BYU vs Mississippi Valley

[TheDean]

This game was a tale of two halfs:

The first half BYU played as an unselfish team and it showed as BYU had 17 point lead at one point. Passed the ball well had 15 assists on 17 shots and looked tough to beat.

The second half BYU played like 5 players trying to play 1 on 5 basket ball like they did against Long Beach and almost lost the game to Mississippi Valley. BYU was lucky if they got 5 assists in the entire second half.

If BYU plays a whole game like the first half they will be tough to beat and Utah or anyone else will be no problem but if they play like they did in the second half then BYU will be in trouble and won't win many games or beat Utah.

[Qman]

This game was a tale of two halfs:

The first half BYU played as an unselfish team and it showed as BYU had 17 point lead at one point. Passed the ball well had 15 assists on 17 shots and looked tough to beat.

The second half BYU played like 5 players trying to play 1 on 5 basket ball like they did against Long Beach and almost lost the game to Mississippi Valley. BYU was lucky if they got 5 assists in the entire second half.

If BYU plays a whole game like the first half they will be tough to beat and Utah or anyone else will be no problem but if they play like they did in the second half then BYU will be in trouble and won't win many games or beat Utah.

Did you notice the other team played differently in each half?

MV was passive defensively in the first half. But in the second they were aggressive with half court pressure. They also would slide into what looked like a matchup zone. Rose had to burn a few timeouts to get the right motion. Basically we couldn't move the ball quickly against their pressure. They also were super aggressive in pursuing lose balls and they ripped a lot of rebounds out of our hands.

This was exactly like Long Beach St. We apparently don't know how to run our offense very well against pressure.

Overall Emery was very, very good again. He had a few lapses off the ball on D but his total package offensively is unique on our team.

KC started to assert himself in the second half when the game was in doubt by aggressively attacking the hoop. He was the team's 'stopper' for the night. He wasn't great at it but I guess we don't have anyone better.

Fischer drives me nuts. He does some many things well off the ball and on D. Why does he make crazy passes and shoot crazy 3 pt shots with 20 seconds on the shot clock?

Kaufusi had some good moments scoring in the paint, but his free throw woes are back. Also he was getting beat by a 6'5" post player over and over until Rose put Austin in for him. He needs more coaching on the fundamentals.

Davis seemed to be the guy everyone else was setting up. He played a good defensive game and seems to have inherited Kaufusi foul shooting woes.

I think Toolson is playing himself out of the rotation.

Seljaas got 11 minutes off the bench and produced a 3, a pair of rebounds and turnovers. But his size defensively on perimeter seemed to work against this team. I could have sworn he had a block too. He keeps improving rapidly.

Chatman got a few minutes and was okay. They used him at PG and he wasn't great at it.

Aytes made some good offensive plays around the hoop and some bad ones too.

Overall we now a PG to go with our Point Forward. This should allow our offense to be pretty dynamic. We need to solve our problems with pressure D. It also looks like we need to stagger KC's and Emery's rests. The offensive didn't look good without one of them around. And finally we need a perimeter stopper. I don't think it can be KC or Emery. I don't know if we have that guy on team right now.

[frdbtr]

BYU has a young team this year. They need to figure this thing out quick or we are going to lose a lot of games.

[byufan4ever]

I don't remember the minute mark, but in the first half we were up 30-15 and doing pretty well and then Rose pulled all of his starters and our bench let them back into the game and MVSU's confidence was huge after that. Not sure why all starters were pulled that early in the game. IMO, that's something you do if your starters are NOT playing well or midway thru the SECOND half if you are dominating. I think the difference in play started at this point in the first half.

[BlueK]

I don't remember the minute mark, but in the first half we were up 30-15 and doing pretty well and then Rose pulled all of his starters and our bench let them back into the game and MVSU's confidence was huge after that. Not sure why all starters were pulled that early in the game. IMO, that's something you do if your starters are NOT playing well or midway thru the SECOND half if you are dominating. I think the difference in play started at this point in the first half.

These kind of substitution patterns are not that uncommon to see in these early season games against teams that are supposed to be lower level competition. It's just to see how different lineups do. That's a big part of what these games are used for. Normally the game doesn't change that much when it happens, but it didn't work that way last night. Usually they don't do it that early in the game though. In his post game comments Rose mentioned it having been a mistake to try it when he did. Against this team though it shouldn't have mattered that much. BYU is a young team with lots of new players who have talent but have to find a way to play well together. Rose will get their attention in practice the next couple of days and I expect they'll play much better in the next one against a much better opponent. These next two are obviously pretty important, so there is no way they'll be messing that much with the lineup early in the game if things are going well.

[hawkwing]

BYU played horrible. Absolutely, inexcusably horrible. This was a win you walk away from feeling almost as bad as a loss.

This team still hasn't figured out how to play defense.

This team still hasn't figured out how to play half court offense.

This team still hasn't figured out how to out rebound an opposing team who's tallest player is 6'6".

This team still hasn't figured out how to shoot free throws.

This team still hasn't figured out how to shoot 3 pointers.

This team hasn't figured out a way to replace Tyler Haws.

[byufan4ever]

I don't remember the minute mark, but in the first half we were up 30-15 and doing pretty well and then Rose pulled all of his starters and our bench let them back into the game and MVSU's confidence was huge after that. Not sure why all starters were pulled that early in the game. IMO, that's something you do if your starters are NOT playing well or midway thru the SECOND half if you are dominating. I think the difference in play started at this point in the first half.

These kind of substitution patterns are not that uncommon to see in these early season games against teams that are supposed to be lower level competition. It's just to see how different lineups do. That's a big part of what these games are used for. Normally the game doesn't change that much when it happens, but it didn't work that way last night. Usually they don't do it that early in the game though. In his post game comments Rose mentioned it having been a mistake to try it when he did. Against this team though it shouldn't have mattered that much. BYU is a young team with lots of new players who have talent but have to find a way to play well together. Rose will get their attention in practice the next couple of days and I expect they'll play much better in the next one against a much better opponent. These next two are obviously pretty important, so there is no way they'll be messing that much with the lineup early in the game if things are going well.

I disagree about these substitution patterns being uncommon in the early season. Or at least they shouldn't be. That's why you have training camp and the exhibition games. These games count. You don't go with a complete line change in the first half. I'm not saying we need to already be down to a set rotation of 8, but it's Rose's job to know his players. I know that my high school coach would have never done that. I still expect the lineup to be fluid and I have no problem about getting bench players some playtime, but I would never expect the bench to be emptied half way through the first half.

The two things that baffled me in this game were rebounding and points allowed in the paint. Countless times we fought over ourselves for the rebounds and tipped them instead of pulling them down strong. And I can't understand how a team that much smaller could get into the paint so much.

We started out strong. Let's get that killer instinct and not let up on the pedal. I do trust in Rose to make some good adjustments. This team has potential and is exciting to watch at times, but man they're going to give me heartburn!

[byufan4ever]

[tmoney35]

So far I see a lot of talented individuals that haven't figured out how to play together.

MVSU is a terrible team. They had been blown out by nearly 40 points by New Mexico State, and over 30 points by the powerhouse Grand Canyon Antelopes.

[Cougs_Rule]

BYU got a little cocky, comfortable, seflfish, and sloppy again.--thinking they would just walkway with this win. But credit the opposing coach. He did exactly what a coach should do vs BYU: take away BYUs perimeter game, exploit BYus perimeter defense, and play agressive, trapping defense with your quicker players, with frequent substitutions to keep your players fresh; and finally, with agressive D make BYU beat you with free throws instead of easy threes and paint points.
Incorrect conclusions:
1.Substitution patterns: were simply not that odd. You can't play starters 30 minutes plus each game and expect them to last the whole season.
2. This team is young: NOT. It has a SR. leader who needs to lead better and a SR 2/3 in Fisher who better pick up his play or Rose will replace him also. Nick E is a young as Tanner Mangum. Not exactly your average true freshmen.

Problems that better get fixed.
#1- Selfish play. When BYU played team ball in the first half, they had plenty of scoring Opps and a lot of Assists and Voila--Solid scoring.
#2- Free throws--the team % is completely unacceptable. Kaufusi better find his stroke. If he does, life will be good. Same with Davis, not sure why he was shooting 50%. And if KC can't make his FTs, say hello Europe. It's bad enough he hasn't figured out his outside shot.
#3- turnovers. Davis comes to mind and KC sometimes, just too sloppy.
#4-team identity. This is where some may be suggesting it is a young team. It is a team needing an identity more than just run and gun or KC is THE Man. Also missing from the new line up is the scoring threat from outside from the four/five. This is where Hartsock (who was injured) would help in stretching the D. But Kaufusi, Davis, Austin, nor Aytes has an outside game. So their bigs can pack the paint.

Those are some of my observations.