BYU Hoops 2015-2016

[Topper]

My last connection to BYU basketball just left the school and while I'm hardly objective on the subject I do think he took a good opportunity and in addition, BYU avoided having to deal with the lack of improvement from the bigs over the next few years. Injuries and some bad luck aside, I don't quite think Mark was the boon they were hoping for.

The only bigs with any measure of talent, Kaufusi and last year's center, both seem to improve over the season. The remainder were veritable dregs in terms of basketball talent.

[Topper]

If you look at rivals top 150 for the class of 2015, 2 of the top 20 kids in the country are playing HS ball in California. There are no top 20 national recruits playing ball in one of the NYC boroughs or in south side Chicago. Further, there are zero top 20 ranked players in Detroit (or the state of Michigan, for that matter) or DC. In fact, chance comanche (Arizona commit) out of Beverly Hills HS is ranked higher at 32 than any player from Detroit, NYC, DC, or Chicago,

i think pretty much any coach in the country would be thrilled to land California's top football and basketball recruits. I also think "chance Comanche" is probably the name with the most bada** potential that we have seen in a long time.

A snapshot for this year. Average the last twenty years.

[Nakoma]

A snapshot for this year. Average the last twenty years.

You're making the claim. You do the research for the last 20 years and return and report.

[BlueK]

Why would I know or believe another Utahn will get BYU to the promised land of a final four? It might be a great hire but the odds don't point to that. The landscape of college basketball is dominated by NYC, Chicago, Detroit and Carolina connections. I hope you are correct but just calling me crazy is not analysis. How will Lewis fill the hole in what we lost in Pope? How will he address lingering problems on defense an recruiting athletic players? Was he a great college coach? That is not negative, but I don't buy a guy from Utah is automatically a great hire. If he brings Jackson then I might be sold.

Quincy Lewis played D1 college basketball in the NYC area, which makes your post that much more humorous. Sure, it was a smaller college (Wagner) from Staten Island. But it's not like he doesn't know NYC basketball. He lived there. He has a ton of national contacts in HS and AAU because of the extensive number of national tournaments his LP teams have played in over the last several years. Frank Jackson getting noticed nationally as much as he is right now has a lot to do with Lewis' national connections.

Here is some trivia: when Lewis was a senior, his Wagner team was winning in their conference tournament championship game but was suddenly robbed of an NCAA tournament berth when someone from the team they were playing against made a half court desperation shot at the buzzer.

[byu71]

Topper, I think you take far too much ciriticism for your opinions on here.

That being said, if you don't like the Lewis hire, you deserve the criticism this time.

[BlueK]

As speculated, BYU is trying to land an immediately eligible transfer to take the remaining scholarship for this season. ESPN ranks this guy as one of the top 20 transfers available.

19. Tomasz Gielo, Liberty (eligible immediately) -- The native of Poland played only seven games last season before suffering a stress fracture in his right foot. Gielo is 6-9 and knocked down better than 40 percent of his 3-pointers the past two seasons.

Considering: Ole Miss, Kansas State, Boise State, Nevada, Marquette, BYU, Vanderbilt, Nebraska

He averaged about 12ppg and 6 rpg the last two years. Would be obvious upgrade over Neilson assuming he's over his injury from last season. Liberty's honor code makes BYU's look pretty lax. ;-)

http://espn.go.com/blog/jeff-goodman...-transfer-list

[TripletDaddy]

we need more bigs with foot injuries. foot injuries on really tall guys seem to heal very efficiently.

[BlueK]

we need more bigs with foot injuries. foot injuries on really tall guys seem to heal very efficiently.

This guy is still a small risk. It's just one year. If he's healthy enough to play he'll be an upgrade from who he replaces. I'm sure you'd rather this scholie went unused for this year or given to Nate Austin, right?

[Goatnapper'96]

we need more bigs with foot injuries. foot injuries on really tall guys seem to heal very efficiently.

We got the real priesthood, we can fix him....WHO GOT NEXT?

[cougjunkie]

I agree with Topper. Jaylen Brown is still undecided, why aren't we going hard after him (assuming we want a kid from Georgia)?

Here is another interesting stat that backs up Toppers claims:

2015 NBA mock draft:

1. Karl-Anthony Towns- New Jersey
2. Jahlil Okafor- Chicago
3. D'Angelo Russell- Kentucky
4. Emmanuel Mudiay- Texas
5. Big Euro kid
6. Big Euro kid
7. Justice Winslow- Texas
8. Stanley Johnson- California
9. Trey Lyles- Indianopolis
10- Willie Cauley-Stein- Kansas
11- Kelly Oubre- Texas
12- Sam Dekker- Wisconsin
13- Myles Turner- Texas
14- Cameron Payne- Tennessee
15- Bobby Portis- Arkansas
16- Frank Kaminsky- Illinois (not Chicago)
17- Kevin Looney- Wisconsin
18- Devin Booker- Mississippi
19- Jerian Grant- Maryland
20- Montrezl Harrell- North Carolina
21- Tyus Jones- Minnesota
22- Delon Wright- California
23- Justin Anderson- Virginia
24- Terry Rozier- Cleveland
25- Rondae Hollis-Jefferson- Pennsylvania
26- RJ Hunter- Indianapolis
27- Jarell Martin- Louisiana
28- Christian Wood- California
29- Norman Powell- California
30- Rashad Vaughn- Minnesota

If Dave Rose would have targeted the areas Topper mentioned, we could have landed Jahlil Okafor!!!

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

I agree with Topper. Jaylen Brown is still undecided, why aren't we going hard after him (assuming we want a kid from Georgia)?

Here is another interesting stat that backs up Toppers claims:

2015 NBA mock draft:

1. Karl-Anthony Towns- New Jersey
2. Jahlil Okafor- Chicago
3. D'Angelo Russell- Kentucky
4. Emmanuel Mudiay- Texas
5. Big Euro kid
6. Big Euro kid
7. Justice Winslow- Texas
8. Stanley Johnson- California
9. Trey Lyles- Indianopolis
10- Willie Cauley-Stein- Kansas
11- Kelly Oubre- Texas
12- Sam Dekker- Wisconsin
13- Myles Turner- Texas
14- Cameron Payne- Tennessee
15- Bobby Portis- Arkansas
16- Frank Kaminsky- Illinois (not Chicago)
17- Kevin Looney- Wisconsin
18- Devin Booker- Mississippi
19- Jerian Grant- Maryland
20- Montrezl Harrell- North Carolina
21- Tyus Jones- Minnesota
22- Delon Wright- California
23- Justin Anderson- Virginia
24- Terry Rozier- Cleveland
25- Rondae Hollis-Jefferson- Pennsylvania
26- RJ Hunter- Indianapolis
27- Jarell Martin- Louisiana
28- Christian Wood- California
29- Norman Powell- California
30- Rashad Vaughn- Minnesota

If Dave Rose would have targeted the areas Topper mentioned, we could have landed Jahlil Okafor!!!

Brown committed to Cal over the weekend.

[Art Vandelay]

Brown committed to Cal over the weekend.

Kal basketball is trying to emulate their football program. High quality recruits, likely high draft picks and decades of mediocrity

[clackamascoug]

Good Luck Quincy. Now I'll have more interesting things I can bug you about at the family reunion.

[BlueK]

Good Luck Quincy. Now I'll have more interesting things I can bug you about at the family reunion.

You're related to him? Quincy was a friend of my younger brother's in high school, and I believe my brother has kept in touch with him off and on over the years. He's a good guy. At the time he was more of a Utah fan, which makes it even funnier that he ended up on BYU's coaching staff. I'm excited for the hire. He has a great basketball mind, and I think he'll bring a toughness and commitment to good defense. I loved Mika's on-court attitude, as well as Jackson Emery's. Reportedly Nick Emery and TJ Haws are similar.

[Commando]

Good Luck Quincy. Now I'll have more interesting things I can bug you about at the family reunion.

Worst humble brag ever.