WCC tourney BYU and ZAGS

This team keeps clawing back into the game. That's gotta be somewhat demoralizing for Gonzaga. Keep it going BYU!!!!!!!

Man, Seljaas, you're going to be missed next year buddy.



Preseason I thought Zac looked good, but he's been a huge contributor this year as a freshman.

Game feels like BYU wil need to steal this one late (similar to the game in Spokane earlier this year). Have to keep the zags in check and prevent big runs in the 2nd half.



BYU right where they want to be. Didn't get in a huge hole that first half and fought back each time that the zags made a little run.



I'd a say at least a 30% probability of a BYU win.

Man if you told me Wiltjer would have 17 at half, that Chase would be 1-6 and 0 fer in three point shots, the Zags would be out shooting the Cougs overall and at the 3 point line and would also be outrebiunding us, I'd guess we'd be down big time. And yet....we're tied. Zags have to be demoralized. Haha. I love this rivalry. Go Cougs!

I'm happy the Cougars have reset this game at halftime. Wish they'd done a better job getting the Zags into foul trouble. There's still a chance.

Weathered the storm in that first half. Freshmen kept BYU in it. Time for a few more to contribute, like Fischer and Davis. KC doing what KC does. I like our chances.

Well another typical Dave Rose post season team. Unprepared and undisciplined and a hard fought loss, but a loss none-the-less.



Gonzaga had a serious weakness and BYU needed to get Sabonis in foul trouble, they never went at it, he ended with 1 foul.



Disappointing.

The problem is, we need to schedule our games against Gonzaga in Spokane....

hawkwing wrote:
Well another typical Dave Rose post season team. Unprepared and undisciplined and a hard fought loss, but a loss none-the-less.



Gonzaga had a serious weakness and BYU needed to get Sabonis in foul trouble, they never went at it, he ended with 1 foul.



Disappointing.

Sorry Hawk, but not buying into this analysis. Go after Sabonis with what? Kinda like Don Quijote tilting at windmills. Entertaining game, but the better team won.

Wolverine wrote:

Well another typical Dave Rose post season team. Unprepared and undisciplined and a hard fought loss, but a loss none-the-less.



Gonzaga had a serious weakness and BYU needed to get Sabonis in foul trouble, they never went at it, he ended with 1 foul.



Disappointing.

Sorry Hawk, but not buying into this analysis. Go after Sabonis with what? Kinda like Don Quijote tilting at windmills. Entertaining game, but the better team won.

Work the ball inside, drive the lane, force the refs to make calls, whether they be charges or blocks. Instead the Cougars brought the ball up and took quick 3s, or passed the ball around the perimeter and took a 3.

hawkwing wrote:

hawkwing wrote:
Well another typical Dave Rose post season team. Unprepared and undisciplined and a hard fought loss, but a loss none-the-less.



Gonzaga had a serious weakness and BYU needed to get Sabonis in foul trouble, they never went at it, he ended with 1 foul.



Disappointing.

Sorry Hawk, but not buying into this analysis. Go after Sabonis with what? Kinda like Don Quijote tilting at windmills. Entertaining game, but the better team won.

Work the ball inside, drive the lane, force the refs to make calls, whether they be charges or blocks. Instead the Cougars brought the ball up and took quick 3s, or passed the ball around the perimeter and took a 3.

We took the ball inside plenty, just couldn't get lay ups to go in, got blocked or got fouled and not whistled. Another poorly officiated gamed, but our real weakness tonight was lack of rebounding.

I missed the Santa Clara game with my Internet being down all weekend, but it looks like I didn't miss much with that game. This game, however, against the Zags, I thought was a well fought game, but the better team won. I hate hate the poor officiating excuse. There were plenty of bad calls that went our way. That is not why we lost. Anyway, here are the stats:


Gonzaga (3).PNG

I included the lines for Gonzaga's duo to see how they compared to our guys. Emery was just amazing, but there just wasn't enough support.



And here's the season summary:


BYU Summary 2016-03-08.PNG

I imagine we'll get a few NIT games (at least one but I think we can win a few), but so far KC is at a season average PER of 25.72 which is better than last season's 23.70, the highest since I've tracked back to the 2004-2005 season. Jimmer's best was 23.56 for reference.

Was a fun game to watch.



Poor decisions on offense and bad defense (how times did we fall for Wiltjer's pump fake?) doomed us. We had to suck in to limit Sabonis which created a lot of space for Gonzaga.



Silver lining, the loss puts a bad taste in the younger guys which will hopefully motivate them.



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In close games, there are always many items the losing team can point to that would have changed the outcome. I thought the refs were not great, but we also made other mistakes. For example, how many stinking lay ups did we miss? I stopped counting at five in the first half. Only would have needed to make a few more of those gimmes to have won this game. And certainly there are other reasons for the loss.



It also seemed to me that we did try to go after Sabonis, but perhaps we could have tried harder to do so. I also felt like the refs were not anxious whatsoever to call any fouls on him. Just my two cents.

McY wrote:
In close games, there are always many items the losing team can point to that would have changed the outcome. I thought the refs were not great, but we also made other mistakes. For example, how many stinking lay ups did we miss? I stopped counting at five in the first half. Only would have needed to make a few more of those gimmes to have won this game. And certainly there are other reasons for the loss.



It also seemed to me that we did try to go after Sabonis, but perhaps we could have tried harder to do so. I also felt like the refs were not anxious whatsoever to call any fouls on him. Just my two cents.

The reffing was fair in my opinion. BYU got a way with fouls too. The main factors is that by not calling fouls either way, Sabonis did not have to leave the game.

Sabonis was out on KC not down low in the paint. Was a great move by Few for two reasons:

1) KC's superiority at PG hinges on his size and his ability to muscle his way past or through smaller defenders, not his speed or handles. With Sabonis out on KC, suddenly KC lost his primary advantage. Sabonis was quick enough to stay in front of KC and longer than KC was used to dealing with.

2) With Sabonis out on KC, Sabonis commits less fouls. Before, Sabonis would be guarding the paint going up against Kaufusi, Davis, or Austin (fine not Austin). Point being, Sabonis was more prone to fouls in that scenario. Out on KC, he just had to move his feet and not swipe at the ball.



What Rose should have done was pound it inside. With Sabonis out on the perimeter guarding KC, we should have been posting up every possession and forcing Few to send Sabonis back down to the paint. Instead, KC tried to get past Sabonis, which wasn't happening (see above) or pass it around the perimeter between guards. We had gimmies down low, but Few knows we can't resist the 3-ball. We got out coached.



As great a player KC is I am happy to have that chapter behind us. I look forward to having power forwards that play down low and guards with speed and handles.



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Gunk wrote:
Sabonis was out on KC not down low in the paint. Was a great move by Few for two reasons:

1) KC's superiority at PG hinges on his size and his ability to muscle his way past or through smaller defenders, not his speed or handles. With Sabonis out on KC, suddenly KC lost his primary advantage. Sabonis was quick enough to stay in front of KC and longer than KC was used to dealing with.

2) With Sabonis out on KC, Sabonis commits less fouls. Before, Sabonis would be guarding the paint going up against Kaufusi, Davis, or Austin (fine not Austin). Point being, Sabonis was more prone to fouls in that scenario. Out on KC, he just had to move his feet and not swipe at the ball.



What Rose should have done was pound it inside. With Sabonis out on the perimeter guarding KC, we should have been posting up every possession and forcing Few to send Sabonis back down to the paint. Instead, KC tried to get past Sabonis, which wasn't happening (see above) or pass it around the perimeter between guards. We had gimmies down low, but Few knows we can't resist the 3-ball. We got out coached.



As great a player KC is I am happy to have that chapter behind us. I look forward to having power forwards that play down low and guards with speed and handles.



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Hey, we still have at least one game left! So, you're so quick to be done with an all-time great player, but what about the coach that got out-coached and decided to play that all-time great out of position and missed the NCAA tournament (and barely made it the year before)?



I've enjoyed watching KC. As an out-of-stater I'm glad I got to witness one of his historic triple doubles in-person! Rose may be the best coach we've ever had, but if we miss the tournament again next year he better be on the hot seat. Bare minimum next season is to make the tournament. But with next year's "talent" I want an outright WCC championship and a conference tourney championship to punch our official ticket. Make it happen Rose!