Dave Rose: This is the best team I've ever coached

[vancouvercougar]

One key will be to keep our top 8 players healthy.

Elijah Bryant looked awesome in the Portland game last year then he went down. Other injuries happened too.


We have pieces to the puzzle--I hope Heath can help put them together.

[BlueK]

Here are the top 100 players we had last year:
Emery -- SO, apparently going through a very bad marriage if he's divorced so soon. Hard not to think it could have affected his play.
Haws -- FR, just home from mission, hasn't played in a couple of years
Mika -- SO, great player individually, couldn't figure out a way to get the rest of the team to play great around him unfortunately. This one is on the coaches.
Dastrup -- FR, just off mission, last one to come home, hadn't played in a couple of years, clearly not in shape to play at this level. should have redshirted.
LJ Rose -- SR, struggled with injuries entire career, unfortunately. Never was able to get back to top 100 level in career because of it.
Childs -- lived up to hype as much as you could reasonably expect

Rest of team:
A whole lot of nothing.

[BlueK]

One key will be to keep our top 8 players healthy.

Elijah Bryant looked awesome in the Portland game last year then he went down. Other injuries happened too.


We have pieces to the puzzle--I hope Heath can help put them together.

Bryant alone would have helped tremendously last year.

[BlueK]

Also, as for the point that you can't get better as a team after losing your best player, that's not necessarily always true. in 1989 BYU lost senior Michael Smith, taken in the NBA lottery. It was a team that only won 14 games, I believe, so pretty bad. Coach Andersen was pushed into retirement. They had almost the same team coming back the following year, minus Smith, so of course they were expected to be putrid. They were picked for last in the conference. Instead they won 20+ games, won the conference and made the tournament. That was the team that started a 6-7 center in the NCAA tournament against a highly ranked Clemson team that was ACC regular season champs that featured two 6-11 guys in the starting lineup (Dale Davis and Eldon Campbell) who both had NBA careers that lasted quite a few years.

We came one Marty Haws wide open missed layup with 2 seconds to go from winning that game. Talent wise we shouldn't have been within 30 points of those guys. Sometimes overall chemistry is more important than any one individual player. I think the chemistry on this team will be a lot better as we get back to playing a style that fits the talent we have instead of a style that fit one player and was bad for the other 10.

[Cougs_Rule]

I would not be surprised if the results this year are better than last year.
It's true Mika was a beast but the team chemistry was awful last year. A lot of guys playing for themselves and their future aspirations to play in the NBA.; The lone Peak guys versus everybody else; a freshman in Childs, who was whining about not getting enough touches or looks; horrible team defense; and an offensive scheme that really isn't Coach Rose's forte.
Oh, and a bunch of scrubs that looked like they belonged on a intramural team and not a serious D1 basketball team.

[BroncoBot]

Also, as for the point that you can't get better as a team after losing your best player, that's not necessarily always true. in 1989 BYU lost senior Michael Smith, taken in the NBA lottery. It was a team that only won 14 games, I believe, so pretty bad. Coach Andersen was pushed into retirement. They had almost the same team coming back the following year, minus Smith, so of course they were expected to be putrid. They were picked for last in the conference. Instead they won 20+ games, won the conference and made the tournament. That was the team that started a 6-7 center in the NCAA tournament against a highly ranked Clemson team that was ACC regular season champs that featured two 6-11 guys in the starting lineup (Dale Davis and Eldon Campbell) who both had NBA careers that lasted quite a few years.

We came one Marty Haws wide open missed layup with 2 seconds to go from winning that game. Talent wise we shouldn't have been within 30 points of those guys. Sometimes overall chemistry is more important than any one individual player. I think the chemistry on this team will be a lot better as we get back to playing a style that fits the talent we have instead of a style that fit one player and was bad for the other 10.

Probably not the whole reason, but as you stated, there was a coaching change.

[BlueK]

Yes there was a different coach. On the other hand, no one should be that surprised if the offense is more efficient this year. Efficient offense has been the rule rather than the exception under Rose. The difference last year was going to the dump it inside to Mika and everyone else stand around offense, which didn't work despite how good Mika was individually. Obviously the defense needs to get better also, but I like what I'm hearing so far about the emphasis switching to shutting down three point attempts.

[imuakahuku]

Well...here's to hoping!

My thoughts exactly!!

[BlueK]

Seriously, I have always loved BYU basketball and can't wait for it to start again. Last year wasn't as good as I was hoping it would be, and I never like to miss the NCAA tournament, but maybe I'm weird compared to other internet sports message board posters in that I don't get too bent out of shape over stuff like that, and I'm very quick to be excited for the next season.

[Gunk]

Mika was a ball hog and was playing for himself. He had no intention of ever returning his Junior year. The ball went into Mika, and it never game out even when doubled team. So, with less ego and personal agendas on the court I wouldn't be surprised to see BYU play better.

Good luck in Europe, Mika.