BYU Basketball '17-18 Expectations

What are your expectations for BYU Basketballs 2017-2018. Choose the highest round that BYU basketball will reach.



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Depends on if Mika pulls out of the draft and comes back.

frdbtr wrote:
Depends on if Mika pulls out of the draft and comes back.

Exactly. The team cannot replace, tit-for-tat, Eric Mika with those that are signed or could be signed. So until it is know, it would be difficult to make a choice.

So basically you're entire expectations rest on Mika returning, with him BYU has a chance to not be terrible, without him they are terrible.

With him, they make the NCAA tourney. Without him, they don't.

here's my expectations. Doesn't matter who comes back.



2nd or third in conference play again. I'll go on a limb and say BYU makes the conference finals and gets beat by the zags, again. 50/50 make the ncaa tournament. with perhaps one win or lose first round. if NIT early exit or perhaps one of those exciting deep runs. maybe.



BYU basketball's has become a broken record. Having said that, it's not a bad record to have to listen to over and over and a few notes are even enjoyable. I just don't understand what can get them back to progressing upward. seems the program has hit some iron ceiling which will take some unforeseeable event to break through.



it's interesting, Rose is currently coaching a utah high school all star team, for crying out loud, and fans expect them to beat the best players in the country who have teamed up at st. elsewhere. maybe, in 2 years BYU will break through and win the conference. but that's the earliest I see that happening and I don't think gonzaga is about to relinquish their dominance. Not if mark Few is still around.

here's my expectations. Doesn't matter who comes back.



2nd or third in conference play again. I'll go on a limb and say BYU makes the conference finals and gets beat by the zags, again. 50/50 make the ncaa tournament. with perhaps one win or lose first round. if NIT early exit or perhaps one of those exciting deep runs. maybe.



BYU basketball's has become a broken record. Having said that, it's not a bad record to have to listen to over and over and a few notes are even enjoyable. I just don't understand what can get them back to progressing upward. seems the program has hit some iron ceiling which will take some unforeseeable event to break through.



it's interesting, Rose is currently coaching a utah high school all star team, for crying out loud, and fans expect them to beat the best players in the country who have teamed up at st. elsewhere. maybe, in 2 years BYU will break through and win the conference. but that's the earliest I see that happening and I don't think gonzaga is about to relinquish their dominance. Not if mark Few is still around.

Defense. Coaching defense. Playing defense. Making defense the priority. Basketball is a game of percentages and hustle. No one makes everything they shoot. To win games, you have to make the opponents shooting percentage lower by making them take tough shots, and hustle to get more opportunities yourself (rebound). It's not rocket science. I just don't know why BYU doesn't play good defense. Good defense is all about hustle and effort. It takes very little talent, and these guys all have talent to play good defense. It is where they are putting the emphasis that is a systemic problem, in my opinion. They have a green light to shoot and everyone loves to be the flashy scorer, but who wants to be known as the defensive beast on BYU? That isn't to say that they haven't had some good defensive players, but team defense? Forget about it. Until that changes, they will never go anywhere, especially in the NCAA tournament.

Yeah, I'm not voting until I know the roster. Mika is that good. And expectations vs what I think will happen are two different things. My expectations to make up for the past two seasons is second round or round of 32. What do I think actually will happen? With Mika maybe First Four. Without, CBI.

I agree with those saying a lot depends on Mika. My entire expectations is an absolute so not all my expectations rest on him but a lot does. I think Haws and Childs will be improved and possibly some of the others. Emery had some good defensive games but still seems to want to be a 3 point shooter. I'd like to see all of them play more team ball on both offense and defense. Until I know about these things and new players coming in I'll wait to vote. I am for sure hoping for a much better year next year and you made us think of that so thanks Hawk.

At this point, I think it's fair to say it's an 80%+ chance Mika is not coming back. So base expectations accordingly.

If that is the criteria, then BYU goes to the NIT.

frdbtr wrote:
If that is the criteria, then BYU goes to the NIT.

Ditto.

I actually think the team will be better with Mika gone. There wasn't a lot of "team" once the ball was passed to Mika. He certainly carried the team. He basically beat Gonzaga, but the ball pretty much stopped once it touched his hands.

With Zac Seljaas back (medical release), BYU will at least make more 3s and still no defense...lol

EM_Puma wrote:

Depends on if Mika pulls out of the draft and comes back.

Exactly. The team cannot replace, tit-for-tat, Eric Mika with those that are signed or could be signed. So until it is know, it would be difficult to make a choice.

what if the guards suddenly actually play better without Mika because they never felt comfortable in a post-heavy inside/out game? I think the only one who was comfortable in that type of offense was LJ Rose. I love Mika, and he's great, but it's just something to think about.

Cougarfan87 wrote:
Defense. Coaching defense. Playing defense. Making defense the priority. Basketball is a game of percentages and hustle. No one makes everything they shoot. To win games, you have to make the opponents shooting percentage lower by making them take tough shots, and hustle to get more opportunities yourself (rebound). It's not rocket science. I just don't know why BYU doesn't play good defense. Good defense is all about hustle and effort. It takes very little talent, and these guys all have talent to play good defense. It is where they are putting the emphasis that is a systemic problem, in my opinion. They have a green light to shoot and everyone loves to be the flashy scorer, but who wants to be known as the defensive beast on BYU? That isn't to say that they haven't had some good defensive players, but team defense? Forget about it. Until that changes, they will never go anywhere, especially in the NCAA tournament.

Statistically the defense as a whole over the entire season was actually ranked higher than the offense. Sure, it was awful at times in certain games. The NIT game is an example. HOWEVER, you can't win when the offense is turning the ball over 30 times either. That was insane in that game and deserves attention. The offense as a whole was very inconsistent. Generally Rose offenses have been good limiting the turnovers. This year's was really bad in that category.

I'm always leery of predictions that are based on dramatic improvement by losing the teams far and away best player.

BlueK wrote:

Defense. Coaching defense. Playing defense. Making defense the priority. Basketball is a game of percentages and hustle. No one makes everything they shoot. To win games, you have to make the opponents shooting percentage lower by making them take tough shots, and hustle to get more opportunities yourself (rebound). It's not rocket science. I just don't know why BYU doesn't play good defense. Good defense is all about hustle and effort. It takes very little talent, and these guys all have talent to play good defense. It is where they are putting the emphasis that is a systemic problem, in my opinion. They have a green light to shoot and everyone loves to be the flashy scorer, but who wants to be known as the defensive beast on BYU? That isn't to say that they haven't had some good defensive players, but team defense? Forget about it. Until that changes, they will never go anywhere, especially in the NCAA tournament.

Statistically the defense as a whole over the entire season was actually ranked higher than the offense. Sure, it was awful at times in certain games. The NIT game is an example. HOWEVER, you can't win when the offense is turning the ball over 30 times either. That was insane in that game and deserves attention. The offense as a whole was very inconsistent. Generally Rose offenses have been good limiting the turnovers. This year's was really bad in that category.

You will get no argument from me that the turnovers are a huge problem for this team. Turnovers are like doing the other defense's job for them. Play good defense, rebound, and limit turnovers and it is going to be hard to lose a game.

Zac Seljaas is officially back for next year.