What K-State has to say....

Not sensing a whole lot of respect for Jimmer from the post players. In fact, I want to shove a sneaker into their optic chiasm.

QuestionFredette goes to the basket quite a bit in addition to shooting 3s. How important is it for the big guys to try to come off and help against him, try to get to the rim, try to block the shot?

Curtis KellyWe’re a good shot-blocking team. We tend to jump up there when the guys go to the basket. One thing I notice about him from the tape, he kind of ball-fakes a lot and he likes to get into the big guy’s bodies when he gets to the basket. So what I am going to try to do is let Jake [Pullen] or whoever guard him, lead him my way, and try to smack it as far as I can, smack it out of there.

But their coach at least has the sense to show a little bit of respect:

QuestionJacob just said he would compare Jimmer to like Clay Thompson from Washington State. What would you say is the biggest key to keeping him off the scoreboard early, keeping him in check?

COACH MARTIN: That's the difference between Jacob and I. He compares them to guys now. I compare them to guys my age. I think he's Billy Donovan, is who I think he is, when Billy played at Providence. Very similar, unbelievable ability to shoot the basketball, and an unbelievable ability the utilize that shot through his foot fakes and shot fakes to create angles, to get other shots and get to the foul line. Then when you put him on the line, he's just not going to miss. It's not going to happen.

You have to be very disciplined when you guard him. From watching them on tape and a little bit yesterday live, he does as good a job as anybody as attacking you off the dribble to the middle of the floor.

It's going to be a challenge. When the ball gets in the middle of floor, it's hard to help. Regardless of where you help from, you're going to open up shooters. And that's what makes him so difficult, because then you can't help and then he scores and gets fouled. If you do help, he pitches it and they all make 3s. He's a hard matchup, as hard as we've had this year.

There's a lot in yesterdays interviews that is worth reading. K-State's coach admits that he (until BYU won Thursday) never watched BYU play and he was surprised at how good BYU is offensively, hinting that BYU might be better offensively than anything they have seen in the Big-12. He additionally expressed concern that early in the season K-State lost a game or two because they could keep their hands off of people and sent the other team to the foul line alot. In their first round game, they started having those problems again.



The most interesting aspect to me was reading about Coach Martin's own experience with pancreitis and worrying and waiting for his own pancreatic cancer screenings (came back negative) and how he reached out to Coach Rose last summer when he heard what Rose was dealing with. He said "God is good to good people. I'm sure [God] is taking care of [Coach Rose]."



http://www.asapsports.com/show_interview.php?id=62226



http://www.deseretnews.com/photos/midres/2276404.jpg" alt="" loading="lazy" style="max-width:100%">

I liked this line from Jay Drew's blog (http://blogs.sltrib.com/byu/index.php):



"On paper, the Wildcats appear bigger, faster, stronger and quicker than the Cougars.

Like BYU’s players and coaches, Kansas State’s met with the media today, and frankly, I didn’t sense a lot of respect for the Cougars coming from the Wildcats."



If K-State doesn't come out respecting us, they may find themselves in a very big hole to start the game, and one from which they won't pull out.



I think it'll be interesting to see if Jimmer gets any star treatment given all the national love he's been getting the last few days. If he does, that could be very good for BYU.

I think teams see how poor we are offensively on the interior and think we can be had easily, and they do not see how strong Jimmer is, how quick Loyd is, and how solid our perimeter/wing guys are. I expect KState to try to post us up and pound us, but I expect we zone them to death and make them beat us from the outside.



And I guarantee we shoot it better than any team they have played, outside Kansas.

Another thing people keep talking about is this: "Jimmer and Emery have not seen a guard as quick as K-State's all season long." What's funny is that these comments usually come after the writer has mentioned Loyd's performance on Thursday. Hate to break it to all of those gurus, but Jimmer and Emery see one of the fastest, most aggressive guards in the country each day in practice.

I worry that the refs on purpose have not been calling fouls made against Jimmer because he is trying to draw the foul.

snoscythe wrote:
Not sensing a whole lot of respect for Jimmer from the post players. In fact, I want to shove a sneaker into their optic chiasm.

QuestionFredette goes to the basket quite a bit in addition to shooting 3s. How important is it for the big guys to try to come off and help against him, try to get to the rim, try to block the shot?

Curtis KellyWe’re a good shot-blocking team. We tend to jump up there when the guys go to the basket. One thing I notice about him from the tape, he kind of ball-fakes a lot and he likes to get into the big guy’s bodies when he gets to the basket. So what I am going to try to do is let Jake [Pullen] or whoever guard him, lead him my way, and try to smack it as far as I can, smack it out of there.

Them are fighting words! That would definitely get me pumped up if I was one of the players.



The level of contact that the refs allow is going to be one of the keys to the game. BYU has to find a way to keep up the intensity, even if the calls are not going their way.