The official BYU vs #6 Baylor Bears thread.......

[cougjunkie]

Baylor is absolutely huge.

6'11 and future NBA lottery pick Perry Jones leads the way at 6'11. He averages 15 and 6.

6'8 Quincy Acy is averaging 12 and 7

6'9 Quincy Miller is averaging 12 and 5

First two guys off the bench are 6'11 Anthony Jones and 6'9 Cory Jefferson both are averaging 9 and 5.

If that is not enough to deal with their starting PG Pierre Jackson is averaging almost 12 per game while dishing out 4.5 assists. Even more impressive he is shotting 59% from the floor and 60% from 3.

This is going to be a very tough test. Baylor plays primarily a matchup zone so we will need guys like Abouo, Zylstra, and Carlino to hit their perimeter shots. On top of that I would expect that we send 4 guys to the glass which will impair our ability to run.

Here is a preview on the game from Jay Bilas:

http://espn.go.com/ncb/notebook/_/page/notebookweekendwatch111216/dec-16-dec-18

[LiveCoug]

Very tough test. I am extremely surprised that BYU is a 3 point favorite.

Baylor's strength of schedule has been atrocious this year. They have the 338th rated schedule this year (sagarin). To put that in perspective, Utah is ranked 330.

[ERCougar]

KL linked a nice write up on Baylor...can't find it though.

EDIT: Here it is:

http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/12325/why-baylor-is-the-most-interesting-undefeated-team-in-college-basketball

[Hsaru]

With Rogers I put this game at 50/50 or better for BYU, but without him I'm thinking only a 25% chance to win. Zone breakers are going to be hard to come by going to need all of our shooters to be on to win this one.

[cougjunkie]

KL linked a nice write up on Baylor...can't find it though.

EDIT: Here it is:
http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-tr...ege-basketball

That is a nice writeup but I do not see Baylor running a 4-1 with Davies and Noah down low. Also Noah is excellent at hitting the free throw and baseline jumpers which will be big holes in Baylors zone.

If I had Jones, Acy and Miller behind me I would also tell my guards to take chances off the ball. BYUs perimeter players are going to need to hit shots and the bigs will need to stay out of foul trouble. I think we see lots of zone out of BYU tomorrow.

[Flystripper]

With Rogers I put this game at 50/50 or better for BYU, but without him I'm thinking only a 25% chance to win. Zone breakers are going to be hard to come by going to need all of our shooters to be on to win this one.

Assuming we won't have guys that can collapse a zone with penetration Hartsock is going to have to do work from the high post as well.

[ERCougar]

That is a nice writeup but I do not see Baylor running a 4-1 with Davies and Noah down low. Also Noah is excellent at hitting the free throw and baseline jumpers which will be big holes in Baylors zone.

If I had Jones, Acy and Miller behind me I would also tell my guards to take chances off the ball. BYUs perimeter players are going to need to hit shots and the bigs will need to stay out of foul trouble. I think we see lots of zone out of BYU tomorrow.

I agree with you that Davies and Hartsock could hurt that effort, so I see them as more of a key to the win than our backcourt. I don't know a thing about Northwestern but it looks as if they can hit the three and they lost by 20+. It's an interesting zone to break--goes against the "pass and shoot them out of it" CW.

I agree that Noah could be deadly to them, but it'd sure be nice if Davies were a more dominating presence inside (dominating meaning "plays big" more than quickness).

[jay santos]

KL linked a nice write up on Baylor...can't find it though.

EDIT: Here it is:
http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-tr...ege-basketball

Nice article, but someone needs to explain to him what a matchup 2-3 is, so he doesn't go on and on about how it sometimes looks a 3-2 or 4-1.

[cougjunkie]

Nice article, but someone needs to explain to him what a matchup 2-3 is, so he doesn't go on and on about how it sometimes looks a 3-2 or 4-1.

At first glance I thought the same thing. But if you look at the first picture Northwestern runs two guys in to the paint yet Baylor keeps 4 guys up top. I think that was his point.

[Blueintheface]

I agree with you that Davies and Hartsock could hurt that effort, so I see them as more of a key to the win than our backcourt. I don't know a thing about Northwestern but it looks as if they can hit the three and they lost by 20+. It's an interesting zone to break--goes against the "pass and shoot them out of it" CW.

I agree that Noah could be deadly to them, but it'd sure be nice if Davies were a more dominating presence inside (dominating meaning "plays big" more than quickness).

What about Austin? I think his length and ability to stretch the floor will be a big plus in this game.

[kccougar]

Three things in BYU's favor:

1. Baylor has played 1 road game so far this year and their strength of schedule is even worse than ours. A sold-out Marriott Center should help the Cougars.

2. Baylor turns the ball over on almost 1/4 of their posessions.

3. Baylor doesn't defend the three point shot very well. Not having Rogers hurts BYU here, but BYU can and will still try to take advantage here.

I wandered over to the Baylor forum several days ago. Baylor fans all think this game is over before it even begins.

[Blueintheface]

Three things in BYU's favor:

1. Baylor has played 1 road game so far this year and their strength of schedule is even worse than ours. A sold-out Marriott Center should help the Cougars.

2. Baylor turns the ball over on almost 1/4 of their posessions.

3. Baylor doesn't defend the three point shot very well. Not having Rogers hurts BYU here, but BYU can and will still try to take advantage here.

I wandered over to the Baylor forum several days ago. Baylor fans all think this game is over before it even begins.

RGIII aint walkin' in that door...

[LiveCoug]

RGIII aint walkin' in that door...

No, but PJIII is.

[Blueintheface]

No, but PJIII is.

He good!

[ERCougar]

What about Austin? I think his length and ability to stretch the floor will be a big plus in this game.

I don't know what to think, of either Austin or Baylor.

Just from the writeup on Baylor, they're not afraid to sell out the inside to stop outside shooters (which makes me wonder why they zone at all...), so in that sense, I don't know how Austin helps, other than maybe create a high post presence? To me, it seems like we need a guy inside that is an automatic basket if he gets the ball in a good spot without double team help--ironically, the kind of guy that would normally force a team into a zone--and I think Noah is closer to being that guy than Davies or Austin.