BYU Basketball 24-25-Bring out the Jelly!

[Jeff Lebowski]

18-36 from 3P. 18-21 from FT. That's how you beat a top 10 team that shoots 56% against you and has a player that goes off for 30 points. Also only 9 turnovers for BYU.

I agree KY is great and appears to be getting better. I'm so impressed with his responses in the post game pressers. He always has a stat sheet he is referring to justifying his answers. Coming from the pro game he is probably ahead of the curve on analytics compared to his average collect peers. He told a story today about when he was an assistant with the 76ers in the infancy of analytics and his GM showed him a heat map of a million NBA 3 pointers and it became KY's responsibility to figure out how to get the shots at the hot areas. He implied he has carried that into coaching BYU and it's not just about jacking up 3 pointers in volume it's about getting the ball to the best spots in best way to set up the shooter for a score. It's really remarkable to watch.

Also 24 assists on 30 made FG is a point KY made. That's incredible. This team is deeper than any we have ever had and is extremely unselfish. There is obviously no player on this team as dominant as Jimmer his senior year but I think this team is built for a deeper run and being tested by Big 12 play will help that.

I am super impressed with KY. His personnel adjustments have worked great. And he draws up great plays at the end when it is critical.

[Joe Public]

love seeing Dave Rose in the stands cheering on the team.

If people haven’t seen his Deep Blue they showed on BYUtv the other day, I recommend doing so. It was a tough watch in some respects, but it’s very touching.

[Idon'tgnawonmywife]

If people haven’t seen his Deep Blue they showed on BYUtv the other day, I recommend doing so. It was a tough watch in some respects, but it’s very touching.

What makes it a tough watch? I just want to prepare myself

[Jeff Lebowski]

Man, Iowa State fans are suicidal lunatics. I love it.

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[Jeff Lebowski]

Hang it in the Louvre.

[Joe Public]

What makes it a tough watch? I just want to prepare myself

His health isn’t great.

[Pelado]

BYU men's basketball current ratings:

NET: 24
KenPom: 23
ESPN BPI: 24
BPI Resume: 24
Faktor KPI: 30
AP: 23
Coaches: 22

Record against Quad 1: 5-7
Quad 2: 7-1
Quad 3: 4-0
Quad 4: 6-0

Games remaining against Quad 1: 0
Quad 2: 1
Quad 3: 0
Quad 4: 0

ESPN's BPI predictor model gives BYU a 82.9% chance to win at home against Utah (NET: 64, KenPom 68) on Saturday, predicting a margin of 9.9 points. It's ranked 17th of the day's games in "Matchup Quality".

For the tournament projections, BPI currently shows BYU with the following chances:
Round of 32: 71.5%
Sweet 16: 33.6%
Elite 8: 13.5%
Final 4: 5.1%
Title game: 1.7%
Champion: 0.4%

They are listed as the 23rd highest odds of winning the tournament. Big 12 teams with better odds:
Houston - 20.6%
Iowa State - 2.8%
Texas Tech - 2.3%
Arizona - 2.1%
Kansas - 1.2%

Baylor is listed just after BYU with odds of 0.3%.

BYU men's basketball current ratings:

NET: 26 (before accounting for tournament victory over Iowa State)
KenPom: 23
ESPN BPI: 24
BPI Resume: 17
Faktor KPI: 32
AP: 17
Coaches: 18

Record against Quad 1: 8-6
Quad 2: 5-2
Quad 3: 5-0
Quad 4: 6-0

Games remaining against Quad 1: 1
Quad 2: 0
Quad 3: 0
Quad 4: 0

ESPN's BPI predictor model gives BYU just a 19.4% chance to win in the semifinals against Houston (NET: 3, KenPom: 3) tomorrow, predicting a margin of 8.9 points. It's currently ranked 2nd of the day's games in "Matchup Quality" only trailing Marquette - Saint John's.

For the tournament projections, BPI currently shows BYU with the following chances:
Round of 32: 74.7%
Sweet 16: 35.5%
Elite 8: 12.4%
Final 4: 4.6%
Title game: 1.5%
Champion: 0.4%

They are listed as the 23rd highest odds of winning the tournament. Big 12 teams with better odds:
Houston - 19.2%
Texas Tech - 3.1%
Iowa State - 3.1%
Arizona - 2.0%
Kansas - 1.3%

Baylor is listed just after BYU with odds of 0.4%.

[Bo Diddley]

If people haven’t seen his Deep Blue they showed on BYUtv the other day, I recommend doing so. It was a tough watch in some respects, but it’s very touching.

I love that guy. I wonder how much longer we'll have him with us.

[byufan4ever]

I can see now why ISU students didn't want BYU in the B12. Two great wins against them now this season. BYU wins by 4 to advance to the conference tournament semis. Did I really just type that? I love defensive basketball, but good flowing and shooting basketball is fun to watch too, and both teams provided a treat. ISU's Curtis Jones was hot in the first half. I didn't notice anything that BYU did differently on him in the second half (but they very well could have and I just didn't catch it). 3FG shooting was really good for both teams, but BYU was better, and we dominated the FT advantage and actually shot well from the line. No real major complaints. We played like a team and it showed. I can't remember the exact number, but BYU's record once KY put Mag in the starting lineup is really good and I think that has helped spur our win streak.

Richie Saunders gets the Player of the Game award. He led BYU in scoring, had 5 assists to zero TOs, and his FT shooting has just been automatic and clutch lately. He had the best PER and GSc. Knell had the best TS% as he didn't miss a single shot or FT. I don't expect that type of shooting every game, but it sure is nice when he's in the zone.

Egor Demin gets the Struggled to Perform award. He had more TOs than Ast and he didn't play most of the minutes down the stretch. I'm not calling for Demin to be benched, but right now Hall is flat out the better PG (airball FT and all). Demin had the worst PER, GSc, and TS%.

BYU is now 24-8 (14-6) and #23 in Kenpom. They just keep racking up the Quad 1 wins and our projected seed keeps getting better and better.

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[Pelado]

ISU's Curtis Jones was hot in the first half. I didn't notice anything that BYU did differently on him in the second half (but they very well could have and I just didn't catch it).

They changed it up a bit. There were at least a few possessions where Jones had the ball on the perimeter and they sent both his primary defender + Keita to force him to pass the ball.

[Flystripper]

I thought switch to the zone on some possessions help a lot to slow them down. Especially when our guards were getting bullied from the free throw line in.

[Shaka]

The Donald weighs in:

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[SteelBlue]

This is the deepest, or at least the most balanced, BYU team I've ever experienced.

I was 11 in 1981 and had little opportunity to watch that team and so I often wonder if recency bias is the cause of people leaving out Ainge's Elite Eight squad when statements like this are made. When I hear this from people who actually saw all these teams it means a lot more. In my fandom, the 1987 team with Mike Smith and Jeff Chatman was the deepest squad I can remember watching until Jimmer's team came along and it felt like a new standard had been set, though I do wonder if the 87 team was better on paper?

[BlueK]

I was 11 in 1981 and had little opportunity to watch that team and so I often wonder if recency bias is the cause of people leaving out Ainge's Elite Eight squad when statements like this are made. When I hear this from people who actually saw all these teams it means a lot more. In my fandom, the 1987 team with Mike Smith and Jeff Chatman was the deepest squad I can remember watching until Jimmer's team came along and it felt like a new standard had been set, though I do wonder if the 87 team was better on paper?

I'm about the same age as you and since my dad was a huge fan and we lived in Utah I did get to watch the Ainge teams in person fairly often as well as on local TV. It was pretty amazing Ainge was a player ahead of his time. The way he tore up 3 seed UCLA in the 2nd round of the ncaa tournament in 81 was something else. Another thing about that team to remember was that it had three NBA players on it who not only spent some time in the league but had long careers there, like 10+ years. Considering how rare that has since turned out to be for BYU players, it feels today like an even bigger deal.

[Green Monstah]

I love that guy. I wonder how much longer we'll have him with us.

I didn’t realize the cancer was recurring. Poor guy. Makes seeing him cheering in the crowd yesterday all the more sweet.