Dick Vitale predicts BYU will miss the tournament.

Do we even play the season now?



http://espn.go.com/espn/dickvitale/story/_/id/14043262/predicting-2016-ncaa-tournament-field-68

mormonrasta wrote:
Do we even play the season now?



http://espn.go.com/espn/dickvitale/story/_/id/14043262/predicting-2016-ncaa-tournament-field-68

Is there anywhere we can go see how accurate his past predictions were?

Well, we were a last-four-in team last year and flamed out in the pre-opening round, or whatever they call it these days, and we just lost our top scorer in school history and don't have a real set plan for replacing him other than to spread-it-around.



I'm not offended that, with all of that going on, someone might think we fall off four or more spots this season and miss the Big Dance.

snoscythe wrote:
Well, we were a last-four-in team last year and flamed out in the pre-opening round, or whatever they call it these days, and we just lost our top scorer in school history and don't have a real set plan for replacing him other than to spread-it-around.



I'm not offended that, with all of that going on, someone might think we fall off four or more spots this season and miss the Big Dance.

The thing about Haws is that just because he scored on any given possession last year doesn't mean another player wouldn't have or couldn't have scored in that situation. He was a great shooter and did it more efficiently than most, but this year we actually do have more options for scoring on different parts of the court and not just on a midrange jumper from Haws. Replacing his points when BYU is year after year one of the best scoring teams in the country, is not something I'm concerned about.

I agree with you Blue K. In the ACU game I saw several guys who can score from all over the floor. If Toolson were the only one I don't think he'd be much behind Haws, but Emery, Davis, and KC, all can score. If Hartsock and Shaw play enough they could put a few in. I think we have the potential to be a better scoring team than we were last year because we have more scorers rather than just one or two.



In addition, I strongly believe we have the potential to be the best defensive team in years. I am a little hesitant because it's so early and we haven't seen all the team play together against strong competition yet but I remain optimistic.

I'm not saying he's right or wrong, I'm just saying that given what BYU has to replace and what they did, or didn't do, last year, I can't hold it against anyone from projecting the field without BYU at this point.

snoscythe wrote:
I'm not saying he's right or wrong, I'm just saying that given what BYU has to replace and what they did, or didn't do, last year, I can't hold it against anyone from projecting the field without BYU at this point.

It's understandable based on using conventional methods of looking at teams. The problem is most teams don't turn over 9 players from the previous year, so the conventional methods may not work as well in this situation. BYU this year is a pretty unique case even by BYU standards.

Dick who...



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snoscythe wrote:
Well, we were a last-four-in team last year and flamed out in the pre-opening round, or whatever they call it these days, and we just lost our top scorer in school history and don't have a real set plan for replacing him other than to spread-it-around.



I'm not offended that, with all of that going on, someone might think we fall off four or more spots this season and miss the Big Dance.

totally agree. BYU hasn't done anything lately, besides squeaking into play-in games come march, to warrant much more than a lukewarm response by media. And as you pointed out sno, we lost a big part of scoring (not that it can't be replaced, but on paper it is a void that has to be filled and paper is what the talking heads are looking at right now). To top it off everyone and their dog knows that BYU is not going to beat you with defense. Hopefully that last part changes in some respects this year.