Zags Tonight

Ddawg wrote:

Kafusi? You really think he's the answer?



Fine he can put a body on a guy, but that's it. We need points.

Exactly - a body defensively. He has 5 fouls to give. And equally, he rebounds. Would help control our board - which is not happening. Nothing else is working.

This! Elias and Olnyk killed BYU. Austin got pushed around all night. Have to neutralize at least one of them and a big body is the only way BYU will be able to do that when We play Zags in Provo.



Rosé stuck with his 1-3-1 Defense for too long. Pew broke that D big time in the last 7 minutes.



Credit BYU for fighting and not giving up. Zags are just a very good team. 2-seed good. The should march through the WCC.

BroncoBot wrote:
David Stockton =/= John Stockton.

+1. Agree.

To all of you who stayed up Late to endure this dismantling beat down, I salute you!

If Tyler Haws gets his average, we make this a winnable game. His line: 0-9, 0-2, etc. terrible game. What bothers me is that we had no answer for the Zags Harris and Andre the Giant. #10 Gonzaga, at home, just showed BYU that they don't belong in the NCAA tourney (20 point butt kicking). St. Mary's almost beat the Zags at their place. Hopefully, we have a much better showing at the Mariott Center and all our players show up ready to take them on. Worried about perception on National TV of this team being soft on the inside and easy to push around with physical play.

Is the Davies to the NBA discussion finally put to rest now? I like the kid but he just does not have the skills (amazingly after 20+ years of hoops) to be effective against good bigs.

mizzoucoug wrote:
Is the Davies to the NBA discussion finally put to rest now? I like the kid but he just does not have the skills (amazingly after 20+ years of hoops) to be effective against good bigs.

He has a reasonably good set of skills. He does not have enough fight, lower body strength or mental toughenss. He will get pushed around and away from the basket, just like last night. And if a team can push him away from the basket and beat on him, he starts to fade.

He did show up second half, to his credit. But, I'm not sure he will be drafted.

BroncoBot wrote:
That's a very winnable game. BYU played poorly, but they really never got in a flow, couldn't get a stop at the end, could score to start, turned the ball over like that was the game plan, had NO help from Haws. I'm optimistic about BYU's odds in Provo.

I wish I could share your optimism. Gonzaga would need an injury to one of their bigs or a very horrible game by both bigs in order for BYU to have a chance. They didn't even need Much of Pangos last night and that's the scary thing.

The only other variable that could help create a winning proposition is if the refs call it tight and don't allow the Zags to push our guys around like they did last night. Physicality took both Haws and Davies out of their game. Zags win in Provo, sweep the WCC and land a 2-seed.

Zags look like a team that will do well in March. Their bigs made ours look like they've never seen the inside of a weight room!!! As long as the Refs let them play hard we don't have a chance.

Cougs_Rule wrote:

That's a very winnable game. BYU played poorly, but they really never got in a flow, couldn't get a stop at the end, could score to start, turned the ball over like that was the game plan, had NO help from Haws. I'm optimistic about BYU's odds in Provo.

I wish I could share your optimism. Gonzaga would need an injury to one of their bigs or a very horrible game by both bigs in order for BYU to have a chance. They didn't even need Much of Pangos last night and that's the scary thing.

The only other variable that could help create a winning proposition is if the refs call it tight and don't allow the Zags to push our guys around like they did last night. Physicality took both Haws and Davies out of their game. Zags win in Provo, sweep the WCC and land a 2-seed.

Well, now I've been called overly pessimistic and optimistic in the same thread. Hopefully my 2nd prediction is as accurate as the first.

BYU has zero chance of beating Gonzaga in Provo or making the NCAA tournament. This season is easier to handle if you accept that now.



BYU just isn't that good this year, and that's okay. The program isn't a disaster, Rose isn't terrible, our guys don't all suck, it's just a down year. We have one great player in Haws (who looked awful last night) and the rest of the team is okay to poor. Davies is no where near an NBA player and never will be.



It's okay. BYU will be better in years to come. Anyone paying attention knew this year was going to be tough.

BYU is just a poor offensive team this year. The only player who consistently makes shots is Haws - and he was 0-fer last night.



Even though Davies is shooting a good percentage (.538) he struggles against anyone with any size (Baylor, Zags, etc).



The other players have just been too inconsistent.

As Jeff Chatman tweeted, Tyler was doubled and out physical-ed. This Is the key to stopping BYU. Put a big body on Davies and Haws and BYU will have to scrap for points. It's why Sharp had his highest point production of the year vs the best team in the WCC.

Cougs_Rule wrote:
As Jeff Chatman tweeted, Tyler was doubled and out physical-ed. This Is the key to stopping BYU. Put a big body on Davies and Haws and BYU will have to scrap for points. It's why Sharp had his highest point production of the year vs the best team in the WCC.

This has been the key for a decade now. Play uber-physical on the perimeter and hope the refs call a loose game on you. This phyiscal play will either disrupt BYU's offensive flow/rhythm and/or frustrate BYU's players causing them to them to rush shots and miss open looks. A further benefit of this tactic is BYU then gets out of position on defense more easily because of their struggles on the offensive end.



It's a perfect strategy that New Mexico, UNLV and SDSU used all the time. And it's one that St Mary's and Gonzaga have begun to utilize as well.



One other thing I noticed that BYU had no answer for was Olynyk at the FT line. Every trip down the court they would throw it to him at the line. He would either 1) hit every shot he took from there 2) kick it back out for an open (and made) 3 or 3) dump to Harris lower on the block when BYU's bigs came out to challenge Olynyk.



BYU had no clue how to defend that and that was pretty much the only play the Zags needed to run.

Cougs_Rule wrote:
As Jeff Chatman tweeted, Tyler was doubled and out physical-ed. This Is the key to stopping BYU. Put a big body on Davies and Haws and BYU will have to scrap for points. It's why Sharp had his highest point production of the year vs the best team in the WCC.

I see this as a coaching problem. If you KNOW what an opposing team is going to throw at you defensively, exploit it. If the defense is going to rely heavily on doubling Haws and Davies, there's got to be someone open, and BYU has plenty of guys who can knock down an open shot, and guys like Austin and Sharp who can generally finish at the rim if they are open. Gonzaga did a fantastic job the last 10-15 minutes of adjusting to the zone and taking open shots. They tore BYU's zone apart.



Disclaimer: I'm not calling for anyone's head. It's something that BYU coaches are going to have to work on and get better at, or players are going to have to do a better job of implementing what the coaches are teaching them. Absolutely love this coaching staff.