This game was a lot of fun to attend, and it is far more satisfying being close to the court and knowing the ref can hear you yell "you suck ref" (and apparently some on BYU TV)

But I was very impressed by this team. There are a lot of fans that don't realize this Belmont team that downed Marquette at their place is actually a great team and what we did to them in the second half was very impressive. A few things I noticed.

- This teams success relies more heavily on Fischer than I realized. As we saw last year Chase is very capable as a player and has sparks of great play. When Chase started hitting in this game it really opened up the court and that's when things started firing on all cylinders for us. The reason I feel success falls more on Chase than previously thought is if he's off he's still going to shoot, as we saw in previous games aka LBS.

- The team is starting to gel some more. Nick Emery is the poster child for sharing the ball and Collinsworth as made evident by yet another triple double is up there too. Even though it might be a bit early for Nick to take the reigns as the leader of the team in a traditional sense he is leading alongside Kyle through his actions of sharing the ball and giving up good shots for himself to give his teammates better shots, and I think this is going to be an indispensable attribute in coming games and years. This type of sharing is what is going to lead the team to more efficiently trust each other in much less time.

- Impressed with free throws from certain guys. There's still A LOT of work to do and if we don't continue to improve in this department it's going to cost us more games down the stretch. But credit to Kyle for going 8 for 8 before those last two misses. As we know he isn't the greatest at free throws but the extra time put in over the past weeks is showing. Also impressed with Corbin, a big guy that can hit free throws, especially one as physical as Kaufusi is a great sign. It's been a while since we've had a big guy that can hit 75% + FT so his noticeable improvement is another great sign of going the right direction.

- Like I said earlier I think that success in tougher games will depend largely on Fischer's consistency, I mostly bring him up because Coach Rose shows some serious trust in Fischers favor to play through his slump, and his time on the court isn't limited quite as much as maybe it should be. Collinsworth, Emery, and Kaufusi are our staples on the team right now, and Fishcers spark in the second half to compliment this was the catalyst. But with the up and coming talent, any one of these bench guys has the chance on a given night to get hot, so to re-state my first point this "4th player" getting hot on a regular basis whoever it might be will be huge to our season.

- Davis is a rebounding machine. He is a quiet giant, and is another huge part of the success the team is coming in to. He doesn't have the best shot, and isn't as great a threat to score as he will be (Kaufusi early season last year through his transformation and seeing some similarities between him and Davis gives me great hope for this guys future) but his rebounding and tough play in the key makes everyone better on the team and helps them play more aggressively having to practice against this guy.

Overall very impressed with the team play and feel excitement as I think about the present and near future of this team. Coach Rose is a great coach and his ability to get this team to improve during the week is very evident. Great things are in store moving forward, this Belmont team is going to be a tough game for anyone they play this season and I definitely think this will go on our resume as a key big win.

It's going to be an exciting season!

Go Cougs!