Archived Topic

Jay Bilas Comments

by FurriousCougar · 1/22/2010

FurriousCougar

1/22/2010, 3:55:41 AM

In his chat wrap, somebody asked

Rich (Seattle)

Basketball west of the Mississippi seems down this year -- but I caught a BYU game recently -- and they seem REALLY good. Will they get seeded fairly come Selection Sunday?

Jay Bilas

It is down. Way down. I cannot recall a year with so many average teams in the West. And, I do like BYU's team. I think that Jimmer Fredette is one of the toughest guards in the country, and Jonathan Tavernari is one of the best Sixth Men, if not the best. But, BYU is not better than they were last year or the year before, in my humble judgment. The rest of the West and the country simply is not quite as good.....yet. There is still time for some teams to improve. Ironically, BYU can advance further, but not be quite as good this year.

ME:

I couldn't disagree more with the last part of what he said. He must not watch a lot of BYU basketball (which would not surprise me in the least), because while I do believe we were a little underrated last year, it is VERY CLEAR to me that our team this year is MUCH improved from last year.

So I ask: What do you guys think? Are we better than last year? How much better/worse?

bigbluepuma

1/22/2010, 8:03:14 AM

I think we are a lot better. I noted on another thread that I expected us to be improved this year with just the returning talent. I knew that Emery and Hartsock would elevate their games a great deal with a year to get thear game legs back, that Jimmer was just beginning to come into his own, and that we had some good support from others, like Abuo. What I didn't expect, was the great contribution we have gotten from Haws and Davies. That elevates us far beyond where we were last year. I also think that Miles is doing very well defensively, and that he is looking better and better offensively. I am really liking his little post move and 5 foot fade away. It is working consistantly. That gives us further improvement over last year. Another thing that I really like, is bringing JT off the bench (Hartsock's improvement has made that possible). It adds another dimention to our game. Besides Jimmer coming on, I think that his back-ups are doing very well. Both have had a year in which they played significant minutes and contributed well. This year, they have both improved a huge amount, and can carry the team if need be, as they have adequately demonstrated when Jimmer was down. They are also both capable defensive stoppers. Last, and perhaps most importantly, I think that we are mentally tougher than in the past few years. The three starting guards have a lot to do with that, but the whole team seems to have caught on. More and more, when one man is down, another, or others step up. That is a sign of a mentally tough team who refuses to lose. I am expecting great things from this team the rest of the way. :) :) :) 8) GO COUGS!!!! 8)

Mars

1/22/2010, 11:59:48 AM

FurriousCougar wrote:
Jay Bilas

"BYU is not better than they were last year or the year before, in my humble judgment."

BYU's record so far this year: 19-1 (4-0).

BYU's record at 20 games last year: 15-5 (3-3). (Final Record: 25-7)

bigbluepuma

1/22/2010, 4:18:30 PM

Another factor that we haven't accounted for yet is the January slump. We have seen one every Rose year until now. We are at the normal recovery point, with no slump behind us. That is great news. :)

SpiffCoug

1/22/2010, 4:34:20 PM

There is nothing humble about Bilas' opinion. I really think the only footage he has seen of BYU was a couple of Jimmer highlights following the Arizona game. I bet he has watched one second of any other game BYU has played in. What he should have said was, "I haven't really watched BYU so it wouldn't be fair to comment."

Short_Change

1/22/2010, 4:55:06 PM

Our free throw shooting % is a big improvement over last season and has won games for us. This will be huge come tournament time.

ABYUFAN

1/22/2010, 4:55:36 PM

Mars wrote:
Jay Bilas

"BYU is not better than they were last year or the year before, in my humble judgment."

BYU's record so far this year: 19-1 (4-0).

BYU's record at 20 games last year: 15-5 (3-3). (Final Record: 25-7)

I think that was Bilas' point - the west as a whole is 4 games worse than they were last year, so we remain constant while the others around us fall. It's an awefully convienient argument to use when you want to thumb your nose at someone.

I agree with Kitic, there's no way he's watched more than a couple of hilights of our team. I really wonder what the numbers (i.e. shooting percentages f.t. percentages, rebounds etc show for us this year vs. last) But I too "feel" that this team is head an shoulders better than last year's team.

Ultimately he didn't answer the question about BYU getting a fair seed, but based on what he said, it seems like he'd believe that an 8 or a 9 seed would, in his mind be "fair" to BYU

SpiffCoug

1/22/2010, 5:03:26 PM

ABYUFAN wrote:
I agree with Kitic, there's no way he's watched more than a couple of hilights of our team. I really wonder what the numbers (i.e. shooting percentages f.t. percentages, rebounds etc show for us this year vs. last) But I too "feel" that this team is head an shoulders better than last year's team.

2010 2009 %Change

FG% .513 .483 +6.2%

3P% .420 .381 +10.2%

FT% .775 .729 +6.3%

REB 37.8 36.1 +4.7%

PAP .538 .503 +7.0%

TS% .623 .584 +6.7%

PAP is Points Available Percentage (points scored/points possible)

TS% is True Shooting Percentage (true shooting percentage is a measure of shooting efficiency that takes into account field goals, 3-point field goals, and free throws)

ABYUFAN

1/22/2010, 5:19:20 PM

kitic77 wrote:

2010 2009 %Change

FG% .513 .483 +6.2%

3P% .420 .381 +10.2%

FT% .775 .729 +6.3%

REB 37.8 36.1 +4.7%

PAP .538 .503 +7.0%

TS% .623 .584 +6.7%

PAP is Points Available Percentage (points scored/points possible)

TS% is True Shooting Percentage (true shooting percentage is a measure of shooting efficiency that takes into account field goals, 3-point field goals, and free throws)

Thanks Kitic, I felt that the numbers were up across the board, and maybe that's the genius of his comments, he will say that the only reason that the numbers are up is because the other teams have slipped. Which, really, is that a valid argument? Can we really see an entire half of the country collectively slip in basketball, or are there other teams in that half of the country now good enough that the rest of the west has risen, and the Cougars have risen farther?

For example compare BYU's win over ASU to Duke's. BYU scored about their season average against the Sun Devils, while the Sun Devils held Duke to about 10 points below their season average. But despite this ASU is "down"? I just don't agree with him...

bigbluepuma

1/22/2010, 5:29:35 PM

ABYUFAN wrote:

2010 2009 %Change

FG% .513 .483 +6.2%

3P% .420 .381 +10.2%

FT% .775 .729 +6.3%

REB 37.8 36.1 +4.7%

PAP .538 .503 +7.0%

TS% .623 .584 +6.7%

PAP is Points Available Percentage (points scored/points possible)

TS% is True Shooting Percentage (true shooting percentage is a measure of shooting efficiency that takes into account field goals, 3-point field goals, and free throws)

Thanks Kitic, I felt that the numbers were up across the board, and maybe that's the genius of his comments, he will say that the only reason that the numbers are up is because the other teams have slipped. Which, really, is that a valid argument? Can we really see an entire half of the country collectively slip in basketball, or are there other teams in that half of the country now good enough that the rest of the west has risen, and the Cougars have risen farther?

For example compare BYU's win over ASU to Duke's. BYU scored about their season average against the Sun Devils, while the Sun Devils held Duke to about 10 points below their season average. But despite this ASU is "down"? I just don't agree with him...

Bingo! I don't know about the rest of the west, but across the Mt West, I think that most teams are better than last year, and the only team that is down is :utard: (understandably) :D

Gunk

1/22/2010, 6:09:09 PM

We're better. With Noah in and JT coming off the bench it gives us some more size and balances us out a bit more. Our guard play is much improved this year and thanks to JT's team first attitude we don't have any ambitious seniors this year vying for NBA credibility. We've got two centers that can play, so there's no drop off at that position. All in all, we're better.

Anyone else notice there's more energy with this group than last year's group. We seem much more animated.

And...Rose is better this year. He's done an excellent job at making adjustments. I love the switching between the man and zone coverage. He's motivating our players better to get after it too.

EM_Puma

1/22/2010, 6:23:56 PM

kitic77 wrote:
There is nothing humble about Bilas' opinion. I really think the only footage he has seen of BYU was a couple of Jimmer highlights following the Arizona game. I bet he has watched one second of any other game BYU has played in. What he should have said was, "I haven't really watched BYU so it wouldn't be fair to comment."

That would be my perception as well.

BYU is sufficiently better than last year with the increased maturity of the team (minus Cummard) and the addition of Haws and Davies. I don't think it's much of a bold statement that you could make up a team of the non-starters that would be better that probably half of the teams in the MWC and I don't believe that's an exageration.

Yet I can understand Bilas's opinion, even though I agree it's not based on sufficient actual data on his part, but we just have not had as good of a non-conference schedule as in years past to really be able to justify where we are at. I'm not saying we don't deserve our ranking at all, but I think that has added to our problem. Also, most of the out-of-conference foes that our fellow MWC teams (UM & UNLV) beat to send them on their lofty earlier season rankings have kind of slid down and then these teams struggling in conference play has added to this mystique of reallying knowing what BYU is really about.

I am really gaining confidence finally that we are legitimate and that we'll make it to the next level in the NCAA tournament even if we are dis'd and end up as bad as a 7 seed.

snoscythe

1/22/2010, 6:26:38 PM

I always wondered how that L got into his last name...

bigbluepuma

1/23/2010, 12:24:11 AM

EM_Puma wrote:
There is nothing humble about Bilas' opinion. I really think the only footage he has seen of BYU was a couple of Jimmer highlights following the Arizona game. I bet he has watched one second of any other game BYU has played in. What he should have said was, "I haven't really watched BYU so it wouldn't be fair to comment."

SpiffCoug

1/23/2010, 1:08:47 AM

BYU has 10 players averaging more than 10 minutes a game. Of those ten players, seven of them are shooting better than .500 from the floor. Four of them are shooting better than .430 from the three point line. Only three of them have negative assist:turnover ratios (Loyd is -2 and Abouo is -1). Only two of them are scoring fewer than half of their available points and none of them have a true shooting percentage under .514.

BYU is so deep and so consistent, it's why we're so much better than the rest of the league. I think you could take our second five (Loyd, Morgan, Davies, Tav, and Abouo) and they could finish in the top 4 of the conference this year.

Mars

1/23/2010, 1:11:43 AM

bigbluepuma wrote:
I don't think it's much of a bold statement that you could make up a team of the non-starters that would be better that probably half of the teams in the MWC and I don't believe that's an exageration.

This team has such good chemistry and depth that they consistantly go 11 deep with little drop off in productivity. I think our second 5 would be a pretty competitive team.

Jonathan Tavernari

Brandon Davies

Charles Abou

Lamont Morgan, Jr.

Michael Loyd, Jr.

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