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Dec 8, 2018
4:18:35pm
lbmango All-American
Thoughts on today's BYU-Utah Game
1. Yoeli was sick. He was hitting everything and also played good defense and rebounded. Three games in a row with 31 points? That's crazy.

2. Haws is clearly the 2nd best player on the team. He should be running the point a lot more than he currently is. The team just plays better when he's playing the point. Haws continues to mature as a player. He now takes very few forced or ill-advised shots. Sure, he'll occasionally put one up from deep, but he's shown he can make those and when he has taken those he's been open. He's making some good assists, and is playing good defense. And he seems to be keeping his emotions in check better than in previous years.

3. Glad to see Harding get the start. He didn't have a great game today, but this is the next logical step in his progress, and as he adjusts to this role I think he'll get better and better.

4. I'm liking Seljaas more and more as a player. He does a lot of good things, and he's getting more and more consistent in doing those things. He plays with a lot of energy--he's often the first one diving on the floor for a loose ball. He drives to the hoop. He blocks shots. He plays pretty good defense overall. I'd like to see him dish more off of those drives instead of forcing up a shot at the rim. I'd also like to see him foul a bit less. Now about his shooting, he's got to be more consistent if he's going to be a significant contributor to this team. He hit a couple today, but he missed a bunch, and on most of those misses he was wide open.

5. Hardnett sometimes does some really good things, but I'm coming to the conclusion that he should not be starting. He tends to significantly slow down the offensive flow. And he continues to make some curious decisions. And he is not an outside shooter. When he's in the game the other team can sag way off of him to guard against the drive and clog up the middle because they don't have to worry about him making an outside shot at all.

6. Appears that Emery still needs to get into game shape. There's a difference between practice and real games. I think he'll see more and more playing time in the upcoming games. Although he wasn't a difference maker today, I still feel that for BYU to be a good team this year they'll need Emery's passion, defense, and outside scoring.

7. I just can't figure out why Cannon sees the floor as much as he does. He doesn't typically score much, his defense is suspect, and he generally makes a couple of turnovers whenever he's in the game for any period of time. I like Cannon most when he's cheering from the bench.

8. Seems like Nixon didn't get much playing time today. I still feel that there's an important role for him to play on this team, spelling either Seljaas or Harding, or occasionally Yoeli. I like his energy. He's had some good games, but it's clear that Harding's upside is greater than Nixon's, and it makes sense to get Harding the time he needs to develop before conference games begin.

9. I would like to see Baxter get consistent minutes each game. It's important that Rose make a point of getting him enough time to begin developing because he'll be needed later on this season. I'd like to see him get 8-10 minutes a game, consistently.

10. What happened to Bergersen? He was getting quite a bit of playing time earlier in the season, but he seems pretty much anchored to the bench now. He's one of the more athletic players on the team, but he's been pretty inconsistent. Seems like for some reason he's in Rose's doghouse.

11. The biggest key for BYU to be successful this year is outside shooting. If BYU can consistently hit outside shots teams won't be able to focus their defense exclusively on Yoeli. Haws seems to be getting a lot more consistent with his shot. At least one other player needs to step up. The obvious candidate is Seljaas but so far he's been really inconsistent. Perhaps it will be Emery as time goes by. Perhaps Harding can help fill that role, but he's been inconsistent from outside as well. But if BYU continues to struggle from 3, other teams will just pack things in and do their best to shut down Yoeli.

12. By the start of WCC play I'd like to see a starting 5 of Yoeli, Haws, Harding, Seljaas, and Emery. Key subs would be Nixon and Hardnett, with Baxter also getting some consistent PT, along with Bergersen (he needs to continue to develop).

13. BYU has 4 more games before WCC play starts: Portland State in Provo, and UNLV, SDSU, and Mississippi St all on the road. BYU has got to show that they can play consistently and hit shots on the road. The 3 road games leading into conference play will be crucial for BYU's development, because after those 3 road games, they play both Pacific and St Mary's n the road to start the conference season. It will be very interesting to see how BYU comes out of those 5 consecutive road games.
This message has been modified
Originally posted on Dec 8, 2018 at 4:18:35pm
Message modified by lbmango on Dec 8, 2018 at 5:15:44pm
lbmango
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lbmango
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