Official BYU vs Kansas State thread..........

[Jeff Lebowski]

Hell of a season for BYU. Record breaking season in fact. I am proud of our boys. That was a good team they lost to and they had chances to be in it but just couldn't capitalize on it. Pullen did an amazing job on Fredette. He had a career night at both ends. Rose couldn't do much with everyone taller than 6' 5" on our team in foul trouble. He's a great coach. I am glad he's ours as I don't think we could do any better.

We'll be back next year. This team can duplicate this season again and that has me excited.

That's the spirit.

[Surfah]

On this note, is Rose a lifer now? I was wondering before the game, if BYU keeps winning and gets to the elite 8 or final 4, would he jump at a higher profile job? Before his bout with cancer I would have said yes, but now I don't know.

Interesting. I tend to think that because of the cancer he is a lifer.

[Maximus]

Sorry for calling out JT, good guy and good player most of the time. That was me getting frustrated again I really need to keep my emotions in check when BYU is playing.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Are you saying coaching didn't make a difference tonight? I stopped watching so I honestly don't know. Just noting that I can't think of a MWC team who beat a team they weren't seeded above since the fat man. I'm only sophisticated enough to see good adjustments when I see them. Rose is the cream of the MWC, no question.

I am saying that there are lots of ways to go about losing a game. Seems like a pretty easy cop-out to blame it on being "out-coached" without providing specifics.

Majerus was a great coach. No doubt about it.

[Fiyero]

the Coug players have two straight years of experience in the Dance

Isn't it four? Xavier, A&M, A&M, Florida

[Surfah]

That's the spirit.

I can't get down on this team. This basketball team gave me more to cheer for this weekend than any other team since I have been a serious BYU fan.

Jimmer is a once in a generation player for BYU. Watching him is awesome. Even tonight with him being off, there are moves he was making that just make me shake my head. Whenever he's on the floor there is hope. He is to BYU basketball what Luke Staley was to BYU football for me. Whenever Luke touched the ball you expected something amazing. Whenever he was on the field you had a chance. I love Jimmer for that. I don't think a lot of BYU fans understand how damn special this kid is and that what he does we may never see again at BYU.

This team will be back and will be good. We'll be playing for the conference title again and barring catastrophic injuries or Fredette departing we'll be dancing again. Pencil us in your bracket. I am excited what a year of experience will do for us and these kids. I think people forget how young we are.

And on that note, my best to the seniors. I have bitched about each of them except Morgan. But I hope Miles, JT, and Lamont all have nice careers and lives and wish them the best and thank them for their contributions. It's too bad Morgan got hurt and I thought it was great to see Rose put him in and give him a chance to play in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

[byu71]

I can't get down on this team. This basketball team gave me more to cheer for this weekend than any other team since I have been a serious BYU fan.

Jimmer is a once in a generation player for BYU. Watching him is awesome. Even tonight with him being off, there are moves he was making that just make me shake my head. Whenever he's on the floor there is hope. He is to BYU basketball what Luke Staley was to BYU football for me. Whenever Luke touched the ball you expected something amazing. Whenever he was on the field you had a chance. I love Jimmer for that. I don't think a lot of BYU fans understand how damn special this kid is and that what he does we may never see again at BYU.

This team will be back and will be good. We'll be playing for the conference title again and barring catastrophic injuries or Fredette departing we'll be dancing again. Pencil us in your bracket. I am excited what a year of experience will do for us and these kids. I think people forget how young we are.

And on that note, my best to the seniors. I have bitched about each of them except Morgan. But I hope Miles, JT, and Lamont all have nice careers and lives and wish them the best and thank them for their contributions. It's too bad Morgan got hurt and I thought it was great to see Rose put him in and give him a chance to play in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Excellent post. These players are the best we have and they did the best they could, which was pretty good. Now my golf game sucks, I am beginning to get more reasonable with my expectations and BYU sports. I can't harp on these kids. They provide a lot of great entertainment.

[tooblue]

UD and tooblue: go ahead and educate us on what Rose should have done differently. Be specific please.

K State was the better team but Coaching was a factor. K State was ready for Jimmer -- they had a solid game plan and Rose failed to adjust. Specifically K State picked him up in the back court sometimes with two guys and forced Jimmer to his right hand and away from the top of the key or left side of the court. Rose could've taken the ball out of Jimmer's hands and had him play as the two guard where his only focus was scoring with loyd bringing the ball up the floor. At the very least he could've had a big set screens for Jimmer at half court or well into the back court instead of Miles trying to take matters into his own hands with his ill advise cross check.

What's more it was clear that the only chance BYU had was small ball. He should've had four legit 3 point shooters on the floor more often. He seemed too worried about platooning the bigs -- like trying to stop an overflowing toilet with a paper towel. Heck, did they even try to spread K State out at all with 5 guys at the three point line? instead they kept trying to force the offense and played right into K State's defensive game plan.

Rose's defensive game was solid considering BYU's liabilities. However he could've half court trapped and exploited the fact that their guards aren't great ball handlers.

Oh well, next year.

[frank ryan]

And on that note, my best to the seniors. I have bitched about each of them except Morgan. But I hope Miles, JT, and Lamont all have nice careers and lives and wish them the best and thank them for their contributions. It's too bad Morgan got hurt and I thought it was great to see Rose put him in and give him a chance to play in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

I was glad to see Morgan in there as well. He was a locker room leader and didn't seem to bitch about the lack of pt. Best of luck to him.

JT never met a shot he didn't like for ill or good. But overall he had a good career. Miles didn't live up to his hype but he was a four year guy who played his guts out tonight. All the best to them.

[Surfah]

K State was the better team but Coaching was a factor. K State was ready for Jimmer -- they had a solid game plan and Rose failed to adjust. Specifically K State picked him up in the back court sometimes with two guys and forced Jimmer to his right hand and away from the top of the key or left side of the court. Rose could've taken the ball out of Jimmer's hands and had him play as the two guard where his only focus was scoring with loyd bringing the ball up the floor. At the very least he could've had a big set screens for Jimmer at half court or well into the back court instead of Miles trying to take matters into his own hands with his ill advise cross check.

What's more it was clear that the only chance BYU had was small ball. He should've had four legit 3 point shooters on the floor more often. He seemed too worried about platooning the bigs -- like trying to stop an overflowing toilet with a paper towel. Heck, did they even try to spread K State out at all with 5 guys at the three point line? instead they kept trying to force the offense and played right into K State's defensive game plan.

Rose's defensive game was solid considering BYU's liabilities. However he could've half court trapped and exploited the fact that their guards aren't great ball handlers.

Oh well, next year.

Clemente would have torched us. He is clocked at dribbling baseline to baseline in 2.6 seconds.

So if you were coaching you would have just jacked up 3's? Jimmer was fine bringing the ball up. We didn't have many issues with their backcourt pressure. Most of Jimmer's turnovers came when he tried to crossover Pullen or when he left his feet and had nowhere to go with the ball. But really I don't know why you'd want to take the ball out of our best player's hands. I think your idea of making Jimmer a SG and to work without the ball is silly.

Rose's gameplan tonight was solid. When everyone got in foul trouble though he had little else to work with. Pullen had a career night. And K-State shot way above their heads from 3 pt land and the charity stripe where there is no defense. That's just the way the ball bounces sometimes. Kind of like Loyd blowing up for 26 against Florida.

[frank ryan]

Let's face it, Jimmer was damn tired out there. That was a factor and K State figured that out fast.

[SCcoug]

Here here Surfah. I can't fault Rose for his coaching either, KSU matched up terribly for BYU. During the game I was amazed that BYU was able to stay with in 5-10 points most of the second half. Nothing to be ashamed of, our guys played hard it just wasn't our night.

[tooblue]

Clemente would have torched us. He is clocked at dribbling baseline to baseline in 2.6 seconds.

So if you were coaching you would have just jacked up 3's? Jimmer was fine bringing the ball up. We didn't have many issues with their backcourt pressure. Most of Jimmer's turnovers came when he tried to crossover Pullen or when he left his feet and had nowhere to go with the ball. But really I don't know why you'd want to take the ball out of our best player's hands. I think your idea of making Jimmer a SG and to work without the ball is silly.

Rose's gameplan tonight was solid. When everyone got in foul trouble though he had little else to work with. Pullen had a career night. And K-State shot way above their heads from 3 pt land and the charity stripe where there is no defense. That's just the way the ball bounces sometimes. Kind of like Loyd blowing up for 26 against Florida.

if you trap who is going to handle the ball? The guard will have to get rid of it regardless of how fast he is.

Jimmer wasn't fine bring the ball up -- it played right into the game plan by eating shot clock seconds and fatigued him as he got into the front court. The result was he tried to force the offense and if he even thought of getting into the lane there were three guys there. Sometimes you have to be radical and take the ball out of your best players hands to get it back into his hands coming off screens etc. Make your other very good ball handler do the hard work.

The foul trouble was inevitable. Small ball was the only option and though he went to it at times even in small ball they tried to run the same offense again and again and ... what's the definition of insanity? It was almost like watching the Jazz in the playoffs.

He could've gone really small and spread K State out -- at the 12 minute mark the writing was on the wall unless he made drastic changes.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Half-court trap. LOL.

[New Mexican Disaster]

Clemente would have torched us. He is clocked at dribbling baseline to baseline in 2.6 seconds.

So if you were coaching you would have just jacked up 3's? Jimmer was fine bringing the ball up. We didn't have many issues with their backcourt pressure. Most of Jimmer's turnovers came when he tried to crossover Pullen or when he left his feet and had nowhere to go with the ball. But really I don't know why you'd want to take the ball out of our best player's hands. I think your idea of making Jimmer a SG and to work without the ball is silly.

Rose's gameplan tonight was solid. When everyone got in foul trouble though he had little else to work with. Pullen had a career night. And K-State shot way above their heads from 3 pt land and the charity stripe where there is no defense. That's just the way the ball bounces sometimes. Kind of like Loyd blowing up for 26 against Florida.

I agree with tooblue that it would have behooved the Cougars to move the ball out of Jimmer's hands and into Lloyd's when Pullen was on him. They could have moved him to the block and run an inverted offense, with him in the post-the beauty of jimmer is that he is strong enough to take samller, quicker guards down into the paint and score or create havoc and open 3's.

Really, we lost this game in about a 4 minute stretch at the end of the first half when they got up on us and completely discombobulated our offense.

I disagree that half court trapping would have been an effective strategy-and I thought the defense was okay-Pullen was out of his mind-I have seen him miss those shots so many times this year that it blows my mind, but he was awfully good today.