HB Arnett’s “Lite” <mailto:hbarnett@fiber.net> hbarnett@fiber.net 801 372 0819 Vol. 38, Issue 13, - October 22, 2018 According to Me BYU Sports “PUFF” Pieces I’m not a gung-ho fan of Cheetos or the LA Dodgers, but I found myself munching on Cheetos while cheering against the Dodgers and rooting for the Brewers last week. When you least expect it, “lightbulb going on” moments occur at the strangest times. Mine came while I gleefully witnessed Manny Machado strike out against great Brewer pitching. It was during that “Special K” Machado moment that I realized that after just 4-5 chews on the Puff in my mouth, it was reduced to a much, much smaller moist wad of cheese dust. I took a photo of the miniature mush in my mouth, but figured it was too gross to show in public. I then took one Cheeto and smashed it with my thumb. What you see above is what a big deal Cheeto looks like under the lights and under a little competitive pressure. With a bye week in football and time on my hands and Cheetos in my mouth, I stumbled on the idea of compiling a list of “Puff Pieces” I’ve seen in 38 years of following BYU sports. Let me emphasize that this is my opinion only and I am just commenting on my observations of watching highly touted recruits and coaches come and go during the last few decades. The Puff pieces listed below are not ranked in any order but appear according to my stream of thought and filtered through what may be the early signs of senility, dementia, diabetes, incontinence, baldness, blindness, bitterness, obesity, obtuseness and just getting old. Here we go: My impressions of a few players or coaches who didn’t quite live up to their hype and puff upon entering their respective BYU athletic programs. Big Publicity Puff, Little Production Stuff Ben Olson - Football Ofa Mohetau - Football Steve Clements - Football Chris Burgess – Basketball (never played for BYU, but makes the list anyway) Shawn Bradley - Basketball Jake Heaps - Football Lone Peak 3 - Basketball Aleisha Cramer - Soccer Kyle Dean – Baseball Ross Apo – Football Ryan Cuff – Basketball Little Publicity Puff, Big Production Stuff Ziggy Ansah – Football Kurt Gouveia – Football Kyle Collinsworth Yoeli Childs – Basketball Dennis Pitta – Football Wally Joyner – Baseball Heather Olmstead – Volleyball Coach Jack Morris – Baseball Brandon Doman – Football Peter Kendrick - Baseball Taylor Sander – Volleyball Bronco Mendenhall – Football Coach Cody Hoffman – Football Jeff Chatman - Basketball So, What About Football and This Year’s Puff Pieces? I always find it very interesting to see who gets the puff and huff in spring practice and fall camp. Then reality sets in when the football season starts and sometimes the Camp’s Big Shot Cheetos turn out to be more Puff than Productive. On the opposite end of the Puff and Huff scale are those turn out to be much more productive than their preseason puff and sparse lack of publicity. Let’s start there: Not much was expected from Aleva Hifo, but in my opinion, without him BYU would be 3-4 instead of 4-3 at this point in the season. He has gone from chump and change to BYU’s big offensive Cheeto. The kid can play. Dylan Collie certainly received the Cheeto treatment from coaches and press, but he doesn’t see the playing field often enough to produce consistently. Not seeing the field is a statement that speaks for itself. Of course, now we come to the biggest Cheeto of them all coming out of Spring Ball and Fall camp. That would be Zack Wilson. He certainly looked like big puff and stuff in his debut against Hawaii. I want to wait until opposing teams have more film on him and then see how real defenses defend him and how he responds to coaches’ game planning for him. I’m optimistic that he could be among the big-time Cougar Cheetos at quarterback, but want to wait at least until after the Boise State game to give my early verdict. On the defensive side, my big Cheeto is Austin Lee, the safety. He was an afterthought by the press and public but has been a stalwart on the defensive side of the ball for BYU. Sione Takitaki is not a puff piece, but the real deal who will be cashing a real paycheck next year in the NFL. I have a couple of honorable mention puff pieces on defense in Troy Warner and Butch Pau’u. Both may be victims of various injuries, but they neither have played up to their Publicity Puffs coming out of fall camp. What about Coaching Cheetos? Kalani Sitake is looking for any huffs and puffs he can get into his seniority sail as BYU’s head coach. His hiring of Jeff Grimes was supposed to put a lot of wind and wins in that sail. Grimes looked like the real deal in providing puff into a poor program in the early going of the season, but that sail was torn and shredded by Washington and Utah State. The remainder of this season will determine if Sitake and Grimes have the right stuff or just more puff and fluff. When it comes to sports writers, newsletters, web sites and windshield flyers covering the Cougars, I freely admit that I personally am more Puff than Pulitzer. To prove that point, what you just read has no bearing on how BYU football will finish the season, the current Cougar recruiting scene and Proposition 2 in Utah which revolves around some “puff” next month, but it did take up at least 8 inches of fluff and stuff in this week’s newsletter. All of which backs up my wife’s assertion that there is “no socially redeeming value” in what I attempt to do for a living. Dragnet and DeKalb Forty-five years ago, I interviewed for a job as a copywriter in the advertising department with the Wurlitzer Company in DeKalb, Illinois. I don’t remember much about the interview other than I wore white pants and a polyester green sports jacket covered with white polka dots. I wasn’t offered the job, but I did get a tour of the town and found out that Northern Illinois University was located there. I gave the pants and jacket to Deseret Industries the next week after returning home. I checked last week, and both are still on the rack in Provo. I still have the “John Travolta” platform shoes however. They gave the job to a guy that looked like Joe Friday because he apparently was dressed much more conservatively. The real Friday eventually became a famous TV detective known for “Just the facts, ma’am”. Because I have actually been to DeKalb, and almost rubbed shoulders with a Friday look-alike, who rubbed shoulders with Johnny Carson, click here to see <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgYbogp1Ha0> , I feel like I am qualified to present just the facts about NIU. Here they are: Most BYU fans will be impressed by how close the Huskies played Utah. Not me. I am more impressed by the overtime win on the road at Eastern Michigan. The Eagles are usually a doormat, but they are a real team this season. They beat Purdue at West Lafayette, but I was most impressed with the overtime loss at San Diego State when the Aztecs kicked a 38-yarder for the win. In case you haven’t been paying attention, the Aztecs are playing very good football. They are 6-1. In my opinion, they are coached by one of the top 5 coaches in the nation in Rocky Long. He has never been publicized enough for how good a coach he his. In case you forgot, Bronco Mendenhall learned all he knows about defense from Long. EMU’s showing on the road tells me they are a very good team that an even better team, NIU beat in Ypsilanti. That scares me. The early line on this game has BYU as a 7 ½ point favorite. That should scare us all. BYU is coming off a bye week and so is NIU. Both teams will be rested and as healthy as they can be. BYU’s offensive renaissance will be tested this week against a much, much better defense than Hawaii had. If Zach Wilson can deliver at the same pace he did against Hawaii, it will go a long way in proving what we all hope to be true: The freshman is the real deal. Sports is no respecter of persons or teams based on fame and previous performances. Just ask Lebron James. The Lakers are currently 0-2. BYU’s previous performance against Hawaii will be tested against NIU. I like BYU, but only by a field goal or less. This will be a very, very physical and closely contested game. BYU’s Cougar Tipoff Wasn’t a Very Good Basketball Season Trailer You can’t judge how good a movie is or will be if all you do is watch the trailer. Same with the recent Cougar Tipoff basketball scrimmage last week. We know that there is a star who will carry this team in Yoeli Childs. He scored 35 and made it look easy We know that Jashire Hardnett will have an enlarged role offensively and defensively on this Dave Rose coached team. He put up 18 and showed that he can get to the hoop anytime he wants and now is not afraid to pull up and shoot a 3 anytime he wants. We also know that just like the many remakes of Bruce Willis and Die Hard movies, this is a remake of BYU basketball under Dave Rose. BYU is going to go up tempo. As Steve Cleveland tried to sell in his first seasons at BYU, the Cougars are going to shoot the 3 and play some D. This season’s efforts on finally getting back to the NCAA tournament will depend on how effectively this team shoots the three. More specifically, it will depend on how three players shoot the three. That would be T.J. Haws, Zack Seljaas and Nick Emery, when he is released to play in December. Those three shot the three at a combined rate of 8 of 21 from beyond the arc in this preseason exhibition. That works out to a 38% average from beyond the arc. Take Emery’s 1-6 production from distance and the three-point percentage of Haws and Seljaas was 46%. Childs shot 3 of 5 from distance which works out to a 60% rate from beyond the arc. He is BYU’s best player and Dave Rose will need to milk him for all he can because based on what I saw, he won’t be here next year because he will be playing professionally somewhere. That is what BYU basketball players do when they get married. Childs married this summer. I never thought I would be saying this, but I actually like Luke Worthington. He showed some limited offense and defensive ability. The problem with his improved play is that I don’t anticipate seeing much of it. He still has foul trouble issues and can’t stay on the floor long enough to prove that he is improved. We will get a lot of answers to our questions when BYU opens the season for real against an outstanding Nevada team November 6 in Reno. The Wolfpack are the real deal (except they were curb stomped by Washington last night in Reno to the tune of 91-73). Don’t expect BYU to beat them, but if they can stay close and make threes, it could get interesting and be an indication of what Rose has for a team. Meanwhile there are two more exhibition games on the docket for BYU. St. Martins will be in Provo this Wednesday, October 24 for a 7 pm tipoff against the Cougars. Westminster will show up Thursday, November 1. Both games tip at 7 pm and both will be televised live on BYUTV. Here’s my early observation on BYU basketball. It has been a 4-year famine for the Cougars from NCAA play. To make an appearance again this season, it will depend on BYU rainmakers like Haws, Seljaas, Hartnett and Emery to break the drought. If they can shoot as a team in the 40’s from three, this team will be scary good. Not good enough to win the WCC outright, but scary enough good to make sneak a late invite into real post season play. Maybe the World Really is BYU’s Basketball Campus BYU basketball received two verbal commitments last week from Shengzhe Li and Bernardo da Silva. Shengzhe will play his senior season at Rancho Santa Margarita HS in Orange County, CA. He is listed at 6’ 11”. His stats are marginal, but his size is impressive. His high school coach is former UVU head coach and BYU assistant coach Jeff Reinert. Da Silva is from Brazil and is currently playing his senior season at Wasatch Academy in Mt Pleasant, Utah. Wasatch is a private boarding school and does not play basketball in Utah, but travels around the country playing other academies and sports factories. Da Silva is 6-9 and also committed to play for the Cougars next year. Both will sign early in November. BYU has had a deficiency in finding foreign players to supplement their basketball roster. The excuse has always been that the foreign prospects can’t qualify in English proficiency to get admitted to BYU. Both new commits have spent at least a year in high school which evidently prepares them to be admitted.
From what I’m told, foreign prospects must score at least an 80 on the TOEFL test before BYU will take them. That’s not unusual. Utah requires the same for their foreign athletes. UVU requires only a 66 score. Utah State wants a 71.
Duke needs a score of 90 and Gonzaga requires an 88 score. Gonzaga currently has 4 foreign players on their roster, two of who are legitimate NBA prospects. With the supposedly stricter requirements for foreign basketball players than BYU, it makes this story from ESPN very interesting and peculiar. Click here to read it <http://kwese.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/22848116/gonzaga-bulldogs-forward-rui-hachimura-found-new-comfort-zone> as it pertains to foreign players and English proficiency. Am I missing something? If you can’t read campus signs to find your classes, how did you pass the proficiency test? It is obvious that Hachimura is more fluent now <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3QHXaXPWFc> , but how did he get into Gonzaga as a non-speaking foreign player? Whatever the Zags do, BYU needs to find out how they do it. The Big Recruiting Fish is still out there, and he speaks English and can not only talk the talk on the basketball court, he can walk the walk, which translates in Japanese to 散歩を歩. I’m talking Isaac Johnson, the 6-ll guard/post player from American Fork HS. He made a recruiting trip to Ohio State last week and is being pursued heavily by BYU, Utah, Oregon, Ohio State and Stanford. Click here <https://www.buckeyextra.com/sports/20181009/ohio-state-mens-basketball-recruiting--buckeyes-host-4-star-isaac-johnson-on-official-visit> to get OSU’s take on the trip by Johnson.
