HB Arnett’s
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372 - 0819
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West 800 South –
Vol. 34,
Issue 19 – December 9, 2013
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Feminine,
Fredette, Future and Felonies
Feminine Forefront…I still occasionally spit on sidewalks and wipe my nose with my sleeve, sometimes even in public, but never when my wife is around. The good news is that I think I’m finding my feminine side and it’s helping me become more couth and a better Cougar fan at the same time.
I can thank two BYU women’s teams for having an increased interest in BYU women’s athletics. As far as eliminating my other etiquette errors, it has been so cold that nothing will even drip or drop from my nose or mouth these days.
The Cougar crew in
women’s volleyball has advanced to the sweet sixteen of the NCAA
tournament. They did it the hard way by beating No. 11 ranked
With the win, the Cougar
ladies now advance to face USC on Friday on the Trojans home court in
Don’t look now, and based on home game attendance figures, very few actually are, but the BYU women’s basketball team is undefeated. That is what an 8-0 record means. BYU has yet to lose.
The latest win came in
Felony…Very seldom does the word felony appear in a story or description of BYU sports. BYU is known for the predominantly high character of its athletes in all sports. Sometimes, however, the use of felony is appropriate in a BYU sports story.
Here it is. What happened
in the 106-95 loss to UMass last week in
Fouls and felonies aside, UMass was too quick and too good from beyond the arc for the Cougars to have a legitimate chance at winning this game. The loss moves BYU’s season record to 7-3.
Haws led the Cougars with 25 points, Matt Carlino added 23 and Erik Mika posted 18 points.
Next up for Dave Rose and
his Cougars is a home game in
Fight
Hunger Bowl…BYU has been invited to the big post season
party of bowl games. The Cougars are going bowling in the Kraft Fight Hunger
Bowl in
You might recognize the
Huskies. They are the team with a PIP coaching staff. Steve Sarkisian, the
former BYU quarterback, is now the past coach of UW. He left
With Sarkisian and Peterson not involved in the game against BYU, that leaves Marques Tuiasosopo in the middle as the interim coach who will be facing Bronco Mendenhall in this matchup. Tuiasosopo is a former Husky quarterback and the current quarterback coach of UW.
The two
teams are not unfamiliar with each other. The UW-BYU series dates back to 1985,
when the Cougars beat
The
Huskies, who are currently scheduled to return to the practice field next
Friday, Dec. 13, will depart for
The two
teams, both sporting 8-4 season records, will square off on Friday, December 27
at
Feeling Good…The NCAA bowl game scenario these days is a lot like youth soccer. Everybody gets a trophy. Of the 123 FBS (Division I) teams playing football, 70 will be participating in post season bowl action.
In the good old days, bowl games meant something and the good ones were a football feast to enjoy. You savored the bowl season and the best teams facing each other. At least I used to. Now the feast is over. Bowl season is like going to Costco and snacking on all the demo food items. There are just too many to taste and really enjoy. There are plenty of cheese and crackers to taste, but they never bring out the prime rib for sampling.
You can make your own decision on which bowl games are cheese and crackers and which are prime rib, but here are teams that BYU played this past season that are bowl bound.
Boise
State vs.
If you like your football
fix of Cougar football Costco style, then eat up. BYU played 8 bowl teams this
past season. That makes for some great public relations fodder for the BYU
sports promotion guys. They can get a lot of off season and pre season mileage
out of this for next year. The only teams BYU faced this past season that
aren’t going bowling are Virginia, Utah, Nevada and Idaho State. BYU
whipped UNR and ISU, but lost to UVA and the UofU. In case you are still having
trouble with those two losses, I can’t explain it, but I can spell it.
H-e-i-m-l-i-c-h.
Future…It
has become painfully obvious that with the way college basketball games are
being called these days and with the lack of defensive game experience that
Eric Mika shows, BYU is in desperate need of another productive big man this
season. They need somebody else that can spell Mika and Nate Austin when the
both get in foul trouble.
So far, Luke Worthington
isn’t that guy. Because of the need, expect Bronson Kaufusi to show up on
the team in January. He is not much of an offensive threat, but he has what BYU
needs now in the post: Five more fouls to give. And when he gives those fouls,
opponents will know they have been fouled.
But what about next
season and post men? Mika will be gone on an LDS mission.
Issac Neilson and Ryan
Andrus both will bring height to the Cougar table next year, but it would be a
huge stretch to say that they will be able to replace Mika in productivity.
Neilson is coming back
this month from an LDS mission in
Andrus is off to a good
start to that senior season. He has scored 11, 14, 12 and 16 points in his
first four games.
Another recent BYU signee
from the same zip code as Andrus is TJ Haws at Lone Peak HS in
BYU will have plenty of
perimeter power next year with all players returning and with the addition of
Chase Fischer, the
Look for Rose to try and
mine the juco market this spring to find a forward or post guy to give him some
much needed depth for next season up front. Of course, Rose tried to get some
jucos last season and came up empty when Sai Tummala of SLCC chose ASU over the
Cougars.
Fredette…The
rumors keeping coming. They are all the same and involve Jimmer Fredette being
traded to
His present contract is
reportedly in the $2 million plus range so it’s hard to have any serious
sympathy for the former BYU scoring machine, but it would be nice to see him
actually play meaningful minutes to see if he can really produce and play at
the NBA level.
Football
Future…Christmas should come early for Bronco
Mendenhall, Taysom Hill, Robert Anae and the rest of the Cougar football team.
That is because beginning Wednesday, Dec. 18 mid year juco transfers can begin
signing letters of intent to enroll at the colleges of their choice.
The official mid-year
signing period ends Jan. 15.
The big present BYU is
hoping to get wrapped up and delivered during this signing period is Nick
Kurtz, the juco wide receiver from Grossmont JC in
Most recently, he
entertained USC for a home visit. BYU also has made a final push and home
visit. Kurtz is 6-6, 210 pounds and runs a 4.5 forty. Last season, he played
in 9 games for the Griffins and had 38 catches for 604 yards and 8 touchdowns.
Barring some kind of late recruiting coup by another school, Kurtz should be a
Cougar and enrolled in school in January.
BYU
Television Timetable
BYU vs.
Prairie View
Wednesday, Dec 11 at
Tipoff: 7 pm MST
TV: BYUtv
BYU vs.
USC (Women’s Volleyball)
Friday, Dec 13 at
Match Start: 8:00 pm MST
TV: ESPN3
BYU vs.
Saturday, Dec 14 at
Tipoff: 8 pm MST
TV: Pac 12 Network
BYU vs.
Saturday, Dec 14 at
Tipoff: 2 pm MST
TV: BYUtv
BYU vs.
Saturday, Dec 21 at
Tipoff: 8:30 pm MST
TV: Pac 12 Network
BYU vs.
Saturday, Dec 21 at
Tipoff: 2 pm MST
TV: BYUtv