BYU Hoops 2014-2015

[ERCougar]

I don't see it that way but I hope you're right. I think we are going to really, really struggle defensively (and that's saying something). I see us taking a temporary step backwards this year but I'm still bullish on our future.

Ya think?
I'm bullish on the future, but i think even then, we are not going to reach a sweet sixteen unless Rose shows even a passing interest in defense. It's my one complaint but i think it's a significant one. It's what will keep him at Bronco's level.

[BlueK]

I think the effort on defense in the exhibition Saturday looked great. They played a tight man to man the whole game and caused a lot of turnovers. We'll see how it looks Friday against a pretty decent Long Beach State team, but I think the defense will be better this year. Also, if you follow Ken Pomeroy, it's only been the last two seasons that BYU has been terrible on defense. Rose will always be more about offense, but Pomeroy's defensive rankings for BYU under Rose have been either pretty good or at least decent. I'll have to look it up and post when I get around to subscribing to his site. I also agree with jay santos that on defense at least we will be better inside with Kaufusi, Neilson and Worthington. Mika is a great talent, but he was very bad defensively, and BYU having a shot blocking/altering presence inside will make the entire team better on defense.

[ERCougar]

I think the effort on defense in the exhibition Saturday looked great. They played a tight man to man the whole game and caused a lot of turnovers. We'll see how it looks Friday against a pretty decent Long Beach State team, but I think the defense will be better this year. Also, if you follow Ken Pomeroy, it's only been the last two seasons that BYU has been terrible on defense. Rose will always be more about offense, but Pomeroy's defensive rankings for BYU under Rose have been either pretty good or at least decent. I'll have to look it up and post when I get around to subscribing to his site. I also agree with jay santos that on defense at least we will be better inside with Kaufusi, Neilson and Worthington. Mika is a great talent, but he was very bad defensively, and BYU having a shot blocking/altering presence inside will make the entire team better on defense.

I have never seen an even average defensive team under Rose. The closest we came was with Emery, and that was through steals off passes more than any kind of scheme commitment, so I'll remain skeptical. I get that it's not his thing, and with the athletes we get, we'll have a tough time ever having a lock down defense (although majerus pulled it off), but maybe hiring an assistant who is even nominally interested in defense might be nice?

I like Rose, and I'll count my blessings, I just don't think we'll reach then next tier without that change.

[jay santos]

I think the effort on defense in the exhibition Saturday looked great. They played a tight man to man the whole game and caused a lot of turnovers. We'll see how it looks Friday against a pretty decent Long Beach State team, but I think the defense will be better this year. Also, if you follow Ken Pomeroy, it's only been the last two seasons that BYU has been terrible on defense. Rose will always be more about offense, but Pomeroy's defensive rankings for BYU under Rose have been either pretty good or at least decent. I'll have to look it up and post when I get around to subscribing to his site. I also agree with jay santos that on defense at least we will be better inside with Kaufusi, Neilson and Worthington. Mika is a great talent, but he was very bad defensively, and BYU having a shot blocking/altering presence inside will make the entire team better on defense.

We ran man, but it seems we always start the season running man, and then dump it for zone once we get exposed with it. With the way offenses have evolved with spreading you out and running high ball screens, we just get killed because we can't keep anyone in front of us on the perimeter. I think the main reason we're better inside is that last year Knight and Mika would get in foul trouble and we had no one to bring in. This year, the depth is much better.

[BlueK]

I have never seen an even average defensive team under Rose. The closest we came was with Emery, and that was through steals off passes more than any kind of scheme commitment, so I'll remain skeptical. I get that it's not his thing, and with the athletes we get, we'll have a tough time ever having a lock down defense (although majerus pulled it off), but maybe hiring an assistant who is even nominally interested in defense might be nice?

I like Rose, and I'll count my blessings, I just don't think we'll reach then next tier without that change.

This is where Ken Pomeroy has ranked BYU on defense the last seven years:

2014: 104
2013: 90
2012: 25
2011: 38
2010: 51
2009: 39
2008: 11

Pomeroy looks at efficiency and digs a lot deeper than just looking at the superficial stats of ppg or FG%. I think the last couple of awful defenses have kind of colored perceptions a bit. When guys like Emery, Abuou, Cummard, Hartsock, etc., were here BYU wasn't bad defensively as a team. One thing I think you can say though is that Rose's defenses tend to follow his talent. He isn't a defensive system type of coach. I won't argue with that.

That said, I think they showed some good signs in the two exhibition games. Last year's team had no trouble scoring a lot of points. They just gave up way too many. I think this team is better equipped to improve the defense just enough to turn some of those close lossess against good teams last year into wins, while also avoiding the 2-3 bad losses they had. It also makes it easier that they play all the good opponents either at home (Utah, Stanford, UMass) or in Maui. Last year they were almost all on the road and they were away from home almost the entire month of December. The schedule is still good enough to get them some quality wins but more manageable than last year's.

[KillerDog]

I have never seen an even average defensive team under Rose. The closest we came was with Emery, and that was through steals off passes more than any kind of scheme commitment, so I'll remain skeptical. I get that it's not his thing, and with the athletes we get, we'll have a tough time ever having a lock down defense (although majerus pulled it off), but maybe hiring an assistant who is even nominally interested in defense might be nice?

I like Rose, and I'll count my blessings, I just don't think we'll reach then next tier without that change.

Interesting. I haven't found Rose's defense to be particularly suspect. We have had good and bad defenses but we aren't consistently one thing or the other. I agree with you that Rose focuses more on D than on O but I don't see anything particularly wrong with our defense other than that our talent is lacking. I recall very clearly that our slides in the 2-3 zone used to be horrible and it looked like Rose had never really gotten his mind around it but then he focused on it and they have been better for a lot of years. Maybe I'm mis-remembering. I'll go look at some stats and see if I want to revise my opinion.

[BlueK]

We ran man, but it seems we always start the season running man, and then dump it for zone once we get exposed with it. With the way offenses have evolved with spreading you out and running high ball screens, we just get killed because we can't keep anyone in front of us on the perimeter. I think the main reason we're better inside is that last year Knight and Mika would get in foul trouble and we had no one to bring in. This year, the depth is much better.

I agree that is how it has been in recent years with BYU's man to man. However, I think especially in the SPU game BYU was playing a much tighter and more aggressive man defense than the token variety we've seen them start the season with the last couple of years. They got 16 steals and created a lot of problems for Seatlle Pacific with it. They've also been bringing the guards up into a full court press in the two exhibitions, which is something we've really never seen with Rose's defense.

Long Beach is supposed to be a pretty decent team this year with good athleticism on the wings -- probably more than most WCC teams will have. If BYU can play good man defense Friday against them it will be a good sign that the D will be improved. If they have to retreat back into zone then it's back to the drawing board and hoping the D can still be better than last year with Kaufusi in the middle.

[Topper]

I agree that is how it has been in recent years with BYU's man to man. However, I think especially in the SPU game BYU was playing a much tighter and more aggressive man defense than the token variety we've seen them start the season with the last couple of years. They got 16 steals and created a lot of problems for Seatlle Pacific with it. They've also been bringing the guards up into a full court press in the two exhibitions, which is something we've really never seen with Rose's defense.

Long Beach is supposed to be a pretty decent team this year with good athleticism on the wings -- probably more than most WCC teams will have. If BYU can play good man defense Friday against them it will be a good sign that the D will be improved. If they have to retreat back into zone then it's back to the drawing board and hoping the D can still be better than last year with Kaufusi in the middle.

When does Peyton Dastrup return to BYU?

[BlueK]

Dastrup just started his mission and will play not next year, but the year after when TJ Haws and Eric Mika come back. Nick Emery plays next year.

[Bo Diddley]

Fun game tonight to start off the season. Halford with a great game, Haws efficient as he normally is. We've got a deep team this year. Listening to Wrubel before the game, I was surprised to hear that only Chatman would redshirt this year. Andrus never saw the court, so maybe that's still an option this year. I kind of expected him to redshirt this year.

[Commando]

Fun game tonight to start off the season. Halford with a great game, Haws efficient as he normally is. We've got a deep team this year. Listening to Wrubel before the game, I was surprised to hear that only Chatman would redshirt this year. Andrus never saw the court, so maybe that's still an option this year. I kind of expected him to redshirt this year.

Knowing that we'll have Dastrup and Mika back at the same time, that may affect how the big men currently in the program move on through. Can't have a logjam in 2 years.

[Topper]

What will it take for our interior defense to improve?

I am surprised Luke gets as much time as he does. Kaufusi has more upside IMHO. Nielson is a pleasant surprise.

[Commando]

What will it take for our interior defense to improve?

I am surprised Luke gets as much time as he does. Kaufusi has more upside IMHO. Nielson is a pleasant surprise.

Luke is a bit speedier out there and up in the mix, and while clumsy, still not Kaufusi Klumsy. He has serious upside, but it was like watching a blindfolded Hakeem Olajuwon out there.

[Clark Addison]

I liked CK's activity level, but he looked like he was wearing mittens out there.

[Commando]

I liked CK's activity level, but he looked like he was wearing mittens out there.

Yeah a dude that size should never lose a rebound- especially if he's actually getting to the ball.