BYU vs Utah hoops game...........

[TripletDaddy]

Fun game to watch. Jimmer is amazing and can score at will when needed. I do worry that he is scoring too much and not setting up the other players as much as he should as a PG. Down the stretch it was the Jimmer show. I realize that when we need points he will take over the game, something we lacked in years past.

Charles Abouo will be fun watch as his offensive game gets developed more. Haws continues to play beyond his years.

Watkins is a scrappy player and showed great hustle on the boards. Foster for as tall as he is should be getting way more rebounds. Henderson's mediocre play tonight will be overshadowed by the cheap shoot. From what I saw tonight he is sort of a chucker.

I think this BYU team can get it done in the NCAAs this year. I'm thinking sweet 16 or farther.

Who is this "Abouo?" Don't you mean "Adouo?"

[Non Sequitur]

Charles Abouo will be fun watch as his offensive game gets developed more. Haws continues to play beyond his years.

Watkins is a scrappy player and showed great hustle on the boards. Foster for as tall as he is should be getting way more rebounds. Henderson's mediocre play tonight will be overshadowed by the cheap shoot. From what I saw tonight he is sort of a chucker.

Abouo has given us a nice lift the last couple of games. His game is really picking up, and he's doing a lot better job of taking care of the ball.

Watkins is very good, and I'll bet he wishes JT were guarding him every game.

[Jarid in Cedar]

You guys, Utes, might be down on your coach and it isn't my place to tell you if your coach is good or not. However, I listened to his post game and I think he is a class act.

i would agree with that. Boylen is a good coach. He is an improvement in multiple ways over Giac. I think he isn't going to be the guy that raises to an elite level. I think next year is a bell weather year for him. If the young guys improve and get more basketball smarts over the next year, we will be competitive year in and out. Will we revisit the 90's? Likely not with Boylen.

[SCcoug]

Who is this "Abouo?" Don't you mean "Adouo?"

I watched the game on mute and it was too fuzzy to see the misspelled jersey. That was a good dunk he had in the first half.

[il Padrino Ute]

You guys, Utes, might be down on your coach and it isn't my place to tell you if your coach is good or not. However, I listened to his post game and I think he is a class act.

I have no problem with Boylen.

Folks will rightly point out that Giacoletti had an impossible job by following a coach as genius as Majerus. Not only was Majerus one of the best basketball minds ever, he also destroyed a lot of goodwill for Utah basketball with the way he acted like such an ass. Giacoletti had follow that as well as the 4 or 5 glory years of Majerus' time there.

The problem is that Giacoletti took a bad situation and made it even worse. He took a program that Majerus was deconstructing and rather than even attempt to build it up, he doused it with the accelerant of incompetence and burned it to the ground. As bad as the situation was when Majerus left, Giacoletti at least had Bogut around to make him look good.

Boylen had to start from scratch, so I'm not going to call for his head any time soon.

And yes, Boylen can look like a raving lunatic at times, but in the end, he's a class guy.

[DrumNFeather]

i would agree with that. Boylen is a good coach. He is an improvement in multiple ways over Giac. I think he isn't going to be the guy that raises to an elite level. I think next year is a bell weather year for him. If the young guys improve and get more basketball smarts over the next year, we will be competitive year in and out. Will we revisit the 90's? Likely not with Boylen.

Boylen needs a somewhat strong finish to this season (above .500) and needs to have the team show marked improvement next season. By Foster and Washburn & Co.'s junior seasons, they need to be competing for a MWC title.

It's easy to say that a given year will be a "rebuilding" year, but it is a whole other thing to actually experience it.

[Jarid in Cedar]

Also in my prediction I said that Foster would have at least 5 blocks and we would hear about how good he is. Guess what like I said BYU kept taking it to him, he blocks shots because he is 7'3, he is not particularly skilled at blocking shots, he has average timing but BYU was obviously not scared to take it right at him. they had 40+ points in the paint. My question for Foster is he shot that turnaround jumper like it was nothing looked easy and smooth then he never went back to it.

See my SE post to see why I post this, but Utah's poor perimeter defense results in alot of the drives that teams get at Foster. He can't be viewed as the only line of defense by the other players. If Utah played better defense on the perimeter, Foster gets fewer blocks but he would alter more shots and be a bigger force defensively.

[Goatnapper'96]

You guys, Utes, might be down on your coach and it isn't my place to tell you if your coach is good or not. However, I listened to his post game and I think he is a class act.

I have always like him. Reminds me of Bronco in some ways. Both are totally unconcerned what others think of them. I thought he and Rose handled the situation pretty well.

But I agree with the sentiment that while he is a solid coach I see the output over the long haul closer to Steve Cleveland than Rick Majerus. They will play hard though. They reflect his personality.

[DrumNFeather]

I have no problem with Boylen.

Folks will rightly point out that Giacoletti had an impossible job by following a coach as genius as Majerus. Not only was Majerus one of the best basketball minds ever, he also destroyed a lot of goodwill for Utah basketball with the way he acted like such an ass. Giacoletti had follow that as well as the 4 or 5 glory years of Majerus' time there.

The problem is that Giacoletti took a bad situation and made it even worse. He took a program that Majerus was deconstructing and rather than even attempt to build it up, he doused it with the accelerant of incompetence and burned it to the ground. As bad as the situation was when Majerus left, Giacoletti at least had Bogut around to make him look good.

Boylen had to start from scratch, so I'm not going to call for his head any time soon.

And yes, Boylen can look like a raving lunatic at times, but in the end, he's a class guy.

The thing about Giac that drove me nuts was the fact that he essentially conceeded recruiting in AMERICA. When he brought in Weigh, Tille, Drca, and Radadovic, he said that he brought those guys in because it was too hard to recruit against the top programs in America. Boggled my mind. Weigh was good, but left the program. The others strike strong resemblences to Jonas Langvad, another average foreign player to grace our program.

[cougjunkie]

I have always like him. Reminds me of Bronco in some ways. Both are totally unconcerned what others think of them. I thought he and Rose handled the situation pretty well.

But I agree with the sentiment that while he is a solid coach I see the output over the long haul closer to Steve Cleveland than Rick Majerus. They will play hard though. They reflect his personality.

Do you think his intensity has anything to do with Henderson reaction? Was Henderson so juiced because he was feeding off his coach that he couldnt control himself much like Boylen on the sidelines?

[Goatnapper'96]

See my SE post to see why I post this, but Utah's poor perimeter defense results in alot of the drives that teams get at Foster. He can't be viewed as the only line of defense by the other players. If Utah played better defense on the perimeter, Foster gets fewer blocks but he would alter more shots and be a bigger force defensively.

IIRC Utah never had a shot blocker under Majerus. But they never ever ever gave up either an uncontested shot or an offensive rebound.

But I think Majerus was the best coach of team defense in the modern world. He still might be but I don't watch the Billikens much!

[cougjunkie]

IIRC Utah never had a shot blocker under Majerus. But they never ever ever gave up either an uncontested shot or an offensive rebound.

But I think Majerus was the best coach of team defense in the modern world. He still might be but I don't watch the Billikens much!

Yeah Foster should rebound a lot better than he does. Watkins is 10 times the rebounder of Foster. In fact Watkins is a poor mans Keena Young. Keena had more post moves than anyone I have ever seen and had a great baseline jumper but was undersized and just found a way to score. Watkins is similar in that he is fairly crafty and will muscle it up at times.

[Senioritis]

It's funny, I really thought Fredette was pretty bad for a lot of this game. Goofy shot selection, lots of preening, time of possession like the 1978 Pittsburgh Steelers. Then, it's time to win the game, and sweet nectar of life he just totally takes it over. I don't remember the last time a Ute had 36. Just a monstrosity, that Jimmer.

I also like to imagine that he talks like Robert De Niro. I haven't ever heard him speak, and he probably really sounds like Jesse McCartney, but don't spoil it. With his nervous tick and the way he mutters to himself sometimes, I'm good with the De Niro thing. I have nipples, Jimmer. Could you milk me?

This is the first time I have really watched the BYU this year, and I would like to say that I am shocked they shoot the ball so well. Their bigs are, uh, limited offensively, and usually a team with no post presence doesn't shoot the freaking lights out. The scoring is Fredette, Emery, and Haws, right? Seems like it. I don't know what that means for March, and I hope they absolutely yack and lose to some tradition rich program like Texas A&M for a third consecutive year, but if they stay hot they can do some damage. Not a slam dunk, though. At some point, you have to score close to the basket, right? RIGHT?

Also, Seal Watkins went OFF tonight, for like a four minute stretch. Just wanted to mention that.

He also had about the most fantastic dunk attempt I have ever witnessed, on a ball that ricocheted up into like the troposphere of the BleacherDome!. For a moment, I honestly thought the ol' TV had frozen up again, as everyone paused in place, looking heavenward like the Nephites in the land Bountiful. That play did pierce me to the center.

I'm interested to see the BYU in person next month, rather than via ham radio waves like I did tonight, so I can search diligently for more ridiculous justifications about why they might not be that good.

I would just like to remind all of you ungrateful bastards that if Marshall Henderson, and his perfect, cherubic face, hadn't done really well at the Thomas & Mack, your premature celebrating about your conference championship would be laughably myopic. You keep him and his precious name out of your mouth.

You know, sometimes I wish these guys would just quit so it would be very clear that they have quit and it would, therefore, be OK to hate them. As it is, they don't quit, they do just enough to draw you in, and then they perfectly execute some sissy backhanded pimp slap. Bummer all around.

There was no doubt in my mind that we were hosting a fire sale and heading out after halftime. This plucky bunchy of ne'er do wells has no business mounting a 14 point comeback in the BleacherDome!, yet they did. But it was never really in doubt, was it? I just don't get them.

I also don't know what to think of Jimmer Boylen. He's almost a caricature sometimes. Most the time, I like what he's doing, but dagnabbit sometimes I wish Utah had more of an identity. Who is this team? How do they want to play? What is the game plan? I watch every shred of every game, and I'm not sure I know.

Oh, and Luka Drca still needs to buy a vowel.

[Surfah]

The ball fake Haws put on Foster underneath was hilarious. He completely turned him around.

[Goatnapper'96]

Do you think his intensity has anything to do with Henderson reaction? Was Henderson so juiced because he was feeding off his coach that he couldnt control himself much like Boylen on the sidelines?

I have long felt that the inconsistency and stupid mistakes at crucial times have some root in Boylen's emotions. I wonder how well he can compose himself to effectively instruct his players at crucial points in games. I have always really liked Boylen. I think he is a genuinely good dude. He has a blue collar midwestern edge and he focusses on toughness. I like all that. I also like that he is unconcerned with what he looks like and plays televangelist who wears his emotions on his sleeve. Utenation prides itself on being the anti-BYU, read here cool and more socially acceptable, but Boylen is as wacky and dorky as any BYU coach. It makes me chuckle.