BYU vs ACU (exhibition #1)

Anyone else watching this on BYUtv tonight? No KC, no Fischer, no Kaufusi, no Chatman, and no defense. Young guys getting a lot of experience, nobody bashful about jacking up shots. Davis goes down in first half after rolling an ankle but comes back on the floor to finish the half. Entire team looks completely lost on defensive rotations. ACU with wide open look after wide open look. Game tied 44-44 at the half. Emery with 15 and Toolson with 11. Will be interesting to see if the youngsters take a bit more pride on the defensive end in the second half.

Ayetes (SP?) limped into the locker room and hasn't returned. Looked like a right Knee injury.

103-75 final. A lot of man defense in 2nd half. All these kids can shoot the ball. I think this is going to be a fun season.

Seljas (SP?) and Emery are legit freshman. BYU has a really bright future with these kids.

Looks like everyone can shoot. Played without 3 starters. Play the best defenders and it looks like they will be able to score too.

scott715 wrote:
Looks like everyone can shoot. Played without 3 starters. Play the best defenders and it looks like they will be able to score too.

Hopefully the best defenders are the kids who didn't play tonight, because there wasn't any defense played.

3 starters were out. Wasn't the D better in the second half? They ran a 4 guard offense which is tough to guard.

scott715 wrote:
3 starters were out. Wasn't the D better in the second half? They ran a 4 guard offense which is tough to guard.

I think it was more ACU just wearing out than the D getting better.

hawkwing wrote:

3 starters were out. Wasn't the D better in the second half? They ran a 4 guard offense which is tough to guard.

I think it was more ACU just wearing out than the D getting better.

ACU was really sucking air towards the end. During the first half, wasn't there a time, about seven minutes, without a foul or a time out, it was just players running up and down the court the whole time?

urroner wrote:

scott715 wrote:
3 starters were out. Wasn't the D better in the second half? They ran a 4 guard offense which is tough to guard.

I think it was more ACU just wearing out than the D getting better.

ACU was really sucking air towards the end. During the first half, wasn't there a time, about seven minutes, without a foul or a time out, it was just players running up and down the court the whole time?

That was truly an exhausting stretch. At one point Emery gets stripped of the ball and is so gassed that all he can do is stand and watch the guy go the length of the floor and score. The majority of the players that played last night are extremely young and inexperienced. Getting to play as much as they did last night is a huge plus moving forward. Defense will never be the priority in Rose's system, but I think overall the defense will be better this year just because of a better interior presence overall. I think this team will be better than a lot of people think.

Very impressed by Seljaas,

Emery will take a while to get back into basketball shape

Shaw and Davis and Aytes (went out with a rolled ankle - not the same one as the surgically repairred ankle) will be a welcome addition to the post

Hamson.... yikes, looks like a lost puppy out there.

Calvert and Toolson - are they the same person, same style of play, same shot selection, I get them confused constantly.

Ainge Jr Jr. pretty feisty feller.

BYU's defense is still the same old Rose defense. Doesn't anticipate ANYTHING, completely reactive (and often too late).

Defense has sucked since Rice left.



I don't anticipate our perimeter defense being any better this season than last. Haws was a horrible defender, so there will be an upgrade there...maybe. Toolsen, I don't think is much better. KC's defense is solid as long as he isn't matched up against the other team's 1. We lost Winder and Bartley, both of which added some speed and length to the defense.



Our interior defense should be better, which hopefully means the perimeter defenders don't have to help in the post and we get to play more man defense, but honestly I suspect we'll once again see team's have career shooting nights against us.



We'll be relying heavily on our offense. Let's hope Fischer doesn't continue his every other streak (seriously, go look at his stats for last year. Just about every other game he'd do a disappearing act).



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Hmm, I finally found time at on the computer...



ACU played hard and fast. They caused us big problems with some full court and half court traps. They had enough size that we didn't get every offensive rebound either.



I think this was an almost perfect matchup for a warmup game like this.



In the big picture, some of the players showed they were ready to rise to ACU's challenge and some weren't. Also we have a bunch of great deep 3 point shooters in Fischer, Toolson, Emery and Calvert.



IMO Emery, Calvert, Toolson, Davis (in the 2nd half) and Austin looked like they were ready to play rotation minutes.



Aytes still looks just a little off timing wise. But I think he will get there shortly.



Seljass was impressive? I remember he getting beat off the dribble more than 4 times. And not 'I got beat and I am shading him towards help'. It was 'I got faked out of the shorts and I am going completely the wrong way.' He hit a few jumpers at the end... but I kinda hope he doesn't play.



After what I have seen, we might have to start Toolson at SF. He is under control, skilled and strong. Defensively he knows what he can do and what he can't. Offensively Fischer and Toolson together would pull and zone D apart. Of course we need to see a game where his 3's aren't going in.

Qman wrote:
Hmm, I finally found time at on the computer...



ACU played hard and fast. They caused us big problems with some full court and half court traps. They had enough size that we didn't get every offensive rebound either.



I think this was an almost perfect matchup for a warmup game like this.



In the big picture, some of the players showed they were ready to rise to ACU's challenge and some weren't. Also we have a bunch of great deep 3 point shooters in Fischer, Toolson, Emery and Calvert.



IMO Emery, Calvert, Toolson, Davis (in the 2nd half) and Austin looked like they were ready to play rotation minutes.



Aytes still looks just a little off timing wise. But I think he will get there shortly.



Seljass was impressive? I remember he getting beat off the dribble more than 4 times. And not 'I got beat and I am shading him towards help'. It was 'I got faked out of the shorts and I am going completely the wrong way.' He hit a few jumpers at the end... but I kinda hope he doesn't play.



After what I have seen, we might have to start Toolson at SF. He is under control, skilled and strong. Defensively he knows what he can do and what he can't. Offensively Fischer and Toolson together would pull and zone D apart. Of course we need to see a game where his 3's aren't going in.

Thank you Q. I've really wanted to hear about the game and how the players are shaping up.

Im Hoping Jordan brings some D. I know Kaufusi will bring some D, but we do need perimeter D. Otherwise, BYU will have to out score every team--what's new. This ACU looked decent for a warm up game. They were running and shot 51% in the first half. Mixed with too many TOs and the first half came out even.

But I knew if ACU was going to try and run with BYU, they would wear down and that's what happened.

It was very interesting when Hamson was in. There was a definite O plan to get him the ball and get some shots. Yes, he looked lost, but it was a sign to me that Rose is serious about developing him. He did have a nice block.

Anyway, lots of depth on this team. It will be interesting to see what Rose puts together. Hopefully he can keep minutes to a reasonable amount so he doesn't run out of gas or get injured from being over-run; as well, get backup PGs some much needed development.

I like Hartsocks upside as well as Shaws.

Calvert was shooting flat 3's in the first half but got some arch and better accuracy in 2nd. But yes, similar to Toolson but more pg skills.

I love how Emery gets out and pushes the ball. He did look totally gassed. It was kind of funny And very noticeable. I didn't anticipate that after so Much time since his return from mission. Maybe surgery and recovery kept him from conditioning. When Nick squares up, he has the best looking shot on this team. I would think that with KC in the game and handling the ball, there will be a good synergy between the two:KC going to the hole and NIck spotting up.

If Fisher is shooting blanks this year, there are plenty of shooters to take his place.

Could be a good team. A lot of offensive depth.

Nice to see Nate Austin shooting the ball again.

I think we have a very good team. We are super young, but super deep. This is easily the deepest I have seen BYU basketball.



re: the defense. I was happy to see that we were playing man defense for almost the whole game, and not that terribly awful zone defense they have been attempting to run the last two years. Their defense will get better as: 1) we play our starters, as some have mentioned. 2) They get in better condition. 3) They get more familiar with it.

nuk13 wrote:

Hmm, I finally found time at on the computer...



ACU played hard and fast. They caused us big problems with some full court and half court traps. They had enough size that we didn't get every offensive rebound either.



I think this was an almost perfect matchup for a warmup game like this.



In the big picture, some of the players showed they were ready to rise to ACU's challenge and some weren't. Also we have a bunch of great deep 3 point shooters in Fischer, Toolson, Emery and Calvert.



IMO Emery, Calvert, Toolson, Davis (in the 2nd half) and Austin looked like they were ready to play rotation minutes.



Aytes still looks just a little off timing wise. But I think he will get there shortly.



Seljass was impressive? I remember he getting beat off the dribble more than 4 times. And not 'I got beat and I am shading him towards help'. It was 'I got faked out of the shorts and I am going completely the wrong way.' He hit a few jumpers at the end... but I kinda hope he doesn't play.



After what I have seen, we might have to start Toolson at SF. He is under control, skilled and strong. Defensively he knows what he can do and what he can't. Offensively Fischer and Toolson together would pull and zone D apart. Of course we need to see a game where his 3's aren't going in.

Thank you Q. I've really wanted to hear about the game and how the players are shaping up.

In case you were wanting to watch, it is on byutv.org .



Acu played as a team and brought their A game. They will make a lot of noise in their division. They just didn't have the horses in the stable to make it for an entire game at BYU's pace.

While it was fun seeing all of the 3s go in, I really enjoyed watching Hartstock. I missed that big man mid-range jumper. He was money.

Gunk wrote:
Defense has sucked since Rice left.



I don't anticipate our perimeter defense being any better this season than last. Haws was a horrible defender, so there will be an upgrade there...maybe. Toolsen, I don't think is much better. KC's defense is solid as long as he isn't matched up against the other team's 1. We lost Winder and Bartley, both of which added some speed and length to the defense.



Our interior defense should be better, which hopefully means the perimeter defenders don't have to help in the post and we get to play more man defense, but honestly I suspect we'll once again see team's have career shooting nights against us.



We'll be relying heavily on our offense. Let's hope Fischer doesn't continue his every other streak (seriously, go look at his stats for last year. Just about every other game he'd do a disappearing act).



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I have hope for the defense improving this year mainly because of different players and a team that should have a much stronger inside presence than we've seen in recent years.



Also, I think Rice leaving and the defense declining is actually coincidence because Rice coached the offense. Terry Nashif coached the defense when Rice was here and switched to offense when he left. Rice has been the UNLV coach since the 2011-2012 season, and during that season Ken Pomeroy had BYU's defense ranked #25. So there was one year without Rice where the defense was still good. Then we lost our best perimeter and interior defenders after that season (Abouo and Hartsock) and the defense started to go downhill.



The following year we lost Davies and have been very weak under the basket ever since. Having some defense by the basket makes a huge difference for guarding on the perimeter. This year besides being stronger inside I think we also have more perimeter players who are better defenders.



Also, at least everyone so far is talking about the renewed emphasis on defense and the change in scheme being one that should work with the personnel we have. True, I would have liked to have seen better defense in the first half the other night, but it did get considerably better in the second. Also, we weren't playing with our full team.



We'll see how it goes, but offensively we will still be very good. We don't have to turn into a defensive juggernaut to be a very good team, but a noticeable improvement there will make a huge difference.

There was one other observation I had. At times in The first half it seemed that BYU was actually trying to run some set offenses. I could be wrong about that, but they looked awkward doing it. That could be the absence of 3 starters as well as the chief conductor of the offense in KC. But it will be interesting to see of that continues, that is, that they run set plays until it's not working then ditch plays for run and gun. Seemed to help in the second half.