortunately BYU doesn't have the talent right now to put Haws into that role. 3. Absolute recruiting fail. Cory Calvert has given the Cougs nothing. He may end up being a fair player, but in this year of down talent he couldn't contribute meaningfully (mainly because of coach's discretion in not playing him). Then the two huge JC failed recruits (I don't consider Calvert a fail, I consider these two guys the fail). Ambrosino and Delgado. When you bring in JC guys on a depleted squad, they had better at least be good enough to be backups. They weren't. Just two wasted scholarships. Ambrosino is a poor defender, and below average offensive player. Delgado shows a little something more, but not enough to pull in minutes. I think we were willing to trust Rose on the JC recruits when we heard about them. But this experience ought to tell us that Rose's evaluation skills are suspect, or perhaps even more frightening, they are not suspect--Rose just didn't have any Div 1A caliber players who were willing to come. Ian Harward never gave anything, and probably never will. Nate Austin is playing under his potential and didn't make significant strides this year in improving the weaknesses of his game. As frustrating as DeMarcus Harrison was, he would have been very useful to have on this team. With this defensive skills and athleticism. Some may say he tosses bricks at the basket, but look at the guards we have. They were tossing bricks too. 4. One gets the impression that Rose had mishandled the roster this season. He could never find effective rotations. He made head-scratching decisions and never could seem to instill confidence into this team--on the contrary it seemed like his decisions undermined confidence. I think not integrating your experienced guard with good defensive skills (Winder) earlier in the season was a HUGE mistake.