Nate Austin out at least 2 weeks

He has a torn hamstring.

I'm not optimistic about two weeks. Hammy's aren't fun. Feel bad for Nate. But I feel worse for Ty and KC during their sr season. Of course the absence of an inside game was already being felt vs SDSU and Purdue. Nate used to have more of an offensive game. He could drive and had a mid range high release. What has happened to this player? He almost seems like he has been relegated to a rebounder and defender.

Yeah, I pulled my hamstring recently, and it took about a month to get back to 100%.



Granted, I didn't have a trained medical team working with me to speed the recovery like I'm sure he does, but still, hamstrings injuries suck

We desperately need someone of Kaufusi, Worthington, Neilsen or Nixon to step up and rebound the ball.

Cougs_Rule wrote:
I'm not optimistic about two weeks. Hammy's aren't fun. Feel bad for Nate. But I feel worse for Ty and KC during their sr season. Of course the absence of an inside game was already being felt vs SDSU and Purdue. Nate used to have more of an offensive game. He could drive and had a mid range high release. What has happened to this player? He almost seems like he has been relegated to a rebounder and defender.

Well, don't feel so bad. KC still has another year.



We lose Haws, Austin, Winder, and Halford.



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Pssssssssssssst...Neilsen and Kaufusi--remember this:



http://www.threedonia.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Opportunity-Knocks.jpg" alt="" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%">

Gunk wrote:

I'm not optimistic about two weeks. Hammy's aren't fun. Feel bad for Nate. But I feel worse for Ty and KC during their sr season. Of course the absence of an inside game was already being felt vs SDSU and Purdue. Nate used to have more of an offensive game. He could drive and had a mid range high release. What has happened to this player? He almost seems like he has been relegated to a rebounder and defender.

Well, don't feel so bad. KC still has another year.



We lose Haws, Austin, Winder, and Halford.



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Yea I was thinking about this--- how are we going to score next year?



KC provides some points.



Fischer has proven D's can make him disappear.



Neilson hopefully gains some strength?



Aytes?



Oh yea I forgot about Kyle Davis.



Next year is going to be weird. We are going to need Calvert or Emery or the new Hartsock to provide some big-time scoring.

I don't know that Calvert will score a ton, he seems more a drive and dish type, but then we'll at least have a point guard on the team.

Next season could be really long. Good news is in two years we ought to have a pretty awesome team. And in three years we ought to be downright unstoppable.



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Back to the thread, time for Kaufus to steal a starting spot. He is the best big I have seen this year even though he is still raw.



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BlueIsBetter wrote:
Back to the thread, time for Kaufus to steal a starting spot. He is the best big I have seen this year even though he is still raw.



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Kaufusi is worse than raw. He has no feel for the game on offense. He can't even be counted to make a bucket where he's not dunking it. He has potential but he's not good right now.

SpiffCoug wrote:

Back to the thread, time for Kaufus to steal a starting spot. He is the best big I have seen this year even though he is still raw.



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Kaufusi is worse than raw. He has no feel for the game on offense. He can't even be counted to make a bucket where he's not dunking it. He has potential but he's not good right now.

Which puts him squarely with our other bigs on offense. Did you see Worthington try a layup? On defense, he contests shots and pushes people around. He deserves a shot, aND he might make a case in the next couple weeks.



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As I mentioned in an earlier post (different thread), Nielson and Kafusi would work as a tandem. Tonight, against Weber State, their combined stat line:



- Neilson, in his second start (in place of Austin) scored a career-high 15 points (including 4 of 5 from 3-point range) and corralled six rebounds.



- Kafusi, in his stint, scored six points (2 dunks) and had four rebounds.



That's more offensive productivity than we normally get from Austin and matches his rebounding prowess. Let's see if this development continues in the next couple of weeks while Austin recovers from the pulled hamstring.



In addition, others stepped in for KC as he wasn't himself tonight and only played 19 minutes while scoring 2 points.

This is my post from another thread which I think is applicable here as well. Our interior game is not very good right now, and if Haws is out for any extended time this team is in big trouble.



Just rolled into home from the quick trip to Ogden for the game. It was a fun atmosphere and an enjoyable game. BYU was never seriously challenged and seemed to be interested just enough to keep Weber State at arms length all night. I think they were still suffering from the Utah hangover. For whatever reason KC was never in sync tonight. Watching in person it is obviously glaring that our bigs cannot finish at the rim. Footwork and overall feel for the opponent's post defense is sorely lacking. Weber State over extended so much on the perimeter and Rose did a nice job in the 2nd half with some high pick and roll action for Kaufusi that led to a couple of easy baskets and 2 free throws. Hopefully Haws' injury is a mild ankle sprain and Austin recovers quickly because he is needed on this team.

SpiffCoug wrote:

Back to the thread, time for Kaufus to steal a starting spot. He is the best big I have seen this year even though he is still raw.



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Kaufusi is worse than raw. He has no feel for the game on offense. He can't even be counted to make a bucket where he's not dunking it. He has potential but he's not good right now.

I remember once upon a time someone else called a return missionary that hadn't played for 3 years "garbage"... that player was Noah Hartsock



Corbin is a different kind of player but 1. He's a freshman getting important minutes 2. He's much much bigger than Noah 3. We're getting him for free... no scholarship which is a huge blessing with all the guys we have



I expect by the time Corbin is a senior, we'll be talking about an NBA draft pick... it takes times for big men, but he has attributes that lead me to believe he's going to improve at a very fast rate.. combine him with Nielsen and Aytes... two very different types of 4 men and next year our frontcourt will be improved



Corbin is not responsible for Austin being hurt and being unable to score at all... Worthington not being a great basketball player... Nielsen being rail thin and can't keep people from backing him down.. Aytes being hurt... etc. Yet he's getting important minutes... from a free player that we never expected to have and with an enormous upside... sorry but I'm giddy about having him. Imagine if he didn't how Maui and other games would have gone recently.

Cougs_Rule wrote:
I'm not optimistic about two weeks. Hammy's aren't fun. Feel bad for Nate. But I feel worse for Ty and KC during their sr season. Of course the absence of an inside game was already being felt vs SDSU and Purdue. Nate used to have more of an offensive game. He could drive and had a mid range high release. What has happened to this player? He almost seems like he has been relegated to a rebounder and defender.

Bummer. Called this. Rose said four weeks.

A lot of swelling for Haws, not good. Two more losses vs teams, Stanford and Mass, instead of quality wins could spell NIT.

Cougs_Rule wrote:

I'm not optimistic about two weeks. Hammy's aren't fun. Feel bad for Nate. But I feel worse for Ty and KC during their sr season. Of course the absence of an inside game was already being felt vs SDSU and Purdue. Nate used to have more of an offensive game. He could drive and had a mid range high release. What has happened to this player? He almost seems like he has been relegated to a rebounder and defender.

Bummer. Called this. Rose said four weeks.

A lot of swelling for Haws, not good. Two more losses vs teams, Stanford and Mass, instead of quality wins could spell NIT.

Or maybe Fischer will get really hot and make 10 3's again two games in a row.