BYU Hoops 2014-2015

[MarkGrace]

Maybe his shots will go in playing for another school.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Rats.

[LiveCoug]

Why?

[PaloAltoCougar]

At least this frees up a scholarship for Halford!

[Surfah]

That effing sucks.

[old_gregg]

what a nutcase. i'm not sure how he could possibly think this would be a good move. wonder how much influence his crazy dad had on this.

[Donuthole]

I think that what I get from all of this is that BYU's roster for next year will not include somebody of which we are not already aware. Currently there are 14 players with a scholarship allocated and one of those will not return. The obvious two choices are Sharp and Halford. Time will tell. My guess is Halford because I think there is significant more depth on the perimeter and I think Sharp is more likely to be needed in emergency situations/foul trouble.

It seems to me that the coaching staff obviously thinks that they don't need more help in the post for next year. It will be interesting to see the roles come together.

I think BYU will play Austin and Worthington at the 5 next year. To start the year likely both will start until Aytes comes available. BYU Post-Aytes availability will likely start Jamal and Nate at the 4 and 5 respectively. Worthington will come off the bench to play the 5 and it sounds like Nelson will come off to play the 4. From where I sit I think we see that come January BYU will tighten the rotation to mostly just be Jamal, Austin and Worthington. Of the 80 minutes available at those positions I think they will take up 70-75 minutes with Nelson getting 5-10 per game. Andrus/Sharp will only see time in cases of injury or foul trouble - which with Nate and Luke as our primary defenders in the post I expect to happen frequently enough that even I might be tempted to whine about BYU not getting another post player for next year that was ready to play, as I am not including Andrus as ready to play.

On the perimeter obviously BYU is going to struggle if Collinsworth doesn't heal and return to form. BYU was so unathletic on both ends of the court without Kyle against Oregon. If it is Halford that leaves that gives BYU the following perimeter players:

Collinsworth
Winder
Haws
Carlino
Bartley
Fischer
Chatman

Rose said he doesn't plan to redshirt anyone, which is fine but I wonder if Frank Bartley could really benefit from a redshirt year. But I trust Rose. My prediction is Kyle C, Winder and Haws will start. I think we see a lot of Carlino and Fischer off the bench and less of Bartley and Chatman. In fact my guess is once we get close to January Chatman will likely see many DNP and Bartley will play depending upon matchups, foul trouble and whether BYU needs his perimeter defense off the bench. One thing I do like is that I think BYU will have finally found a set starting group on the perimeter. The inconsistency of the last 3 seasons of shuffling starting lineups and roles has been frustrating and did not help to build any continuity and consistent gameplanning. I do think we are past that for the time being. I think days good MattyC shows up he will play a lot. When bad MattyC shows up his minutes will be limited. Winder will be the guy who covers the opposing teams best perimeter player. He is the best BYU has for that but he isn't what I could call a stopper in that role. Haws will be Haws and obviously we all have to wait to see how things develop for Kyle C.

Here are your what ifs:

If Collinsworth heals, gets into shape and improves his ability to shot just slightly.
If Jamal Aytes can give BYU 10 ppg, mostly out of half court offensive sets, and 6 rpg
If Worthington develops into a good post defender who can average 20 mpg without fouling out and getting 4.5 rpg.
If Nate Austin can improve offensively and average 7 ppg

Then I think BYU will have a real good team and be good enough to be seeded high enough to wear home jerseys in their first NCAA tourney game. To be honest for you if Collinsworth had not gotten hurt I would be expecting that from BYU for next year. IMO his health is the difference between BYU being a threat to win a game or being a double digit seed who loses badly on day 1.

This hasn't gone to print yet. Feel free to update.

[snowcat]

Man, I am bummed. I had big hopes for Matt's senior season.

[SeattleUte]

The two daves sure have wasted a lot of ESPN 100 talent.

[Pelado]

The two daves sure have wasted a lot of ESPN 100 talent.

I know you can't be talking about Dave Rose - he's only had one year of one of his ESPN 100 recruits so far:

2013
Eric Mika
Nick Emery

2014
T.J. Haws
Payton Dastrup

To which daves are you referring?

[Jacob]

Wow. But it makes sense that Carlino was going away. When Rose said that Bartley would play more at the 1 and 2 next year it didn't make any sense to me, and I had no idea he was a 1. And then he said Chatman would play those same positions next year. Where would the minutes come from? Makes sense now.

[myboynoah]

So where is he going?

[Jacob]

So where is he going?

I'm sure he'll have a great senior season at Ole Miss:




JK. I like Carlino, but its not really a big loss.

[myboynoah]

It is a bummer. I remember when he came in to that Baylor game. Dang, I thought he'd be a major star.

Jimmer spoiled us.

[Topper]

I wish he had finished out his career at BYU. PAC's comment about freeing up a scholie for Halford really hurts.

On one hand, when Matty was good, he was very good. OTOH, he has some less than stellar moments. I had hoped his senior year would show a very steady, reliable Matty. If KC does not come back, this could be very difficult.

Good luck Matt.