2022-23 Season

I'll have more to say after Saturday's game, but BYU could end the season on a 5 game losing streak and a 6 game losing streak if they lose their first game in the conference tournament. The next 4 games are all against teams that BYU lost to the first time around this season. I don't think that BYU wins more than 1 of these last remaining 4...

We got a few at home which gives us a chance. We’ve been in virtually all of those losses until the end.

What a week. BYU lost to 9-18 (2-11) #193 Pepperdine away (Q3). Yeah yeah they're much better than their record indicates. This was embarrassing. 21% 3FGs...and the defense. Probably the worst defense we've played all season. Traore continues to be our lone bright spot for this season. He scored 19 points on 7/10 FGs and is shooting a respectable FT% for a big. He wasn't even highly recruited. What if he enters the transfer portal at the end of the season? Who could blame him? Almost everyone else is underperforming. Saunders played 15 minutes and did more harm than good. 33% FGs, 50% FTs and 3 TOs.


BYU Pepperdine (A).PNG

Then BYU lost to 21-5 (10-2) #12 Gonzaga away (Q1). BYU was really up for this game and I was surprised to see Pope put both Traore and Atiki out at the same time. I've been saying Foos needs to play beside a true C, but it definitely looked like they didn't know how to play together at times. I really try not to blame the refs because I've been one, but this was soooo bad. Here's the key stat that you need to know from this game: BYU had 12 FTAs and 28 PFs while Gonzaga had 34 FTAs and 14 PFs. Is it due to play style? BYU was shooting so many more 3FGs you say. In the first half BYU actually only had 2 fewer points in the paint and for the game BYU had 6 more points in the paint. But five very quick fouls on BYU at the start of the second half took several of our key players out for major portions of the game. Pope had to get very creative with his lineups. I'm not saying that the FTAs and PFs need to be exactly equal for each team. But this was just bad. 75% of the fouls were on touches against Timmie when he was positioning in the post and didn't even have the ball in his hands. Players are supposed to bump in the post and I can assure you that the bumping was going both ways. GG refs. If being unlucky means the refs love screwing you then yes BYU is unlucky. Rant over. Johnson played a heck of a game (only 1 foul was called on him!) scoring 17 points and dishing out 7 assists. Did Traore really not grab any rebounds? I could have sworn I saw him grab at least a couple. George was plagued with foul trouble, but even when he was in the game he struggled scoring just 4 points.


BYU Gonzaga (A).PNG

Next week BYU plays 19-8 (7-5) #90 Santa Clara at home (Q3) and 22-5 (11-1) #6 Saint Mary's away (Q1). BYU is 16-12 (6-7) #88. BYU is on pace to have their worst conference record in 18 years. That's before my son was born. Yikes.

On Thursday BYU lost to #83 21-8 (9-5) Santa Clara at home (Q3). The first half was one of the worst defensive performances that I've seen. Down 17 at half at home! On TV it looked like barely 20% of the seats were filled and the commentators mentioned numerous times how quiet it was. Quite the indication for how the program is going. And here's a scenario that just sums up this season. With one minute left in the game BYU needed to foul to stop the clock and they only half heartedly tried and after 10 seconds or so just completely gave up with the BYU players just standing around looking at each other. This team has just lost "it" if they ever had it to begin with. We either have the completely wrong players or the wrong coach or maybe both. For a game under 10 they should have been fighting a lot harder. Rudi Williams did have himself a nice game scoring 20 points off the bench. Tre Stewart was a nice surprise getting 10 minutes and showing more energy than the rest of the team combined. Jaxon Robinson continues to disappoint. 1/8 shooting and a PER of ZERO.


BYU Santa Clara.PNG

On Saturday BYU lost to #7 24-5 (13-1) SMC away (Q1). BYU looked up for this game, but faltered down the stretch against a really good Saint Mary's team. SMC was definitely the better team, but it has to be pointed out that BYU had 10 FTA to SMC's 21 and 19 fouls were called on BYU to 13 on SMC. In the reddit game thread a Gonzaga fan even mentioned that SMC was playing very aggressive defense and should have been called for more fouls. Traore had a good game and it just begs the question of why he doesn't get the ball EVERY SINGLE TIME. He at least needs to touch it in the post every single possession. Robinson and George were competing to see who could do the team the most harm. 0-7 FGs between the two of them.


BYU SMC (A).PNG

Next week BYU has one game on Saturday against #113 17-12 (6-8) San Francisco at home (Q3). BYU is #93 16-14 (6-9). BYU is only 14-14 if you take away the two Div 2 wins which really should not count. On the NET Rankings page they're not counted and BYU's record is listed as 14-14.

Saturday night for Senior Night BYU beat 17-13 (7-9) #122 San Francisco at home (Q3). BYU looked really up for this game which begs the question, "why can't they play like this every game?" Three players had a PER above 20!! Robinson had a nice steal dunk and Traore hit a 3! Williams got the start on senior night and if he doesn't start in the conference tournament then I don't know what Pope is thinking. 21 points and 7 assists. 15-16 FTs. Saunders had the weakest game of anyone with 15+ minutes. He didn't exactly play horrible hitting 2/3 3s and grabbing 3 rebounds, but for 15 minutes he should have contributed a bit more.


BYU SF.PNG

The conference tournament starts this week. 15-14 (7-9) #89 BYU earned a 5 seed ( :sick: ) and just a single bye. They will play on Friday and will face the winner of 8 seed 11-18 (5-11) #169 Portland and 9 seed 9-19 (4-12) #223 San Diego. BYU got the higher seed over SF due to a better NET ranking and the same with SMC getting the 1 seed over Gonzaga. I got the below graphic off of reddit.


Conf Tourney.PNG

Big win last night. I hoped that they would put it together for the tournament. There was a website that gave a team's rpi and a summary of their quad games. I don't remember the site. Anyone know?

scott715 wrote:

Big win last night. I hoped that they would put it together for the tournament. There was a website that gave a team's rpi and a summary of their quad games. I don't remember the site. Anyone know?

This is the site that I use. After the WCC tourney is over I'm going to post BYU's final team sheet. This is kind of like a team's resume.



Warren Nolan

On Friday 5 seed BYU beat #165 8 seed Portland in the WCC tournament (Q3). BYU was losing by 13 points at HT and I was ready to start up the "fire Pope now" thread! But BYU outscored Portland 52-28 in the second half! Richie Saunders had the game of his life. He was hitting 3s and FTs both with a rainbow arc. He also grabbed 7 boards and he was just a menace and full of energy. I don't recall Rudi Williams playing that bad, but at least he didn't have any TOs. While it was amazing to see that comeback this is a game that BYU should have handily won from the start.


BYU Portland (T).PNG

On Saturday BYU beat #106 4 seed LMU in the WCC tournament (Q3). This time BYU started off strong and held on to win what was a closely fought game. I'm glad that Pope stuck with Rudi and it payed off with him having the highest PER. Another game with no TOs from him and 11/12 from the line with several late FTs. Foos really struggled this game. LMU swarmed him every time he touched the ball and he struggled to pass the ball to a teammate with 7 TOs. I know Rudi had a good game, but I was surprised that Hall didn't get more minutes. He wasn't playing badly and sometimes the two of them do play together. Especially when the other team is pressing it can be nice to have two ball handlers on the court. I have to say that I do feel for LMU's Cam Shelton who was having a great game and fouled out. For once I thought that the refs were actually somewhat biased towards BYU who had 26 FTA and 19 PF to LMU's 13 FTA and 25 PF.


BYU LMU (T).PNG

On Monday #84 BYU plays #8 1 seed SMC. We've played them tough both times this season. Can we pull off the upset? If we lose how do you evaluate the entire season as a whole?

It has been a long struggle of a season. The freshmen got minutes and they have benefited from it. The team is finally playing better and have a huge game tomorrow. Get some lucky bounces and they can pull the upset.

BYU got off to a horrible start against SMC and made a valiant effort towards the end, but it was too little too late. SMC is a good defensive team, but BYU really struggled finding good shots all game long. The refs called a T and a Flag 1 that both should have just been a common foul...Saunders had the highest PER and I'm hoping for big things from him next season. Potential starter, but he really needs to be more consistent and take some big leaps in the offseason to be a main player next season. Waterman struggled yet again and I honestly hope that he's not coming back next season. I watched his Deep Blue video and it's touching...but he honestly barely looks like a D1 player...


BYU SMC (T).PNG

The team never quit on themselves or Pope. Some off season hopes: Atiki learns how to score around the basket and can keep his feet when he rebounds. Pope gets a real center. Saunders ups his three point shooting. Hall too. Actually Pope gets two centers. Hall ups his free throw shooting. If Waterman and Robinson want playing time, their shooting need to improve. The team needs to do better on inbounds plays. I fear the B12 is going to be a brutal introduction for us without these and other changes.