2022-23 Season

[byufan4ever]

I didn't get to watch the South Dakota game, but here are my ratings for the home loss to #179, a Q4 loss. Looks like Dallin Hall had a really good game thus earning his starting place in the next game. Rudi Williams wasn't too bad either. Jaxon Robinson struggled. Has he ever met a shot attempt that he didn't like? He's averaging 6.2 3PA hitting just 32.3%.

Here is our home Q3 loss to #138 Utah Valley. Traore was a our best player, but in the second half we struggled to even get him the ball. They had a 7 footer fronting him and we just couldn't cope with that. Saunders got the start but with that performance he may not get another one. But who does start? We need a true center and quick guards. And some sort of offense that looks like we're actually trying to do something besides pickup ball...

[byufan4ever]

The Creighton game was an intense one! BYU weathered a strong opening by Creighton who came in struggling making 3s but somehow found wide open shots against BYU and knocked them down. BYU took a late 11 point lead and then proceeded to turn the ball over 6 times in less than two minutes to just about give this one away. Richie Saunders, who had Creighton in his top 2 when he was recruited, had the same rating as Williams, but less minutes. He was quiet in the first half, but came on strong in the second half doing a little bit of everything. The 3 wasn't really falling for him so he took the ball to the rim. Hey, I've been preaching that good things happen when the players/team do this! Hall, despite coming through in the clutch had the lowest rating. His play that drove me nuts was when Creighton was full court pressing and he just stood still with the ball for like 3 seconds and then yeeted it to no one for a TO.

Also, I'm starting to track total team free throw attempts and fouls for BYU and their opponent each game. In this game BYU had 23 FTA and 28 PF while Creighton had 32 FTA and 21 PF. Yes, their best player fouled out on ticky-tack arm reach, but IMO Creighton fans have no reason to complain. Sometimes FTA and PF can be down to how aggressive a team is in the paint, but sadly many times its down to the refs.

Creighton is now a NET #44 so this currently qualifies as a Q1 win! BYU is up to #189 so this would be a Q3 loss for Creighton.

[BoiseBYU]

What a turn around! A very good win. What jumped out especially for me was the defensive effort and the rebounding. I suppose the team will work on breaking full court presses next week . Williams played like a leader. Second half Saunders was a jolt of needed energy. And Stewart’s defense was really solid. I criticized the team last week for their play and here they deserve some well deserved credit.

[tmoney35]

I didn't see the UVU or South Dakota games, so I'm just going to pretend they never happened, and the BYU I saw against Creighton is definitely the real one.

This has got to be one of the most athletic teams BYU has ever had, right? It was weird seeing us against a top team and not looking like we were moving in slow motion compared to them. I liked it!

[byufan4ever]

I went to this game and I was cautiously optimistic. I didn't realize that the orange/yellow seats were being replaced with the nice comfy blue seats so that was great! I was a little disappointed with the turnout. The student section was mostly full. But there were lots of empty seats including the entire row in front of me. When I initially went to buy single game tickets there were only a handful of bench seats available. The ticket office told me that this is the most season tickets that they've ever sold for basketball. I know it's a bit of a down season and there was a bowl game going on, but come on, this was against Utah!

On to the game...I thought that we played excellent team defense. Utah is a pretty good team. They were #20 in the NET rankings before the game and are now #32 so that puts this just outside of a Q1 win. Rudi Williams has really taken to playing off the bench. Great game scoring and ZERO TOs! Saunders struggled again. Hopefully he'll be more consistent down the road.

Note: I did not see Gavin Baxter and it looks like he announced his medical retirement on Dec 8 appearing in 7 games for Utah.

I'm not even going to talk about the Western Oregon game. Why do we have TWO division 2 games in the middle of the season? This is looking like our weakest OOC schedule in a long time and we still have struggled. Even with a stronger WCC I'm going to say that we need to keep our conference losses to 3. I hope that the Utah game was a turning point for this team, but right now even the NIT is not a lock. Keep on winning and everything will take care of itself!

Next up: #321 (2-6) Lindenwood. I almost did my MBA there, but chose Saint Louis University instead.

[jadesroom]

In answer to the question, "Why do we have TWO division 2 games in the middle of the season?": Pope and Holmoe have said for several years that it's very difficult to schedule Q1 teams to play ooc games in the Marriott Center. This is a problem we'll no longer have once we go to the Big 12.

Insofar as trying to schedule teams to build an NCAA tournament resume, I think Pope and Holmoe were hoping to get at least two victories in the Bahamas. That did not happen. The losses to South Dakota, etc., only compound the problem.

[GAKunkel]

I agree, I don’t think we can drop more than 3 games come conference games. We have a lot of work to do.

The potential is there.

[byufan4ever]

I was out of town for Christmas and actually missed all three of the last games. But here are my stat reviews.

We beat #336 (2-9) Lindenwood at home (Q4). Dallin Hall gets my Player of the Game award. He made his only FG, a 3, and had 9 assists to 0 TOs. I'll take some more of that, please! Waterman was just edged out as he had a good all-around game with 13 points, 7 rebounds, 3 blocks, and also no TOs! Trey Stewart gets the Struggled to Perform. Unless he drastically turns things around I honestly won't be too sad if he enters the transfer portal at the end of the season. He just doesn't have "it."

We beat #200 (4-8) Weber St. at home (Q4). Traore led the way with 17 points and 8 rebounds and an impressive 7/7 from the line. Robinson struggled. He is a very hot or cold shooter and he will just keep shooting when he's cold.

And BYU started off conference play with a win against #252 (6-8) away (Q4). Hurray for Spencer Johnson being back. 15 points and no TOs off the bench. Traore had a rare bad game. Looks like he was in foul trouble and 4 TOs didn't help.

[byufan4ever]

This was a difficult game to watch as neither team wanted to score in the first half. I had the second half on in the background while playing a board game with my family so I didn't really see what changed, but BYU ended up with a comfortable win against #163 (6-9) Portland at home (Q4). Gideon George was the only player with a PER above 10. Waterman struggled the most although Robinson wasn't too far behind.

Next up is #95 (10-5) LMU away. BYU is #93 (10-5).

[byufan4ever]

On Thursday BYU lost away to 11-6 #100 LMU (Q2). I'm not even upset with this loss. My expectations for this team have just been lowered to where it feels like we are about on the same talent or execution level as LMU. I no longer feel like we are underperforming. BYU is a #100 NET team and I just don't expect them to be much better than that. As far as the game, it was close in the first half when BYU attacked the paint by feeding Traore and the guards like Hall driving to the rim. However, in the second half we decided to settle for 3 point shots while LMU went to the FT line time after time. BYU had 9 FT attempts to LMU's 23 and 21 PFs to just 12 called on LMU. Either BYU wasn't aggressive enough in the paint or the refs were biased. Traore was our best performer, but he needs more than one FTA. Waterman was the worst performer with at least 15 minutes and in the next game the commentators mentioned that his back has been bothering him. But 41% FGs, 15% 3FGs, and 55% FTs as a team is just not going to cut it.

On Saturday BYU won away to 6-10 #212 San Diego (Q3). BYU showed a great defensive effort holding SD to just 19 first half points. Traore played really well but only got 18 minutes. Did he get in foul trouble in the first half? I wonder if he has a stamina issue or lingering injury as he has not played 30+ minutes in a game since UVU. But Atiki had his best game of the season. He didn't force anything, went 4/4 from the line and had an ally-oop dunk! Dallin Hall struggled shooting just 1/6 from the floor. He continues to have a positive Ast-TO ratio, but he is just struggling with putting the ball in the hoop (unless the game is on the line then he is clutch!).

BYU is now 11-6 #90. Next up is 13-3 #13 Gonzaga at home! Fun fact: Saint Mary's is higher in the NET rankings than Gonzaga at #8!