Points allowed...

Appears to be what has really hurt BYU. Noticed that for the most part, UMass is a LOW scoring team. The only time they broke 100 points was against... you guessed it BYU. So I looked at all team PPG that BYU played and here's what I quickly surmised.



HAD BYU held all opponents to their season average and BYU's score was the same at the end of a game, BYU would have lost to Wich st., Utah (of all teams), and Gonzaga away. Would probably be worthy of a 3-4 seed. And I get that BYU plays faster which gives more possessions to other teams. But those other teams had some breakout games against BYU. Umass, Pacific, Portland come to mind off the top of my head.



Just some food for thought, although, we probably would have missed FTs and lost some of the close ones anyway ;).

Here's what could have been.... (shoulda woulda coulda)

ISU 83 - BYU 88

UMass 76 - BYU 96

Oregon 82 - BYU 84

LMU 74 - BYU 76

Pepperdine 71 - BYU 74

Portland 75 - BYU 80

Pacific 72 - BYU 82 (pacific shoots .439 FG% usually; shot 51%FG and 48% 3pt vs BYU)







**LMU and Pepperdine losses were WAY below BYU's scoring average.

Do you remember the Oregon game? That game was close. It could have gone either way. I think changing any one of the weaknesses we displayed in that game would have made the difference. Don't know if your analysis is the real reason we lost, but pace didn't seem to be the problem.

The Oregon game was all about FT's late. We played them very well all game and choked at the line in the end. It really is that simple.

sage wrote:
Do you remember the Oregon game? That game was close. It could have gone either way. I think changing any one of the weaknesses we displayed in that game would have made the difference. Don't know if your analysis is the real reason we lost, but pace didn't seem to be the problem.

Sage, As I mentioned, I know that the run-n-gun pace that BYU likes to play allows a few extra possessions for opposing teams. BUT, we seem to let a lot of teams get to their season high. My point was not to slow the system down, but to learn to slow other teams down. A LITTLE extra defensive prowess this year would have led to a top 25 finish and quite possibly BYU's first WCC championship. I'm sure Rose is aware of this though, and I hope it becomes a point of emphasis. Score all you want, but if your opponent is scoring more, you still get a loss.