BYU Basketball 25-26: The AJ Season

[Joe Public]

This is great. Crush these guys.

[byufan4ever]

We gonna beat Wisconsin by more than we beat Delaware lol.

[byufan4ever]

Get Staton out there. He really needs some minutes.

[Joe Public]

WISC got McGregored!

[Jeff Lebowski]

Holy cow, what a win.

If our bench plays like that, we are going to have a helluva year.

[PaloAltoCougar]

It was nice to have Richie back on track, but Mboup and Diomande were probably the biggest difference makers. Great contributions by freshmen no less.

[BigPiney]

Get Staton out there. He really needs some minutes.

I loved the minutes he got against UConn

[SteelBlue]

That may have been the most dominant win against a high-quality opponent by a BYU bball team in my entire fandom (started caring around 1986). Can any of you other old heads think of a better one?

[PaloAltoCougar]

That may have been the most dominant win against a high-quality opponent by a BYU bball team in my entire fandom (started caring around 1986). Can any of you other old heads think of a better one?

This was better, although Danny Ainge and the 6-seed Cougars destroying 3-seed UCLA 78-55 is close. That was 1981, I'm sure everyone remembers that.

[byufan4ever]

That may have been the most dominant win against a high-quality opponent by a BYU bball team in my entire fandom (started caring around 1986). Can any of you other old heads think of a better one?

In the 2021-2022 season we beat Oregon 81-49. They weren't ranked, but it was a "neutral" game in Portland (basically Oregon's backyard), and Oregon finished the season 20-15 (11-9).

[Joe Public]

In the 2021-2022 season we beat Oregon 81-49. They weren't ranked, but it was a "neutral" game in Portland (basically Oregon's backyard), and Oregon finished the season 20-15 (11-9).

I remember that game - it was great. I’m pretty sure Oregon was in the top 15 at the time the game was played.

[byufan4ever]

Very nice game from start to finish for a quality Q1 win!

• I don't remember the exact number, but they said that offensive players only hit like 15% of their shots against AJ when he's guarding them. That's elite level of man defending!
• AJ does struggle with rotations and help defense and Wisconsin got at least one easy basket that AJ was at fault for
• RWIII could double his PPG if he could hit like 60-70% of his layups...
• We did much better job of rebounding in the second half
• Baker was solid and I personally don't have a problem with him dribbling
• I want to see us run some plays for AJ where we screen or double screen him to get him open. He had a little bit of trouble trying to fly past Wisconsin's bigs one-on-one
• I liked seeing Mboup and Diomande get 15+ minutes, Diomande has a good looking 3P shot, but I don't think he's hit one yet this season. But I like his athleticism, energy, and steals

Player of the Game awards:

• PER: Richie Saunders. This is still his team, baby! 26 points on 74.7% TS% is great.
• GSc: Also Saunders
• TS%: Baker - 2/4 form 3P and 2/2 from inside the arc. He's not just a 3P specialist.
• ORtg: Dybansta - he was very efficient from the line. I love the improvement that he's already made in that area.
• DRtg: Keita - he only played 15 minutes, but for the most part he was able to shut down Wisc's bigs in the paint
• Super Sub: Kostic - new award for players playing between 3-14 minutes, goes to highest PER/Min. Sure it was garbage time, but Kostic looked better than Mrus.

Struggled to Perform awards:

• PER: Tyler Mrus - He did finally hit 2 3s, but he was largely disappointing for 20 minutes of play. I actually don't recall him being out on the floor that much...
• GSc: Also Mrus
• TS%: RWIII - see earlier comment about making layups
• ORtg: Mrus
• DRtg: Baker

Next game is against Miami on Thanksgiving Day! They are a much improved team this season They are currently 4-1 and #52 in Kenpom. This is a borderline Q1/Q2 game on a neutral floor.

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[byufan4ever]

I remember that game - it was great. I’m pretty sure Oregon was in the top 15 at the time the game was played.

I looked it up and they were #12 at the time. They definitely fell off after that game although they weren't exactly horrible, they weren't the top 12 team everyone thought they were early in the season.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Dawson Baker with another solid game. Haha.

[SteelBlue]

This was better, although Danny Ainge and the 6-seed Cougars destroying 3-seed UCLA 78-55 is close. That was 1981, I'm sure everyone remembers that.

I was 11 but not mature enough to sit through games. I remember my dad telling me how good Ainge was but I really only remember the NBA version of Danny.