HB Arnett’s
801
372 - 0819
1391
West 800 South –
Vol. 34,
Issue 34 –March 24, 2014
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Good
Girls, Bad Boys
The headline sounds almost like a television reality series about cops, but instead it is a description of how the two BYU basketball programs performed last week in their separate appearances in NCAA tournament action: Good Girls, Bad Boys.
Every good plot for TV
needs lots of protagonists and points. For the BYU women those points were
provided by sophomore guard Lexi Eaton in the Cougars’ 72-57 upset over
No. 5 seeded
There were plenty of other starring roles in the win. Jennifer Hamson, the 6-7 senior for the Cougars, collected a career-high tying 19 boards and nine blocks to go along with 12 points for a near-triple double. Morgan Bailey added a double-double of her own with 13 points and 12 boards and Kylie Maeda added 14 points to tie her career high.
Next up for BYU will be
No. 13 ranked and No. 4 seed
The Cornhuskers finished
third in the Big Ten Conference with a 12-4 mark, earning the automatic bid
into the NCAA tournament with a 72-65 victory over
In NU’s opening
round game against
If BYU can pull off a
second consecutive upset, they will advance to the Sweet Sixteen this coming
Saturday, March 29, in Lincoln, NE. They would most likely face the No. 1
ranked team in the nation in
The opportunity to host a
NCAA Regional in
For BYU, just continuing to play is incentive enough for this team. The last time the Lady Cougars advanced to the Sweet Sixteen was 13 years ago and was BYU coach Jeff Judkins’ first season at the helm of the program.
Run Over
by a Re-Run
There is almost nothing
worse on television than a re-run. That describes the BYU men’s 87-68
losing performance in NCAA action against
We have seen this before at least 12 times. That corresponds with the number of losses BYU had this season. They finished with a 23-12 record.
At least the plot was predictable in this loss: Can’t shoot and can’t defend. The Cougars shot a miserable .263 beyond the arc and couldn’t keep the Ducks from penetrating into the paint.
Game over, season over, but at BYU hope is always on the horizon. We just need a good pair of BYU binoculars to see the future because it is a long way off. Actually, there is nothing like some good old fashion highlight videos to help keep the faith when it comes to BYU men’s basketball.
We can’t outplay the big boys in basketball, but we can out highlight them on video. Check out these. BYU is currently 11-0 in highlight reels.
TJ Haws…Frank Jackson…Nick Emery…Jordan Chatman…
Dalton Nixon…Jamal Aytes…Chase Fischer…Chase Fischer II…Jake Toolson…
Payton Dastrup…Ryan Andrus…Isaac Neilson
BYU Schooled by
I Was Home
Schooled by Helen Reddy
(I am woman)
I know something about women.
I have 1 wife, 5 daughters and ¾ of my grandchildren are girls. I am the proverbial small fish swimming in a big estuary of estrogen.
Cross my fingers, but prostate cancer shouldn’t be a problem for me. I have already received plenty of injections and inoculations of the female hormone on a daily basis.
I know all about Mary Kay, Maybelline and Merle Norman. I don’t take lip from anyone because I have a PhD in “Lips, Labios and Lèvres. I am well versed in lipstick, lip gloss, lip conditioner, lip balm, lip exfoliator and lip primer and plumper.
I know something about women and postpartum, postmenopause, and in the last couple of weeks, when it comes to BYU men’s and women’s basketball teams, I also now know something about post presence.
The Lady Cougars have it and the Cougar men don’t. That’s why the Ladies are still playing and the men aren’t.
Dave Rose got as far as he could with his team. He was handicapped the entire season because he didn’t have a consistent post presence he could count on for scoring, rebounding and defense. There were moments when Eric Mica looked like the real deal, but those moments were few and far between.
The women, on the other hand, not only had a post presence in Jennifer Hamson, she had plenty of help with Morgan Bailey. Hamson was named the player of the year in WCC play as a dominant post player.
Tyler Haws was also named WCC Player of the year on the men’s side but he was a jump shooter.
Lots of
Shooters
Every team has jump shooters. Division I teams are full of them. Good and great teams, however, start in the post. The BYU’s men could never get out of the gate. There were a lot of false starts and the lack of consistent post play cost Dave Rose dearly this season.
Both BYU basketball teams have shooters. Some are better than others, but the stats from outside by both teams are pretty comparable. The men, for the season, shot .355 from behind the three point line. The women, up to today, are shooting .357.
Again one is still playing and the other was one and done in NCAA play.
The BYU women ran
roughshod over
It remains to be seen just how far the Lady Cougars will go, especially since the competition gets stiffer and the opponents’ post play gets tougher. Regardless, this women’s team has ridden their post play to an outstanding season. Jeff Judkins’ team is currently 27-6.
Pony in
the Post
If you don’t have a consistent pony in the post, it is hard to ride anywhere for the BYU men’s side. They actually did very well this season, in my opinion, considering that they were handicapped by post play you couldn’t count on. I hate to use the Forrest Gump reference in talking about BYU basketball, but when it came to post play this season, it indeed was like a box of chocolates: You never knew what you were going to get.
And it appears that it will get worse next season. We just don’t know what Dave Rose will get next season in the paint.
Eric Mika is gone on an LDS mission for two seasons. Luke Worthington showed signs of life late in the year. Nate Austin is a rebounder, but he is not a post presence either offensively or defensively.
Isaac Neilson and Ryan Andrus both have size and both will be freshman, but let’s be realistic, the only sure thing about their play next season is that neither will be in any danger of declaring early for the NBA draft.
The irony of BYU’s post presence and problem with bigs is that the answer may be in going small.
BYU’s most productive post players in the last decade have been small. Keena Young was MVP of the Mountain West Conference at 6-6. He was a scoring machine inside for Dave Rose.
Steve Cleveland rode Mekeli Wesley, a 6-7 post player, to a conference title and post season tournament title in the MWC. Wesley was also the MVP of the league his senior season.
If we are expecting consistent post scoring next season for BYU it won’t becoming from the big post players like Neilson, Austin, Andrus or Worthington. They might block a few shots and body up on opposing post players, but the scoring load inside will have to come from Jamal Aytes, the 6-5 transfer from UNLV. He won’t be eligible to see the court for the Cougars until late December of the next season.
That sounds discouraging, at least on paper, but here’s real discouragement in real life with a Helen Reddy encore (I am old woman) and reminder that we all eventually grow old. So did BYU men’s post play this past season.
Spring
Football Scrimmage Set for Saturday
BYU announced plans for this week’s annual football scrimmage. Here they are:
A football clinic for kids will also take place at the stadium prior to the scrimmage. The 40-minute clinic begins at 10 a.m. and will be conducted by players on the team for schoolchildren up to the eighth grade.
Following the clinic, the team will take the field to warm up for the scrimmage, which is anticipated to conclude by noon.
Stadium gates will open at 9:30 a.m. Fans are encouraged to attend and no admission will be charged.
It’s a good thing there will be no charge for admission because this scrimmage will not be worth anything if you are looking to see just what kind of football team Bronco Mendenhall will field next fall.
No players of any consequence will see action on Saturday. If they do, it will be in a brief cameo role.
Most will be held out of action to protect against potential injury. There also might be some other reason they are held out. Click Here for a possible example.
Television
Timetable
Women’s Basketball
BYU vs.
Monday, March 24 at
Tipoff: 7:10 pm MDT
TV: ESPN2
Men’s Volleyball
BYU vs.
UC
Friday, March 28 at
Match Start: 7:00 pm MDT
TV: BYUtv
BYU vs.
UCLA
Saturday, March 29 at
Match Start: 8:00 pm MDT
TV: BYUtv
Baseball
BYU vs.
Tuesday, March 25 at
First Pitch: 7:00 pm MDT
TV: Pac-12 Network
BYU vs.
St. Mary’s
Friday, March 28 at
First Pitch: 4:00 pm MDT
TV: theW.tv
Softball
BYU vs.
Tuesday, March 25 at
First Pitch: 6:00 pm MDT
TV: theW.tv
BYU vs.
Friday, March 28 at
First Pitch: 6:00 pm MDT
TV: theW.tv