HB Arnett’s
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West 800 South –
Vol. 34,
Issue 24 –January 13, 2014
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BYU
Whips Pepperdine and LMU
BIG DOG AND SHORT LEASE
NEW PLAN FOR MOVING ON
As they say in golf when a big drive is
hit, “Let the big dog bark.” The Cougar’s big dog, Tyler
Haws, barked BYU to a couple of convincing wins this past weekend against
Pepperdine and LMU.
With 35 and 31 points against the Waves
and Lions respectively, barking may not be descriptive enough in detailing just
what Haws did. He put BYU on his back in the second half of both games and
secured the wins for the Cougars.
Haws’ performance certainly
wasn’t “barking up the wrong tree” because without
Haws’ heroics, BYU very easily could have had two losses and certainly
“been up the creek without a paddle” in the current WCC title
chase.
Haws is, without question, the “Big
Dog” for Dave Rose and BYU. In my opinion, however, he is not the lead
dog on this team. That would be Matt Carlino. After two years, it is obvious
that the left handed point guard leads the player pack and performance of this
BYU sled and schedule.
When Carlino is good, BYU is good. When
Carlino is bad, BYU is bad. It really is that simple, especially this year.
Good Dog. Good Team. Bad Dog. Bad team.
Leash is Leverage
I’m no dog trainer or whisperer, but
I know that to control most dogs, a good leash is necessary. After the last 3
games, it is apparent that Dave Rose now has a legitimate lease in Skyler
Halford to use in controlling his alpha dog Carlino.
Halford is the leash that has reigned in
“bad dog” Carlino and is going to make “good dog”
Carlino, be more productive and assertive in his natural alpha dog role.
It is obvious that Carlino is a point guard.
The off guard experiment didn’t work. What Rose has in Halford is a guy
who now gives Rose leverage in reigning in Carlino when he is playing out of
control.
Halford starting puts Kyle Collinsworth
starting at the point. When Carlino now comes off the bench, Collinsworth
scoots over to the off guard spot. If Carlino is under control, he stays at the
point. If he doesn’t, Halford takes over at the two and Collinsworth goes
back to the point.
Since the emergence of Halford as a
productive player on both sides of the ball, Carlino is much more controlled
and effective. He also is still racking up minutes. Against LMU he played 30
minutes. Against Pepperdine he logged 22,
Last year when Carlino had bad games,
there was no alternative but to keep playing him. There was nothing else on the
bench. Now that Rose has figured out that Halford can be his leash on Carlino
and occasionally also Collinsworth, BYU appears to be back playing decent
basketball.
Good Stand
It was a good three-game home stand for the
Cougars. Now that Rose seems to be back in the groove driving this basketball
sled, he might be heard saying, “Mush, Mush.”
That’s not a command for his pack of
players, but a description of what lies ahead the next two weeks. Mush and
slush describes the four-game road trip the Cougars embark on this week when
they face
A split would keep BYU in the hunt and on
the trail for a title. Anything less than a split and BYU will find themselves
sinking in the slush and out of contention in the WCC hardware chase.
This is BYU’s Iditarod test of the
season. They will need all dogs doing their share and playing their best
basketball the next grueling two weeks or their league season will be sunk in
the slush.
Basketball Briefs…
Haws may be the big dog of this team and
Carlino may be the lead dog, but the best groomed dog for a NBA career is
Collinsworth. He has what the pros want and look for. He can defend, is a
fabulous rebounder, handles the ball and can get to the rim whenever he wants.
That sounds like a line and a lawn that
any NBA scout would love. But even good lawns, occasionally have some
“dog poop” to clean up.
Collinsworth’s “poop on the
lawn” is his shooting. He can’t consistently hit foul shots or
anything outside of 5 feet. He has the clang factor in his shot. The next time
Collinsworth is at the line and there is enough silence to hear, listen to the
free throws he misses. You can audibly hear the clang.
For every clang, there goes the cash of
the NBA for Collinsworth. I’m no financial advisor, but after this season
is over, I would be looking to hire a legitimate shot doctor to break down his
shot and remake it. It would be money well spent because if he can improve his
free throw percentage by just 15 percent, he could be cashing an NBA check in
two more seasons.
That’s my opinion. As mentioned,
I’m no financial advisor or Iditarod analyst, but I did have an order of onion
rings the Orem Arctic Circle. That should qualify me to comment on slushing,
mushing and making money in the NBA.
JT or TJ: Regardless of
the Order of the Letters, They Both Stand For FS (Future Star)
Last Friday was an off night offensively
for Jake Toolson, the 6-5 point/post/wing player from Highland HS in
TJ Haws had his best scoring night ever
last Friday. He scored 40 points. Read about his record setting performance
here: TJ
Haws.
Most BYU fans have known about Haws for
years. Partly because he is the younger brother of current Cougar Tyler Haws
and also for the spectacular record and play of Lone Peak HS last season.
Last season, the younger Haws was
surrounded by Division I caliber teammates. They included Nick Emery, Eric Mika
and Talon Shumway. This year he only has one other Division I guy on the team.
That would be sophomore Frank Jackson. He also is a BYU commit while Haws is a
BYU signee.
Toolson is a one man show. He has a
willing, but woefully talent-lacking team surrounding him. Opponents are now
defensively throwing the kitchen sink at him, but he still scores. After 15
games, he currently is averaging 30.1 points per game.
Here’s the deal with both Toolson
and Haws. They both have the
Many, many years ago, Dizzy Dean, a star
pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, said, “It ain’t braggin’
if you can back it up”. Both JT and TJ are having big time backin’
it up seasons.
Scout Law
Now for most main stream Mormons who
follow BYU basketball, mean streak and cockiness isn’t what most BYU fans
want to hear. The good news is that off the court, they are Boy Scouts. You
know the drill. A Scout is Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly,
Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean and Reverent.
Even better news, for BYU basketball fans, on the court they are Chippy
and Competitive. You won’t find that in the Scout Law, but you will find
it as a requisite for winning basketball games. Think Travis Hansen of a few
seasons back and you should get the picture of what these two guys will bring
in attitude and competitiveness. I also think they will bring more talent to
the table than Travis had.
The fact that Hansen had a short stint in the NBA made money overseas,
also tells you what I think of these two future BYU basketball stars. As it
currently stands, both are targeted to serve LDS missions before enrolling in
Haws was always a done deal for BYU
because of his heritage and BYU basketball lineage with his dad Marty and older
brother Tyler.
BYU almost let Toolson get away. Quite
frankly, BYU coaches were luke warm on him early last summer. You can thank
Randy Bennett, the coach at St. Mary’s for getting Cougar coaches to make
an offer to Toolson.
Bennett offered Toolson and he made a trip
to
The way I hear the story, the coaches
originally thought Toolson would be an undersize front court player. After
watching again, they saw that he could play outside and was a deadly
long-distance shooter. They also saw that he was strong and crafty enough to
also play inside.
They offered and thanks to some strong
encouragement from family members, Toolson agreed to sign with BYU.
ROUND
TRIP TICKET TO TCU
Turns out Tayo Fabulujue
had a round trip ticket to TCU with a long layover in
That pretty well sums up the
saga of the 6-7, 315 offensive tackle who tickled the fancy of fans of BYU when
he left TCU late last summer and transferred to BYU.
The return to
2010: BYU redshirt. Did not play.
2011: TCU transfer season. Did not play.
2012: Started 12 games at TCU.
2013: Transferred to BYU. Enrolled. Did not play.
2014: Back to TCU.
That is a lot of
frequent flyer miles that the Frogs of TCU and Gary Patterson can cash in on.
The Frogs need the help. They, like BYU, need help on the offensive line this
season and Fabulujue, regardless of his vagabond nature, can help.
The story circulating in
When news broke last August that Fabulujue
was back at BYU, one newspaper beat writer, JayDrew, tweeted the following:
@drewjay: Mendenhall said he probably won't talk to Tayo Fabuluje about
joining BYU football program until January at the soonest.
@drewjay: Mendenhall said he has not spoken to TCU transfer Tayo Fabuluje, said
Fab has quite a few academic hurdles, etc., to clear.
While in
When all is said and done, Fabulujue never
played a down in
The bigger picture here is a description
of BYU and BYU football. A friend of mine expressed it this way while we were
discussing the situation. He said, “You would think that if Tayo was that
good, BYU would have found a way to get him in school and on the team. That is
what every other school in the country would do.” My response was that
BYU definitely isn’t like every other school in the country.
Both
Women and Men Rebound from Losses
Both the Women’s
basketball team and the Men’s volleyball teams rebounded nicely from
previous tough losses.
The men dropped two
matches to Loyola and Lewis a week ago on the road. They returned home and
defeated No. 1 ranked
After getting hammered
and humiliated 68-42 by Gonzaga in
BYU
Television Timetable
BYU vs.
Thursday, Jan 16 at
Tipoff: 7:00 Pm MST
TV: ESPNU
BYU vs.
Saturday, Jan 18 at
Tipoff: 8:00 pm MST
TV: Root, CSN Calif and
theW.tv
BYU vs.
Thursday, Jan 23 at
Tipoff: 8:00 pm MST
TV:
BYU vs.
Gonzaga
Saturday, Jan 25 at
Tipoff: 8:00 pm MST
TV: ESPN2