The Whatever It Takes Rotation

Congrats to Coach Rose and the team on a hard fought 78-74 win over USF. Very tough for this team when the 3's aren't falling. Literally a team effort as Rose threw everything on the floor tonight but the kitchen sink.

Haven't been able to watch it yet. But the box score indicates a ton of fouls being called.



Our eight steals to their three leads to us having 8 TO's and them having 17.



It appears Haws did the heavy lifting with Anson and KC providing significant lifts.



Too bad Corbin fouled out so quickly. 22 minutes 5 pt, 5 reb, 2 blks. If he could have played 30 minutes it might not have been so close.

Qman wrote:
Haven't been able to watch it yet. But the box score indicates a ton of fouls being called.



Our eight steals to their three leads to us having 8 TO's and them having 17.



It appears Haws did the heavy lifting with Anson and KC providing significant lifts.



Too bad Corbin fouled out so quickly. 22 minutes 5 pt, 5 reb, 2 blks. If he could have played 30 minutes it might not have been so close.

Not to spoil anything, but it was a strange game (as many have been this season). Get down early with a slow start. Get up 6-7 many times throughout the game, and try to give it away at the end. It was indeed a brick fest and a foul foul fest, but a much needed win nonetheless.

Wolverine wrote:

Haven't been able to watch it yet. But the box score indicates a ton of fouls being called.



Our eight steals to their three leads to us having 8 TO's and them having 17.



It appears Haws did the heavy lifting with Anson and KC providing significant lifts.



Too bad Corbin fouled out so quickly. 22 minutes 5 pt, 5 reb, 2 blks. If he could have played 30 minutes it might not have been so close.

Not to spoil anything, but it was a strange game (as many have been this season). Get down early with a slow start. Get up 6-7 many times throughout the game, and try to give it away at the end. It was indeed a brick fest and a foul foul fest, but a much needed win nonetheless.

I'll have to rewatch it to see better, but there were some very strange foul calls when teams were going for the rebound. I had never seen so many fouls called on us when we were going for offensive boards (nd vise versa for them). The officials called some fouls close, and others were let go. I couldn't ever find myself getting the hang of exactly what was a foul and what wasn't. Note, this is a critisizm of officiating generally, and I'm not saying that one team recived a bigger share of the bad calls

I finished my rewatch and here is what I saw:



Officials were trying to call all the handchecking, offensive push offs and illegal use of hands generally. On the rebounds I agree it was not consistently called but it was a melee down there all game long.



Haws is a great player stuck in an average D1 athlete's body. Most of the team contributed but he willed the team to victory.



KC didn't look right. He was a step slow and missing easy (for him) layups.



Our 3's didn't go down but most of them were open enough to be good risks.



Kaufusi in the starting lineup gave a paint presence on both ends of the court. He was challenging shots and occupying defenders with cuts and deep post ups. Which made some space for Haws. I like what Andrus does with quick cuts and movement better than Worthington.



Overall we had better defensive focus but still with plenty of lapses. More importantly we were hustling to more of the 50/50 balls.



Bartley is starting to show frustrated body language. He played a few minutes and made a great one on one move followed by some bad fouls. I am starting to wonder if he will try to transfer.



At the start of the game USF really applied ball pressure to us and for the most part we wilted. Haws got several buckets and KC got past his made and was unable to complete the play. Seemed like they had scouted Winder's spots and kept him from his favorite ones. To Halford credit he manufactured some tough but must better than a TO looks.

Combined effort of our bigs were a key factor in win. Nielson helped turn the game around with his sequence of a key rebound, pick and roll basket and defensive charge. Andrus grabbed key rebound and Worthington played great defense on USF center. Kafusi made big strides with 5 points, 5 rebounds and two blocks. Rose will find situations where all the guys can contribute and best utilize their skills. Bartley's minutes were at the end of the game in critical moment - huge vote of confidence and paid dividends. Look for more lineup changes as Rose stated the team is still a work in progress (after 1/2 the season) and he is still trying to find the best combination of players that works well together. BTW Nixon played very well in his role and is improving as the season progresses. He can rebound and is money shooting FT.



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So,more whatever it takes rotation for tonight......



My prediction-



KC out or doesn't start with a whatever hip/back situation. So, may see another starting lineup change, seems like he was struggling with some other injury anyway, with All his missed lay ups of late and lower production.

And in the spirit of whatever, a bold prediction: given Chase's shooting woes, he comes off the bench.



Halford

Winder

Haws

Nixon (I guess)

Kaufusi (why not, it worked fairly well last game)



2 freshman. Anyway, should be interesting.

Cougs_Rule wrote:
So,more whatever it takes rotation for tonight......



My prediction-



KC out or doesn't start with a whatever hip/back situation. So, may see another starting lineup change, seems like he was struggling with some other injury anyway, with All his missed lay ups of late and lower production.

And in the spirit of whatever, a bold prediction: given Chase's shooting woes, he comes off the bench.



Halford

Winder

Haws

Nixon (I guess)

Kaufusi (why not, it worked fairly well last game)



2 freshman. Anyway, should be interesting.

That would be interesting. I say the team shoots lights out and KC gets some much needed rest as the Cougars coast wire to wire in this one. My bold prediction is one of the interchangeable bigs finally scores in double digits.

Cougs_Rule wrote:
So,more whatever it takes rotation for tonight......



My prediction-



KC out or doesn't start with a whatever hip/back situation. So, may see another starting lineup change, seems like he was struggling with some other injury anyway, with All his missed lay ups of late and lower production.

And in the spirit of whatever, a bold prediction: given Chase's shooting woes, he comes off the bench.



Halford

Winder

Haws

Nixon (I guess)

Kaufusi (why not, it worked fairly well last game)



2 freshman. Anyway, should be interesting.

Very good prediction. It worked mostly. The main problem is Kaufusi gets in foul trouble and is unavailable later in the game. Though tonight Andrus and Neilson were effective against the lack of size for Santa Clara.



Nixon spent most of the game doing a Nate Austin impression. He barely looked at the hoop, hustled for boards and moved his feet on D.



Somebody got into Bartley's ear too. He played several quality minutes before he made a wild drive and too a wild 3.



Both guys moved the ball to our shooters.



Overall we played an team with less talent that played hard. We matched their intensity and with the 3's dropping we pulled away.



It was weird to see smooth ball movement on offense. I think KC's skillset is an awkward fit for Rose's base offense. So we run what I call the 'Haws' offense sometimes and sometimes we run plays to get KC the ball in the post. Tonight we just ran the Haws offense with Haws and Fischer being the focus points.

So maybe Rose starts these guys vs Pepperdine:



Halford

Winder

Haws

KC

Kaufusi



Can KC survive on the floor with Halford? Both guys need the the ball in their hands to be effective. Does KC concede to Halford as the primary PG? It will be interesting to see what Rose puts on the floor next

beauso79 wrote:
So maybe Rose starts these guys vs Pepperdine:



Halford

Winder

Haws

KC

Kaufusi



Can KC survive on the floor with Halford? Both guys need the the ball in their hands to be effective. Does KC concede to Halford as the primary PG? It will be interesting to see what Rose puts on the floor next

Thursday night's game is huge as far as finishing no worse than 3rd (can't believe I'm typing this :~( ) in WCC play, thus avoiding Gonzaga in the Semis of the WCC tournament. Pepperdine is a lock-down defensive team so BYU will need to be as efficient on offense as possible. I wouldn't be surprised to see Halford return to the bench and Fischer back in the starting lineup nor would I be surprised to see both on the bench to begin the game and another big in the starting lineup such as Nixon. Regardless, this is a big game and Coach Rose and the team will need to bring their "A" game.

I envision Fisher coming off the bench like Carlino did last year. He has a chance to observe the game, note the style of defense being played, check where best shots can be taken, and come in when the starting five are a little fatigued. Same thing with Halford.



Given the emphasis on crashing the boards and collecting rebounds, I expect Andrus/Nielson and Kafusi to be on the front-line (to compete with Pepperdine for rebounds) with kick-outs to KC, Haws and Winder. They need to continue with the inside out game along with pick and roll.

Wouldn't it be interesting if Corbin's ankle isn't full strength and Rose sends out yet another different starting five? Could Andrus start? Luke didn't even practice with the 1's today.