The Official NIT Thread!

[Goatnapper'96]

No kidding. Those signs are dumb. So what if you are LDS and root for another school? Who cares?

In a culture that defines so much of your life it is the one way that folks can convince themselves they are independent thinkers.

[jay santos]

Reading this made me realize that we haven't seen the 1-3-1 in this tournament. Good riddance.

Rose's evolution on defense has been interesting. BYU was almost strictly a man-to-man team for his first few years. Then with Jimmer he started experimenting with a zone. By Jimmer's senior year the zone was a staple and man-to-man was rare. The change this year was the 1-3-1. Not only was it a bad defense for this team, it made our other zone defenses worse as well. Perhaps adding a complicated defense had a dilutive effect on how well the team learned any of the defenses. It seems Rose made this adjustment in the 10 days off between the WCC tournament and the NIT.

I think most likely he went to the 1-3-1 to help defend the three, which was mostly killing us from the wing position. But it wasn't successful. Last night's zone was different than what I've noticed before. The guards were interchanging instead of switching on the guy with ball. ie Calvert's on the left and Carlino's at top of key guarding his man, Calvert's man cuts through, instead of standing there guarding air or taking Carlino's man and pushing Carlino over, Calvert came over to the right side. More of a matchup zone look. I hadn't noticed that before. By the way, Calvert's horrible.

[Goatnapper'96]

The consistent play from both Carlino and Austin have been the best development in the NIT. I still hope that Austin is not the starter next year for BYU because I think he is still so offensively limited, but he could be a great sub for 20 mpg next year. Even if his offensive game stays the same he can come in and defend and rebound hard. His type of play of late would have been a real good compliment for Davies this year as Davies is a good enough scorer that the 4 playing alongside him doesn't have to carry that burden. On another note is it me or did it seem like Nate had more confidence in his jumper last year than this year? Perhaps for good reason as I never looked at the stats but it seems to me he was more offensively dynamic last year. If Nate could play next year like a physical 6'11 post player that comes off the bench at both the 4 and 5 and can give BYU 5ppg and 6rpg in 20 mpg, that would be really huge. Hit 2 or 3 jumpers a game and 75% of his free throws. He doesn't need to be an offensive juggernaut, just good enough to hit jumpers if people totally ignore him and leave him alone - similar to what Noah Hartsock gave BYU when Noah was a soph. I just checked the stats and Nate's shooting percentages precipitously declined from his freshman year to this year. If he can get back to what he did as a Freshman and defend/rebound like he has in the NIT (which the game against Southern Miss is Missleading because they played such a small team) then I think he can really develop into the quality role player I envisioned him as when he was a freshman.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Austin's offensive rebounding has been huge. Showing some great hustle and energy.

[Art Vandelay]

I'm glad others have brought up Austin's improvement. He really is a nice kid (he worked a lot with my son last year at BYU's camp. Which in retrospect is strange, my son is a shooting guard), but his style of play and brain farts drive me crazy. He is doing a much, much better job of "staying tall" on defense. For whatever reason, both Nate and Brandon have done a great job of showing on screens, recently, without stepping out for the silly blocking foul. I have to think it is Pope's influence. I'm curious if it was Pope that could be heard yelling directions to NA in the second half, to "stay low...don't jump....stay low".

[Surfah]

The consistent play from both Carlino and Austin have been the best development in the NIT. I still hope that Austin is not the starter next year for BYU because I think he is still so offensively limited, but he could be a great sub for 20 mpg next year. Even if his offensive game stays the same he can come in and defend and rebound hard. His type of play of late would have been a real good compliment for Davies this year as Davies is a good enough scorer that the 4 playing alongside him doesn't have to carry that burden. On another note is it me or did it seem like Nate had more confidence in his jumper last year than this year? Perhaps for good reason as I never looked at the stats but it seems to me he was more offensively dynamic last year. If Nate could play next year like a physical 6'11 post player that comes off the bench at both the 4 and 5 and can give BYU 5ppg and 6rpg in 20 mpg, that would be really huge. Hit 2 or 3 jumpers a game and 75% of his free throws. He doesn't need to be an offensive juggernaut, just good enough to hit jumpers if people totally ignore him and leave him alone - similar to what Noah Hartsock gave BYU when Noah was a soph. I just checked the stats and Nate's shooting percentages precipitously declined from his freshman year to this year. If he can get back to what he did as a Freshman and defend/rebound like he has in the NIT (which the game against Southern Miss is Missleading because they played such a small team) then I think he can really develop into the quality role player I envisioned him as when he was a freshman.

Austin's shoulder injury really set him back. He didn't play or shoot all summer because of it. I think being healthy this offseason will really help him. I expect him to be an 8 and 8 guy next year consistently.

[Surfah]

I'm glad others have brought up Austin's improvement. He really is a nice kid (he worked a lot with my son last year at BYU's camp. Which in retrospect is strange, my son is a shooting guard), but his style of play and brain farts drive me crazy. He is doing a much, much better job of "staying tall" on defense. For whatever reason, both Nate and Brandon have done a great job of showing on screens, recently, without stepping out for the silly blocking foul. I have to think it is Pope's influence. I'm curious if it was Pope that could be heard yelling directions to NA in the second half, to "stay low...don't jump....stay low".

I think that may have been directed at Bronson. Junkie aptly noted in a text to me last night that the kid loves to leave his feet. And how many of gasped like I did and said a quick prayer when he went over that guy and landed on his shoulder?

[Goatnapper'96]

Austin's offensive rebounding has been huge. Showing some great hustle and energy.

I always think guys like Austin make great role players for BYU. They grow up in the shadows of BYU and love it. They want so bad to be a part of it. You don't have to worry about them doing stupid things off the court and on the court they will give 100% and do all the dirty work. Then when I saw Nate play as a Freshman I thought here is a big kid who can actually shoot the ball. His defense stunk but he was a true freshman who had just returned from a mission. Then this year he seemed to have regressed offensively without improving defensively. However, he is showing now what I think he can bring. I still think his offensive game is limited to hitting jump shots when left all alone - but if he can do that, take charges, rebound really hard both defensively and offensively while always being the first guy off the bench to slap hands, give sweaty superstars towels or get chairs out for the 5 players he is a huuuuge keeper in my book. I still want BYU to pick up Tummal desperately because I think he will bring an offensive capability that Nate and Sharp will never have, but I really believe that Nate can develop into a great role player at both the 4 and the 5 off the bench next year for BYU. Given that I in my perfect world the starters will be Mika and Tummala, I doubt either starter averages more than 24-26 mpg so there is going to be a lot of time still for both Nate and Josh to come off the bench.

[Surfah]

I think most likely he went to the 1-3-1 to help defend the three, which was mostly killing us from the wing position. But it wasn't successful. Last night's zone was different than what I've noticed before. The guards were interchanging instead of switching on the guy with ball. ie Calvert's on the left and Carlino's at top of key guarding his man, Calvert's man cuts through, instead of standing there guarding air or taking Carlino's man and pushing Carlino over, Calvert came over to the right side. More of a matchup zone look. I hadn't noticed that before. By the way, Calvert's horrible.

Calvert has not played well in the NIT. The stage seems to be too big for him. He may be a scholarship casualty if the roster is tight as expected when he gets home from the mission.

[jay santos]

The consistent play from both Carlino and Austin have been the best development in the NIT. I still hope that Austin is not the starter next year for BYU because I think he is still so offensively limited, but he could be a great sub for 20 mpg next year. Even if his offensive game stays the same he can come in and defend and rebound hard. His type of play of late would have been a real good compliment for Davies this year as Davies is a good enough scorer that the 4 playing alongside him doesn't have to carry that burden. On another note is it me or did it seem like Nate had more confidence in his jumper last year than this year? Perhaps for good reason as I never looked at the stats but it seems to me he was more offensively dynamic last year. If Nate could play next year like a physical 6'11 post player that comes off the bench at both the 4 and 5 and can give BYU 5ppg and 6rpg in 20 mpg, that would be really huge. Hit 2 or 3 jumpers a game and 75% of his free throws. He doesn't need to be an offensive juggernaut, just good enough to hit jumpers if people totally ignore him and leave him alone - similar to what Noah Hartsock gave BYU when Noah was a soph. I just checked the stats and Nate's shooting percentages precipitously declined from his freshman year to this year. If he can get back to what he did as a Freshman and defend/rebound like he has in the NIT (which the game against Southern Miss is Missleading because they played such a small team) then I think he can really develop into the quality role player I envisioned him as when he was a freshman.

Nate was a big disappointment for me this year. I thought he had Hartsock type potential on a longer frame. He's not showing anything this year to suggest that.

[Goatnapper'96]

Austin's shoulder injury really set him back. He didn't play or shoot all summer because of it. I think being healthy this offseason will really help him. I expect him to be an 8 and 8 guy next year consistently.

BYU has been hit pretty hard by injuries the last two years. Not just to guys like Rogers and Collinsworth who were being counted on to be key contributors and missed both seasons almost entirely, but with the nagging injuries to guys like Austin, Delgado and Winder who were only going to be role players but just could not work on their game due to lingering injuries.

[Blueintheface]

Am I the only one who thinks Calvert isn't horrible?

[wapiti]

Calvert has not played well in the NIT. The stage seems to be too big for him. He may be a scholarship casualty if the roster is tight as expected when he gets home from the mission.

I think he must be showing well in practice because there is no other explanation for his increased minutes over the last 3 games. He played OK when he subbed for "bad Matty" in the first half of the Washington game.

[Y84it]

This NIT run is giving me confidence that BYU can win the WCC next year. Here is why..... Carlino and Rose together are finally seeing what Carlino does best. HAWS. This guy is a player which we know but I think he is going to be better next year. Haws knows how to put in work to get better and he will do exactly that. What I would like to see him improve on is Ball Handling, rebounding and getting open/drawing fouls (I put those together because the WCC raped him and he couldn't get calls) Last but not least AUSTIN He will have the off season to learn to play like a BIG. His shoulder surgery really set him back.

Anyway. That is my glass half full analysis.

[Flystripper]

Am I the only one who thinks Calvert isn't horrible?

He isn't good right now but I am not too hard on him because he is a freshman backup that projects as a career backup. His dribble is a bit loose at times and he is not a good shooter. His drives are usually out of control and as a result he is not very adept at finding the open man when he gets in the paint off the bounce. He is quicker and more athletic than Cusick, but that is pretty much all he has going for him right now.