We won't know the answer until we have the full story. Something was off last year with Emery and the team. I don't think anybody would say they lived up to their potential or the hype. They did beat an undefeated number one team on the road...no one can take that away from them. That was probably the lone peak 3s biggest accomplishment. But they failed to live up to expectations. This years team may exceed expectations...but we wont know until after the season is over.

I think BYU can be guilty of falling in love with a player due to his prior history and recruiting ranks and sometimes ignore the bigger picture of whether or not hes good for the program or the team. Sometimes moving on from these kinds of players is hard but things get better.

I think the question really is a matter of expectations. Last years team had higher expectations that were not met. This years team has lower expectations that i think a lot of us feel that they can exceed. So Mika's problem in terms of his BYU legacy is truly that of expectations being so high for the team. I think most of us would say he filled his personal duty admirably. He was a good individual player. Maybe one of the best centers we've ever had. But the team wasn't that great. Is that Mika's fault? Thats the question a lot of great players have had to ask themselves when they perform well but their teams don't win. Is it on them or their supporting cast? Or the coaches? It seems coaching is the thing that BYU fans are already scapegoating for the performance last year. Maybe Schroyer comes in and makes it look like if he could have had his hands on Mika we would be sweet 16. That may be the revisionist history thats already looking to be written.

Or maybe Mika just didn't make other guys better and its on him. Maybe he is BYU's Carmelo Anthony. A guys who could score and win but couldn't go far in a tournament. Or maybe hes Wilt Chamberlain... a prolific individual all time great who just didn't have the surrounding cast or coaching to beat the best team at the time. If this team wins a lot of games and looks better than they did with Mika thats going to become an even more valid question. The easy thing to say would be oh we would be even better with Mika as a junior, then some will say we are better without because he didn't make the team better by getting them open looks in rhythm ...and we'll never know because he left. And thats his own fault. I like it when guys play out their byu legacy. I think it hurts when they dont. I haven't seen a lot of byu guys leave early and be glad. So I blame Mika for any unfulfilled legacy he leaves. But lets see what happens this season before deciding the answer to the question of whether we were better with him or without him.