1 down 2 to go

Road wins and UNLV, UNM and SDSU are hard to come by. Of the three, I would consider SDSU the "easiest" or more "likely" for us. Question now is, do you think we split between UNVL and UNM, pull off wins at both or lose at both.



Rose hasn't won at UNLV. The Pitt is a tough place to play too, but BYU seems to fair better there than other MWC teams; however, UNM is better than UNLV this year.



I think this is the year we finally get the UNLV monkey off our back, so if we drop one of the two it will be against UNM, but I'm going to go with BYU picking up wins at both. :crazy:



Should be a great game for BYU on Wed. Go Cougs!

I think we win at both. Although on paper SDSU is the easier of the 3, I think they were a tougher matchup for us than either of the other 2. I think we can shutdown UNM's scorers to some degrees and have pretty good success against them, though a win will be hard earned there if we get it. UNLV is a lot like us in the sense they use a lot of players and they can score from a lot of different places. I do like our teams mental toughness this year and I think it is the difference in a win in LV this year. Close losses in previous years have often come due to one or more lapse in scoring lasting several minutes. I don't see this team going through the long scoreless droughts that we experienced in the past - another reason we have been and will continue to be successful.

I haven't seen UNM play much this year, but I wonder how we match up with them. Obviously our low-post game is a liability as SDSU exposed it thoroughly in the 1st half last night. Does UNM have a dominant front court? If not, I like our chances.

Toughest venues for BYU:

1. UNLV

2. UNM

3. SDSU



Toughest matchups for BYU:

1. SDSU

2. UNLV

3. UNM



I'll be very happy if we can split those last two road games against the other teams in the top 4.

I think our post play will be fine. SDSU is a good rebounding team, leads the MWC in both off/def rebounding. We got manhandled in the paint during the first half, but we more than held our own the 2nd half. I look forward to continued development of our post game.

Can't wait for these games. A win Wednesday and my undefeated prediction is going to look better than ever.

This team is in the business of removing monkeys. UNLV is our second biggest monkey. Ithink we are more likely to win there than at the pit. That being said, I think that we win Wednesday. Could be a sweep!! :D

kitic77 wrote:
Toughest venues for BYU:

1. UNLV

2. UNM

3. SDSU



Toughest matchups for BYU:

1. SDSU

2. UNLV

3. UNM



I'll be very happy if we can split those last two road games against the other teams in the top 4.

I would agree that SDSU presents more matchup problems this year than UNLV or UNM.

SDSU has some very athletic bigs and when Billy White plays well they're tough to beat

(he's incredibly inconsistent though)



In the past, UNLV was a nightmare with their blazing fast guards, but we have the guys to defend them now and their bigs just aren't as complete as SDSUs.



UNM is a real headscratcher, they've played great at times this year and awful at others; however I think we can expect their best effort with a packed Pit. It would be a miraculous victory and could catapult us to a top 7-8 ranking before we play @ UNLV.

UNM is not a bad matchup for us as long as we can defend their 3,4s, who happen to be their top scorers and rebounders.

If the Cougs can get the ball into Miles, Davies, and Hartsock, UNM has a dilemna. If they challenge with their smaller forwards, they risk early foul trouble. If they dont' challenge, we get easy shots. I expect that they'll pressure Jimmer, allow the inside pass and take their chances, if our bigs can make them pay, I think we can win this.

On the other end, I think we'll see some zone against UNM, only to protect Hartsock, Miles, and Davies from foul trouble... but... they can shoot the ball and when UNM solves the zone (which SDSU couldn't do) then we'll go to man.

It'll be a great game and I think the Cougs will play well, the pressure is really off after winning the front end of this huge road trip.

bigbluepuma wrote:
This team is in the business of removing monkeys. UNLV is our second biggest monkey.

RACIST!! :bug: :gross:

Gunk wrote:
Road wins and UNLV, UNM and SDSU are hard to come by. Of the three, I would consider SDSU the "easiest" or more "likely" for us. Question now is, do you think we split between UNVL and UNM, pull off wins at both or lose at both.



Rose hasn't won at UNLV. The Pitt is a tough place to play too, but BYU seems to fair better there than other MWC teams; however, UNM is better than UNLV this year.



I think this is the year we finally get the UNLV monkey off our back, so if we drop one of the two it will be against UNM, but I'm going to go with BYU picking up wins at both. :crazy:



Should be a great game for BYU on Wed. Go Cougs!

How do you come by this logic? UNLV beat New Mexico by double digits at the Pitt just recently.....

BYUNLVFAN wrote:

Road wins and UNLV, UNM and SDSU are hard to come by. Of the three, I would consider SDSU the "easiest" or more "likely" for us. Question now is, do you think we split between UNVL and UNM, pull off wins at both or lose at both.



Rose hasn't won at UNLV. The Pitt is a tough place to play too, but BYU seems to fair better there than other MWC teams; however, UNM is better than UNLV this year.



I think this is the year we finally get the UNLV monkey off our back, so if we drop one of the two it will be against UNM, but I'm going to go with BYU picking up wins at both. :crazy:



Should be a great game for BYU on Wed. Go Cougs!

How do you come by this logic? UNLV beat New Mexico by double digits at the Pitt just recently.....

And USU beat BYU by double digits. Does that mean USU is better than BYU?



UNM and UNLV are tied in conference play. UNM's overall record is 18 - 3, whereas UNLV's is 16 - 4.



UNM's RPI is 18 and their SOS rank is 53.

UNLV's RPI is 32 and their SOS rank is 68.



UNM has a higher scoring margin than UNLV.



UNM has a higher rebounding margin than UNLV (UNM actually leads the MWC in rebounding margin).



UNM has 4 players averaging more than 10 pts a game.

UNLV only has 2 players averaging more than 10 pts a game (Every other team in the MWC has at least 3, including AF).



And last but not least, UNLV lost to the :utard:

BYULV wrote:
I think our post play will be fine. SDSU is a good rebounding team, leads the MWC in both off/def rebounding. We got manhandled in the paint during the first half, but we more than held our own the 2nd half. I look forward to continued development of our post game.

I sure hope Davies has another breakthrough game and doesn't get into foul trouble.

BYUNLVFAN wrote:

Road wins and UNLV, UNM and SDSU are hard to come by. Of the three, I would consider SDSU the "easiest" or more "likely" for us. Question now is, do you think we split between UNVL and UNM, pull off wins at both or lose at both.



Rose hasn't won at UNLV. The Pitt is a tough place to play too, but BYU seems to fair better there than other MWC teams; however, UNM is better than UNLV this year.



I think this is the year we finally get the UNLV monkey off our back, so if we drop one of the two it will be against UNM, but I'm going to go with BYU picking up wins at both. :crazy:



Should be a great game for BYU on Wed. Go Cougs!

How do you come by this logic? UNLV beat New Mexico by double digits at the Pitt just recently.....

The reason they actually play the games on the court, is because the logic that the pundits come up with doesn't always work. ;) Also, I think that the motivation factors have a greater influence than logic.



I think that BYU's motivation factor will be greater at UNLV than at the Pit. I do think, however, that we win both. 8)