BYU Basketball 2016-2017

[Jeff Lebowski]

We'll see. Statistically for the year BYU's opponents make 30% of their threes. Utah had a horrific game defending the 3 against the Dons though. Then again, Kenpom ranks Utah's D pretty far below ours.

Yes and that number puts BYU at #27 nationally. That is a strength, not a weakness.

[BlueK]

The biggest difference between USF and SMC is that USF doesn't have Landale in the middle. They both have excellent outside shooters and good ball movement. USF isn't as strong inside -- not bad for a WCC team, but not like SMC. In general we aren't that bad defensively. Nick Emery held one of the best scoring guards in the WCC - Brownridge of LMU to almost nothing, and his worst game of the season. The usual mantra of "our defense hopelessly sucks!" doesn't fit that well this year. They still have work to do. but there has been clear improvement over the last two years. And I think even within this season it has been getting better.

[BlueK]

This will be a blowout win for BYU tonight if USF isn't making threes. That could come from any combination of BYU playing good perimeter D or USF just being cold. Or if USF is hot from three it will be a battle. In Provo I think the former is a little more likely than the latter.

[Topper]

The biggest difference between USF and SMC is that USF doesn't have Landale in the middle. They both have excellent outside shooters and good ball movement. USF isn't as strong inside -- not bad for a WCC team, but not like SMC. In general we aren't that bad defensively. Nick Emery held one of the best scoring guards in the WCC - Brownridge of LMU to almost nothing, and his worst game of the season. The usual mantra of "our defense hopelessly sucks!" doesn't fit that well this year. They still have work to do. but there has been clear improvement over the last two years. And I think even within this season it has been getting better.

The lack of interior strength should lead to some positive results for BYU.

[BlueK]

I will predict a comfortable win for BYU tonight. I don't think USF will shoot well enough from three, and they will be manhandled by us inside. One of the key issues for the utes when they lost to them was that Kuzma got hurt about 2 minutes into the game and sat out the rest of the night. I particularly enjoyed shots of him sitting on the bench laughing and acting like he's having a great time not playing while his teammates were getting thoroughly beat on the court. That was interesting. Glad he doesn't play for us. That said, his absence really hurt them because Colette was about the only inside player worth anything that they had that night and he got into foul trouble. This allowed USF to attack the inside and kick it back out, and the utes had to pick between giving up layups or fouls inside open threes. USF won't enjoy the same situation tonight.

[Blueintheface]

Merciful Jesus, either no one plays defense in the NCAA or BYU is just awful.

[jay santos]

Rowing?

[jay santos]

lol showing Dastrup after every made basket now.

[BlueK]

Merciful Jesus, either no one plays defense in the NCAA or BYU is just awful.

No one in the NCAA plays defense. The only league that is worse defensively is the NBA -- open shots made all the time there.

Seriously though, USF shot 24% from three, 42% overall. That's terrible for them. BYU gave up 75 points in 80 possessions which equals .9375 per possession. How does that compare to the rest of the NCAA? Well, The U. of Miami for the year gives up .937 per possession, which ranks them #28 defense in the country. UConn at #29 gives up .94. Basketball is an offensive game. You're not going to hold anyone to zero or never give up an open shot. Just because you see a few of those doesn't mean the defense for the entire game is atrocious. You're just not remembering all the good defensive plays. Fans see what they're looking for, but the stats can keep you grounded. BYU has struggled with defense in recent years. But the numbers show they're much better than they were three years ago. Give them some props for that. Numbers don't tell the perfect story, but if the narrative you're looking for is that our defense is hopelessly horrible, then the numbers shouldn't disagree by THAT much.

www.kenpom.com

[Jeff Lebowski]

Yeah that was a decent defensive effort. Doing better this year.


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[BlueK]

Yeah that was a decent defensive effort. Doing better this year.


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USF is a good offensive team and we made them take several shots that weren't the best as the shot clock wound down. Sure, they had a half dozen open looks they missed. Overall I think they shot the percentage tonight they pretty much deserved though.

[LiveCoug]

Rowing?

It was apparently a special request from Boney Fuller.

[Topper]

It was apparently a special request from Boney Fuller.

Dastrup worked hard during his few minutes but was out of position a lot. I still like him and hope he develops, because his attitude appears to be fantastic.

[BlueK]

A little more on defense. USF attempted 33 3-pt shots and I can really only think of maybe a half dozen of those max that weren't contested. We left the middle open for drives somewhat because we did just what I expected, which was sell out out to guard the three line where USF is the most dangerous. Mission accomplished. And even with the middle still left a little soft we still had some nice blocks and steals when they tried to go there. Overall a pretty solid performance on D. I would have wanted a little better play from some of the players offensively. Bryant was solid overall for the second game in a row: 4/7 from the field, 14 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, a block, only 1 TO. That's going to help us A LOT if he gives us that stat line consistently.

[Green Monstah]

Elijah Bryant Update
Games played: 7 (-13)
PPG: 8.6 (-1.4)

Games played: 8 (-12)
PPG: 9.3 (-.7)

I am both sweating bullets and ecstatic that JL is close to being in the money.

Haws had an off night and EB drops 14 from the bench. Solid.