HB Arnett’s
COUGAR SPORTSLINE
801
372 0819
1391
West 800 South –
Vol. 32,
Issue 32 – February 27, 2012
Click
Here To Order Or Renew Your Subscriptions
SHRINKING
MY BOX AND THINKING OUTSIDE OF IT
I decided at the first of
the year that it was time to shrink my life box.
For decades it has been
big enough that a refrigerator could fit quite comfortably. It was filled with
extraneous and non-essential clutter. I now have my life box down to a smaller
and more manageable letter-sized box.
At my age, it now
contains only the essentials: Family, faith, prune juice and a nice southern
exposure to sun.
I never thought serenity
would be sitting on my haunches against the back wall of my home while sipping
prune juice with the sun in my face. It's not a bad box to live in.
The other advantage of a
smaller life box is that it makes it easier to think outside of it.
Consequently, I am
inviting Tom Holmoe to come over to my home to sip some prune juice in the sun.
It might help him think outside the BYU box when it comes to football
scheduling.
BYU had a big box moment
last week with the announcement that the Cougars will be playing
Coming from a big box
background, I'm aware that BYU big box boys in the athletic administration and
BYU big box fans are still drooling over Big Box and Big 12 aspirations.
Before that happens, however,
I expect to have downed many bottles of my new favorite beverage.
Outside
the Box
BYU is already outside of
the box with BYUtv. Quite frankly, after almost a year, in my opinion, the West
Coast Conference also is a nice fit for the BYU athletic box.
Three or four big box
opponents per year on the football schedule provide sunshine on the face of BYU
and more than southern exposure.
Barring a Big 12 invite,
finding fills for the rest of a 12-game season, still has Holmoe drinking
Maalox instead of prune juice.
BYU needs an affiliation
with a league in football. The box is shrinking fast for Holmoe. The Pac 12 is
already intoxicated drinking its own kool-aid spiked with what we think is
religious bigotry. The Big East saw its own box shrink through defections and
dilution.
It has to be the Big 12
or bust; unless you start thinking outside of the BYU box.
Here are a few
suggestions for Holmoe to ponder with his prune juice.
If BYU fans and
administrators are nervous about the state of football scheduling, how do you
think
It appears to me that
those two schools bought a pig in a poke and jumped way too soon in accepting a
Big East invite for football only. The Big East and its big box dreams of big
box television money seem to be shrinking.
How long do we expect the
WAC to survive?
The big box bottom line
for BYU and some other western schools is that maybe forming a new conference
or some sort of other alliance or affiliation would be worth exploring.
If
Here's our initial
outside the box new league members. BYU,
Don't expect BYU to lobby
for
The irony of it all is
that BYU should now thank those two schools for forcing BYU to look for other
options.
The WCC is certainly a
much, much, better option than what the soon to be non relevant WAC is now.
With the shaky ground all
of these teams are all on with the WAC, Big West and Big County Conference (what
we are calling the merged MWC-C-USA), there are possibilities.
The downside of all of
this is that BYU won't budge without keeping its current television deal in
place and without its BYUtv exposure. (Isn't that what is holding up any Big
Box/Big 12 deal?)
That will be a hard sell
to the other schools of a new league, but quite frankly, an easier sell than it
is to the Big 12. These are desperate times for all of the aforementioned
potential new league schools, but BYU has the leverage and the safe haven of
the WCC.
A new league with BYU as
a football only affiliate would give the Cougars a regular core of football
games that then could fleshed out with Big Box games such as
It will probably take
Holmoe and me a case of prune juice and a month of sunshine to figure out the
details, but it certainly is thinking outside the box and better than holding
our breath waiting for a Big 12 invitation.
BYU AND
WCC BRACKETS
It was a WH and BD finish
in the WCC basketball chase for BYU last week.
Without Noah Hartsock,
BYU lost 74-63 to Gonzaga in
Brandon Davies kept the
Cougars in the contest against the Bulldogs with 23 points, of which, 20 came
in the second half.
Two days later, without
Hartsock again, BYU and BD (Brandon Davies) held off
With the split, BYU finished
the regular WCC season in third place with a 12-4 record. St. Mary's finished
in the top spot with Gonzaga securing a second place finish. Overall, the
Cougars finished with a 24-7 record and are hoping that a good showing in this
week's WCC tournament, will get them an NCAA bid next week.
Speaking of the WCC
tourney, as the third seed, BYU will face the winner of the Pepperdine/San
Diego game on Friday at 9 pm Mountain time. The game is set to be televised
nationally on ESPNU.
A win Friday will put the
Cougars up against Gonzaga again on Saturday. Below you can click for the
complete brackets and television details for the WCC tournament.
In our opinion, BYU will
need to get to the semis against Gonzaga and either win or put up a tough
showing against the Bulldogs to insure an NCAA berth.
There is a chance that
BYU could fall flat in the tourney and still get in, but it would be a very
small chance.
The key is Hartsock. If
he can't heal and can't play or plays ineffectively, all bets are off. If he is
healthy, BYU will be successful. It's that simple.
For the BYU women, who
finished second in the WCC after getting blown out by Gonzaga last week in
The WCC will get just one
bid in the Women's NCAA tournament and it will go the tournament champion.
Click here, tournament brackets, for complete women's and men's WCC
tournament brackets, complete with television broadcast plans and starting
times. All times listed are Pacific.
OH
BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU?
What is it with BYU
basketball and brothers?
BYU added another BYU
brother act to its long list of such tandems on the Cougar rosters.
The latest brother duo is
from the Hartsock family.
Jakob Hartsock, a 6-7
junior forward from Bartlesville HS in
Not only does the younger
Hartsock play like his older brother and has a similar looking shot, he will
follow his brother's BYU recruiting footsteps and serve an LDS mission out of
high school before enrolling as a freshman in Provo.
Other brother packages
that Dave Rose has snared include Tyler Haws and TJ Haws.
Jackson Emery has
graduated, but his younger brother, Nick, currently a junior at Lone Peak HS,
has already committed to Rose and his program.
He will be a freshman at
BYU beginning with the 2013-14 season.
Already in the fold are
the Collinsworth brothers. Chris is still battling knee problems and younger
brother Kyle still has another season to miss because of current missionary
service in
Regarding BYU basketball
recruits, almost all are involved in high school post season playoffs.
Both Nick Emery and TJ
Haws begin their quest for a state title this week at the
The Knights will open
play on Tuesday at 9:30 am against Kearns HS. In
In
Chatman was instrumental
in getting his team to the final eight by scoring 21 against Curtis HS last
week.
Jakob Hartsock and his
Bruin teammates got the 6A state title hopes underway with a 48-14 win over San
Springs and then waxed Bixby 54-35. Hartsock scored 21 in the Bixby contest.
The competition gets
stiffer from here on out as
Raul Delgado, the 6-3
guard from
Delgado continues to be
hot shooting the three ball. Against
NFL
COMBINE
Two BYU football players showed their wares at the NFL combine last
week in hopes of landing a job in the league.
Here is their evaluations according to the NFL combine people and
NFL.com
Fangupo: Overview…Fangupo
is a lane clogger, and although his play can seem uninspired at times, he
actually is very effective in this role and should look to do the same for a
3-4 scheme at the next level. A transfer to BYU by way of USC and Mount San
Antonio Community College, Fangupo is an older player who never got a strong
chance to establish himself with any team at the collegiate level. He could be
a late-riser, as he is said to have serious strength for the position. Look for
a team with a scheme in which Fangupo would fit to select him in the late
rounds.
Reynolds: Overview…Reynolds
has started at tackle for every game he's played in a BYU uniform after two
years away on a religious mission, progressing into a quality prospect in this
years draft. He is a bit undersized for the position and could potentially be
moved inside where his height wouldn't inhibit him. He has fifth- or
sixth-round talent as a reliable option on the offensive line but could have
trouble if kept outside to protect the quarterback at the next level.