SMC Tonight . . . Count it as a win!

Rewatched the previous SMC v BYU game last night and really do not see how we can play much worse and yet we still were in that game till the end. We will do better in several areas tonight compared to our previous meeting:



1) Guarding Waldo - He had his way with our bigs. Doubt he could do any better than last game. Hopefully our big guys have learned a move or two since then



2) Dumb, unforced errors. last game we had several uncharacteristic unforced turnovers. This will not happen at home.



3) Home court. We get a lift from the home crowd and SMC will falter a little from the crowd.



4) Anson Winder - hopefully he plays significant minutes - we missed his ability to drive to the basket.



5) Collinsworth - No stupid fouls to keep him off the floor this time around.



Really missed an opportunity last time we played these guys. Maybe too little too late, but I see a win tonight.

I expect that Winder will not play. If true, it will hurt our chances. Why can't we get our kids healthy?

It is time for good games from Haws and Collinsworth. We need one of Fischer or Halford so shoot the ball well. And Kaufusi needs to stay on the floor.

Winder not playing throws a wrinkle into things.



That said. It was a close game without him at SMC; so, I think we have the Gaels tonight.

Any bets are Sharp starting again?

If Winder doesn't play we will struggle a little to win, more of a toss up game, but I think our guys pull off the victory still.

Qman wrote:
Any bets are Sharp starting again?

I bet he starts.



Nixon was a disaster against SMC.

BYULV wrote:
Rewatched the previous SMC v BYU game last night and really do not see how we can play much worse and yet we still were in that game till the end. We will do better in several areas tonight compared to our previous meeting:



1) Guarding Waldo - He had his way with our bigs. Doubt he could do any better than last game. Hopefully our big guys have learned a move or two since then



2) Dumb, unforced errors. last game we had several uncharacteristic unforced turnovers. This will not happen at home.



3) Home court. We get a lift from the home crowd and SMC will falter a little from the crowd.



4) Anson Winder - hopefully he plays significant minutes - we missed his ability to drive to the basket.



5) Collinsworth - No stupid fouls to keep him off the floor this time around.



Really missed an opportunity last time we played these guys. Maybe too little too late, but I see a win tonight.

Nice call!!!!! Don't see SMC getting back into this game.

This is what happens when Anson Winder doesn't play! Oh wait, I guess that's not true, what a phenomenal effort by the players to come together.

Tonight is what happens when Kyle Collinsworth comes out aggressive looking to score and dominate. The guy is our only legit NBA talent and needs to take over this team.

FYI - Sharp in his second start finished with 8 points, 6 boards & 5 assists.



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Gunk wrote:
FYI - Sharp in his second start finished with 8 points, 6 boards & 5 assists.



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He was Colllinsworth-esque .

I haven't watched the replay yet... Were we just making shots or was it really better overall play?



Is Sharp doing anything great or just eliminating a bunch of mistakes we were getting from young players?

Sharp got half of a triple double. Wish I had watch it but I had church business that went to midnight.

It was great team defense from the get-go. Pressure defense out past the 3 point line. Constantly switched defense to throw them off. Deferent types of help against Waldo. Kaufusi just played phenomenal defense including 4 blocks! Sharp hustled, played D, GOT REBOUNDS, and all his points were off put packs. I believe it was Sharp that had a sweet back-door pass.

Gunk wrote:
FYI - Sharp in his second start finished with 8 points, 6 boards & 5 assists.



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And he was the player of the game.......I was at the game and how he ended up with 8 points is beyond me. The put-back dunk and FT's were all I could remember...lol. I believe in the past he had the ability to hit a 3 and had at least 3 long WIDE open looks and didn't try once. I was hoping he would have at tried at least one.



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As happy as I am with this win and as much as I'd like to get "amped" for the rest of the season and the tourney, I'm just not feeling it. We had one good game at home against an opponent who appeared to overlook us.



I'll take the win, and congrats on the prediction, but I'm not ready to get my hopes up yet.

Schmoe, I really doubt that SMC overlooked BYU. BYU is always going to get circled, especially when we are nipping at their heels for 2nd place in the WCC. BYU played a GREAT game. I've been waiting nearly all year for a game that complete. Sharp (I've always liked his game and don't understand him spending so much time on the bench this year) was great in his role, KC was aggressive, Halford was a spark, Bartley finally got some minutes and played within his limits. And BYU played defense well enough to be leading by nearly 30 most of the second half.



Really liked the way BYU looked last night. They looked like they were enjoying playing basketball which I haven't seen for a while out of them. If they are finally getting some cohesion and if Rose could get a more consistent rotation, BYU could be a darkhorse the rest of this season. I still think we get beat by Gonzaga, but that game had to have provided some much needed confidence for BYU. If BYU were somehow able to make it to 2nd WCC and didn't have to face gonzaga till the WCC final, that would be even better. I don't even know if it's possible for BYU to get to 2nd though.



I'll have to look, but I can't remember sharp ever taking or making a 3... I was glad he passed up those shots.

Just looked over the standings and the remaining games. BYU needs SMC to lose 2 games, and SMC does have the zags in their remaining schedule. BYU needs to win out, unfortunatley, BYU also has the zags in their remaining schedule. SMC has 5 games remaining, BYU has 4 games remaining. BYU will need some help from the gaels to get to 2nd place. I don't have my hopes up. Oh well, have to beat the zags in the conference tournament in the finals or the Semis to actually win the conference and get to the dance. Not looking good. Those losses to pepperdine and USD (ugh) really hurt now.



If BYU and SMC have same record at end of season, I have no idea who gets tiebreaker for 2nd place.

Sharp went 1 for 2 from 3 just a game or two ago. He made a 3 from the corner as the shot clock expired. He felt so good he tried again just a minute or two late and missed badly.