Why Everyone Needs to Stop Overreacting

I get saying that we had a bad game. I get that. Let's just not get overzealous and start talking about how we won't do well in the tournament and don't compare to the elites.



If you watch enough basketball, you'll see a 14 pt loss @ UNLV is not cause for this bitching and moaning.



Ex. 1 - Georgetown



Loses by 17 on the ROAD @ Syracuse. (This is also after being up by 14 three minutes into the game! 31 point differential after that!)



4 days later...



Wins by 12 @ Home against Duke and shoots 70%! (Wow, Duke must have horrible defense and be the worst team in the world...)



Only difference is, that they turned around and lost at HOME to South Florida by 8, which we haven't had anything similar to.



Okay, so you say, but yeah, those were ranked teams, blaa blaa blaa blaa. Fine, example 2 then.



Ex. 2 - Kentucky



Wins by 31 against Arkansas at Home.



3 days later...



Loses by 6 on the ROAD to South Carolina.



Honestly, I could go on all day with these examples, there are PLENTY. Trust me, nearly all the "elite" teams in the country have looked as bad, and often times WORSE than we did tonight on the road, against lesser opponents, and in easier environments.

Good examples. I just hope BYU and their opponents are of the same caliber that you are comparing them to.



I'd take a win against ANY of those teams you just mentioned and call it the win of the year. I'll also say that I'm just disappointed in the way BYU came out today. No chip on their shoulder, no swagger, no fire in the bones. Nothing.



But you do make a good point.

declocoug wrote:
Good examples. I just hope BYU and their opponents are of the same caliber that you are comparing them to.



I'd take a win against ANY of those teams you just mentioned and call it the win of the year. I'll also say that I'm just disappointed in the way BYU came out today. No chip on their shoulder, no swagger, no fire in the bones. Nothing.



But you do make a good point.

South Florida? South Carolina?? Arkansas??? :gross:



Haha, I'm just kidding, I know which teams you meant.



But yeah, my point is that all the elite teams have lost conference games on the road against good, mediocre, and bad teams alike, and have looked really poor playing them just as we did, so I'm not overly concerned.

I see your points, but something you fail to mention, Furrious, is every one of those teams has won at least one NCAA tourney game in the last four years.

Gunk wrote:
I see your points, but something you fail to mention, Furrious, is every one of those teams has won at least one NCAA tourney game in the last four years.

They have also had much better seeding than we have, which is what I'm more concerned with. As such, I'm not super worried about this loss because I think we win out from here, and if we do so, we will have a good seed. Also, tournament games are going to be neutral sites, and I think BYU does much better on neutral sites and on the road than most teams. At least we've been willing to play a lot more of them than most teams anyway.

I know what you mean about those three teams, but seriously, so far who is BYU's biggest win against. Then considering that BYU beats ANY of the teams on your list, wouldn't it be considered in the list of marque win of the year? My point is that AZ state, or AZ, or at SDSU are the closest things BYU has to a "big" win and those are pretty weak sauce this year.

declocoug wrote:
I know what you mean about those three teams, but seriously, so far who is BYU's biggest win against. Then considering that BYU beats ANY of the teams on your list, wouldn't it be considered in the list of marque win of the year? My point is that AZ state, or AZ, or at SDSU are the closest things BYU has to a "big" win and those are pretty weak sauce this year.

Compared to UNM, who as beaten how many top 25 teams this year already?

Gunk wrote:

I know what you mean about those three teams, but seriously, so far who is BYU's biggest win against. Then considering that BYU beats ANY of the teams on your list, wouldn't it be considered in the list of marque win of the year? My point is that AZ state, or AZ, or at SDSU are the closest things BYU has to a "big" win and those are pretty weak sauce this year.

Compared to UNM, who as beaten how many top 25 teams this year already?

I love thinking NM is great as much as the next guy, and I do think they are good, but c'mon, lets look past the numbers (which is why the BCS will always continue to suck) and use some human analysis. We all know that stats like that can be misleading.



Cal?...yea they turned out to be real winners. Our wins against AZ and ASU compare to that one.



A&M?...not a bad win no, but certainly not as good as it looked.



BYU...Okay, THAT was an amazing win :evil: :evil: :evil: Haha, but really, we will get our shot too when they come to Provo.



You both make fair points though, but Gunk, I think the win against UNLV is a good one you are missing, and once again, we will get our fair shot at a high profile win when NM comes to town, they just had the benefit of playing us at their house first.

FurriousCougar wrote:

declocoug wrote:
I know what you mean about those three teams, but seriously, so far who is BYU's biggest win against. Then considering that BYU beats ANY of the teams on your list, wouldn't it be considered in the list of marque win of the year? My point is that AZ state, or AZ, or at SDSU are the closest things BYU has to a "big" win and those are pretty weak sauce this year.

Compared to UNM, who as beaten how many top 25 teams this year already?

I love thinking NM is great as much as the next guy, and I do think they are good, but c'mon, lets look past the numbers (which is why the BCS will always continue to suck) and use some human analysis. We all know that stats like that can be misleading.



Cal?...yea they turned out to be real winners. Our wins against AZ and ASU compare to that one.



A&M?...not a bad win no, but certainly not as good as it looked.



BYU...Okay, THAT was an amazing win :evil: :evil: :evil: Haha, but really, we will get our shot too when they come to Provo.



You both make fair points though, but Gunk, I think the win against UNLV is a good one you are missing, and once again, we will get our fair shot at a high profile win when NM comes to town, they just had the benefit of playing us at their house first.

We better win that game, not only for seeding purposes but because it will be the first BYU game I'll be at in-person for 2+ years.

Was anyone else surprised at how every loose ball went UNLV's way. Not because they were outhustling us, but because it just fell to them. How many long rebounds did they get? How many extra bounces on the rim did the ball take, throwing off our guys there to grab it? It was extremely frustrating.



I don't think those bounces going our way would have changed the game, UNLV was just hitting everything the first 10 minutes.

kitic77 wrote:
Was anyone else surprised at how every loose ball went UNLV's way. Not because they were outhustling us, but because it just fell to them. How many long rebounds did they get? How many extra bounces on the rim did the ball take, throwing off our guys there to grab it? It was extremely frustrating.



I don't think those bounces going our way would have changed the game, UNLV was just hitting everything the first 10 minutes.

i think the point I'm getting BEHIND the point you're making is that sometimes the bounces just seem to go the other teams way,and when that team, oh by the way, is also unconscious from the field and you're playing on the road,well,it just may not be your day.i honestly think it felt however, as if we got beat by more than 14,even though the final score doesn't necessarily corroborate that feeling.We came out flat in the biggest game of the year and that suprised the hell outa me.I'm not at all shocked we lost to UNLV,we've mastered doing that over the years,but i am suprised that we lost to this very good team in the way that we did.

I thought the officials did a somewhat decent job as well. We even shot more FTs. My only gripe with them today was on three consecutive possessions, UNLV's big center (Mambassa or something) threw his hip into Jimmer as he was coming around a screen. This should have been an offensive foul. Next trip down, he sticks out his leg as Jimmer is again coming around the screen and falls down. This should have been an offensive foul. Then as he is setting a screen at mid-court he lowers his shoulder and knocks Jimmer to the floor. This should have been an offensive foul.



I can guarantee that had it been Chris Miles he would have been whistled three times. I don't think any of those plays make or break the game. But it further shows how BYU doesn't get the same treatment as opposing teams. I can also guarantee that had it been a UNLV player being knocked to the ground the fans would have been screaming bloody murder.

Gunk wrote:
I see your points, but something you fail to mention, Furrious, is every one of those teams has won at least one NCAA tourney game in the last four years.

So????

A long time ago I learned that if you constantly only follow the BALL with your eyes, it is IMPOSSIBLE to tell how good the defense is.



Tonight I employed that thinking, and began watching the BYU defenders who were OFF of the ball carrier. Trust me: what I saw shocked me. BYU players standing around, watching, looking back and forth and no keeping their eyes on their man, watching UNLV players make cuts to the ball/hoop and just continuing to stare - as if they were just assuming one of their teammates would pick their man up. It was absolutely astounding and nauseating. I have never seen more of a half-assed defensive attitude all season long. Once our guys actually started playing, we played pretty well, and I'd say we even outperformed UNLV in the second half. Unfortunately, you have to play the entire game, and want to win it from the beginning.

Early in the season, I pointed to mental toughness as the difference in this year's team. They didn't have that toughness today. This game was lost in the first four minutes, as a team not known for three point shooting shot lights out, despite being fairly well defended. After that, discouragement took over for BYU, and they didn't hustle or defend, nor could they hit their shots. Does this mean that they are a bad team, or that they will lose to every good team they play the rest of the year? Absolutely not!



Mental attitude is one of the most important aspects of any game. That's why coaches give pep talks. A team that is excited will play harder, hustle more, shoot more accurately, defend better, etc. A team that is discouraged stands around, shoots poorly, moves sluggishly and lets the other team out hustle them ( this is the explanation for the football team's dismal finish in the 2008 season). It's really quite amazing that they only lost by 14 today, because they really played their best ball, except for poor shooting, in the first few minutes. After that, they became discouraged with their own shooting performance and UNLV's unheard of shooting, and played discouraged the rest of the game. They are a much better team than they played today, and UNLV is not nearly the team they were today. I don't expect to see this kind of meltdown in any other game the rest of the season.



I wish some of our fans were more "fans" instead of haters. You can point all day to what poor players we have, and what a lousy coach Rose is (precisely what some "fans" have done), but the fact is that Rose has done what no coach before him has done, and this team has done what no other team has done. They may not be destined to win a national championship this year, but they are a very good basketball team. It's a shame we aren't ALL behind them.

Italics wrote:
A long time ago I learned that if you constantly only follow the BALL with your eyes, it is IMPOSSIBLE to tell how good the defense is.



Tonight I employed that thinking, and began watching the BYU defenders who were OFF of the ball carrier. Trust me: what I saw shocked me. BYU players standing around, watching, looking back and forth and no keeping their eyes on their man, watching UNLV players make cuts to the ball/hoop and just continuing to stare - as if they were just assuming one of their teammates would pick their man up. It was absolutely astounding and nauseating. I have never seen more of a half-assed defensive attitude all season long. Once our guys actually started playing, we played pretty well, and I'd say we even outperformed UNLV in the second half. Unfortunately, you have to play the entire game, and want to win it from the beginning.

I agree that's what they were doing after discouragement set in (see above post). That's not what they were doing at the first, nor is it how they usually play, and they still only lost by 14 on the road, on one of their worst shooting nights, in one of the most hostile arenas they will ever play in. To read your posts, that makes them a sub-par high school team with no talent, and the worst coach in the NCAA. Quit being a troll and start being a fan. They might just fool you and win another game or two. :angry:

If anyone has ever played legitimate competitive basketball before you would understand that sometimes things just don't go right, for no good reason really. Not because you aren't hustling, or concentrating, or trying, just because for some reason or another god doesn't want you to win ( or something else ). Sometimes you play like $h!#, you just move on to the next game.

Oh and if anyone says Rose is a bad coach you should be banned from posting for lack of intelligence, castrated to keep you from procreating, or you should start going to Utard games.

kfilly20 wrote:
Oh and if anyone says Rose is a bad coach you should be banned from posting for lack of intelligence, castrated to keep you from procreating, or you should start going to Utard games.

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

kitic77 wrote:
I thought the officials did a somewhat decent job as well. We even shot more FTs. My only gripe with them today was on three consecutive possessions, UNLV's big center (Mambassa or something) threw his hip into Jimmer as he was coming around a screen. This should have been an offensive foul. Next trip down, he sticks out his leg as Jimmer is again coming around the screen and falls down. This should have been an offensive foul. Then as he is setting a screen at mid-court he lowers his shoulder and knocks Jimmer to the floor. This should have been an offensive foul.



I can guarantee that had it been Chris Miles he would have been whistled three times. I don't think any of those plays make or break the game. But it further shows how BYU doesn't get the same treatment as opposing teams. I can also guarantee that had it been a UNLV player being knocked to the ground the fans would have been screaming bloody murder.

I think Mile's biggest weakness is the fear of being called for fouls, because he gets so many cheap fouls called on him, and then has to sit on the bench.