Did SMC get better or did BYU get worse?

[byufan4ever]

Note to self: lower expectations, don't enjoy the current season, always say next year will be better.

Got it.

Note to self: realistic expectations always make watching sports more enjoyable. Learn to enjoy the process, allow players who have never played at this level to develop.

Point taken. I'm really looking forward to the CBI this year!

I don't think you really believe BYU will be in the CBI this year. But just curious, what would be your minimum level of achievement for this BYU team to keep you out of the pissed off zone? For me personally, and in a different sport, I hit that with Gary Crowton. He just flat out made me angry. But my response was to mostly stop paying attention until he was replaced.

I'm not pissed or angry. Just disappointed. I'll post this again for what level of achievement I expect:

NIT early exit = Major disappointment, Rose on the HOT seat
NIT semi-finals = disappointing season
Making the NCAA tournament = Expectation
Win conference title and/or conference tourney = Exceeding expectations
Sweet 16 = Fantastic season

Two years in a row of not making the tournament will definitely rub me the wrong way. I will offer up that making a deep NIT run is almost as good as losing in the first round of the NCAA tournament. So, at least we did that last season. Right now this team feels like another NIT semi-finals team. Not bad enough to fire Rose, but definitely leaves something wanting for this basketball fan.

[frdbtr]

We are putting the cart before the horse here IMO. We are saying (after only playing a couple WCC games) that BYU will not make the NCAA tournament. I think they are going to make the tournament. I have seen improvement in BYU's play throughout this year and I even saw improvement in the St. Mary's game. The team is starting to come together, especially Haws (who IMO is the key to this team). If they keep improving like they have been, we will beat St Mary's at our place and maybe beat Gonzaga once. They still may or may not win the WCC tourney but if they lose in the finals, they will definitely be in the NCAA tourney. This with a bunch of Freshman and Sophomore starters with 2 of them straight off of missions. If Childs keeps improving like he has, BYU has a legit shot of beating Gonzaga and winning the WCC championship. How could anyone be disappointed with that. This team is not going to lose games in the WCC that it shouldn't which became an irritation the last couple of years.

[McY]

We are putting the cart before the horse here IMO. We are saying (after only playing a couple WCC games) that BYU will not make the NCAA tournament. I think they are going to make the tournament. I have seen improvement in BYU's play throughout this year and I even saw improvement in the St. Mary's game. The team is starting to come together, especially Haws (who IMO is the key to this team). If they keep improving like they have been, we will beat St Mary's at our place and maybe beat Gonzaga once. They still may or may not win the WCC tourney but if they lose in the finals, they will definitely be in the NCAA tourney. This with a bunch of Freshman and Sophomore starters with 2 of them straight off of missions. If Childs keeps improving like he has, BYU has a legit shot of beating Gonzaga and winning the WCC championship. How could anyone be disappointed with that. This team is not going to lose games in the WCC that it shouldn't which became an irritation the last couple of years.

I agree. Why choose to believe we are not in the NCAA at this point?

[BYULV]

I agree we are not playing team ball as well as we should, but like frdbtr said, I too see them improving and making good progress. In the SMC game they had stretches where they were playing well on O and D against a well disciplined team. They came apart/got impatient here and there and that's what cost them the game. I was lucky enough to talk to Coach Cleveland the morning after the game and he saw similar promise to our team, just not there yet. He had high praise for SMC and their system. He said he is good friends with SMC's coach and likes his offense. Makes me think we should be running similar stuff in the half court. Not sure why our guys can't figure out how to run a pick and roll. As someone stated above, we cannot set screens very well. We could still run and gun then slow it down when its not available. ironically, though, it was our defense and rebounding that doomed us against SMC, not our offense.

[byufan4ever]

Obviously things can change. Teams can get hot. But I believe that we're going to have to win the conference tournament to get in. This is just one guy's opinion of where things stand today:

http://www.sbnation.com/college-basketb ... yptr=yahoo

I'll see where we're at when we're halfway through conference play. At least we've handled Santa Clara and Pacific with ease.

[hawkwing]

Great, so we can all agree that if BYU does not make the NCAA tournament it's a disappointment?

[BlueK]

I will say for me that I am ALWAYS disappointed if BYU doesn't make it. I was disappointed the 3/10 times that Rose's teams haven't made it, the 5/8 times Cleveland's didn't, the 3/8 times Reid's didn't, the 3/6 Andersen teams that didn't, or the 5/8 Arnold teams that didn't make it, or all of the 3 Potter teams that missed it. That's as far back as my memory goes. As far as my sports fandom goes, I live for the NCAA tournament. I care more about the NCAA tournament than I do a dozen CFPs and a hundred Las Vegas Bowls. I do follow football, but basketball is first for me by a longshot. But there are a lot of different ways of thinking about it. I remain very hopeful about this group of players.

[scott715]

Looking at rpi, we are creeping on to the bubble for the tournament. Pull off a run of w's and pick up one against SMC or GU and out chances would be realistic.

[BlueK]

Looking at rpi, we are creeping on to the bubble for the tournament. Pull off a run of w's and pick up one against SMC or GU and out chances would be realistic.

I don't know if we'll get in or not, but I agree we can get in if we avoid bad losses and pick up something against SMC and Gonzaga. Our internet fans every year tend to be more pessimistic about our chances than what usually happens. 2012, 2014 and 2015 were all years we got in when the fans wrote us off in January.

[frdbtr]

The last few years that BYU missed the NCAA tournament was because we had bad losses against the basement of the WCC, and once we lost to SF at home after leading big. BYU avoids those types of losses this year and we will be in whether we win the conference tourney or not. The UVSC loss was ugly but it was also early. BYU has gotten much better since then.