Hey so the football games were fine but I wanted to check the Byu basketball game out since it was on tv. I even saw a decent amount of the inter squad scrimmage so I can see if the hype was warranted. The Zags played a closed scrimmage against Baylor and apparently won according to sources so just seeing college basketball live makes me feel good. So here are positive and negative comments about what I saw this past week...

The Lone Peak Three looks as good as advertised. The chemistry they displayed even against division 2 competition was undeniable and certainly will help them immensely going forward in the non conference portion of their schedule.

Tj Haws already has a better set of skills than his brother and will be a better player. I'm still not sure if point guard is his best position but he looked impressive on the offensive end. But those Steph Curry type shot selection has to stop as a point guard because those possessions will lose games.

Eric Mika will be the best post player in the WCC and could average near 20 ppg. He should get touches every time in half court sets. He still fouls a lot and staying on the court will still be an issue.

Nick Emery seems willing to get others involved and not go for 30 each game. He still is the go to guy in the clutch and will have a big year.

Davis is who he is, a steady player who will do well against bad teams and will struggle against the better teams.

Byu in general will be a very potent offensive team and should be in the top 10 in scoring nationally. The bench players provide depth and this is without their most athletic players, although the chemistry outside the LP3 is still a concern.

There were a few concerns that I think you guys should be concerned about....

Payton Dastrup should red shirt. I saw very little in him skill wise and wonder how much of a long term impact he'll have. Yoeli Childs looks much better right now. I think the mission rust is affecting him much greater. Athletic bigs I'm afraid will literally run circles around him this year. If Byu has the big depth many say they do, red shirt might be an option.

Speaking of Childs, I'm torn of the impact he'll have. This year he should come off the bench as an energy player and change of pace player. I like what he does but he doesn't do anything particularly great. He's too small in the post for certain teams and I don't think playing the three is an option. His size and experience also will contribute to foul trouble if left in.

As far as those shooting walk on guys like Beo, I don't see them have much impact. Their skill set is exactly like the starters and bringing them in really doesn't change much. Unless they play really good defense, I don't see meaningful minutes for them.

The defense overall was bad to put in nicely. The post defense was actually good and better than last year so that's good but the 3 point defense and dribble penetration were terrible. The foul trouble of the bigs were in large part because of how the opposing guards were easily able to get in the paint. There were so many threes taken and while it was good to see the walk ons shot incredibly well in the scrimmage, it was also just as bad that Emery and Haws allowed that to happen. Teams could be able to shoot the three well against this team simply due to the lack of size with the Byu guards and how they can people penetrate.

Overall, there were plenty of things that will worry me about this team in the future. The LP3 could possibly be the highest scoring trio in the country outside of Duke and will be an offensive juggernaut. But the defensive issues are a big problem from the guards and will cause the bigs to get in foul trouble this season. Of course this is without two players and the point guard situation will need to be looked at. And the half court offense still needs fixing to get quality shots. But overall Byu will certainly be a force to be reckoned with and should do well against teams outside of Spokane.