...and how he's changed since Jimmer was on the team. Before Jimmer there was a culture that everyone played defense and was expected to defend their own man as well as help out teammates. During the MWC years (pre-Jimmer) we were always in the top 2 or 3 best defensive teams in the conference and held teams to the low to mid 60's in points.

It's been pretty obvious that since Jimmer we have had guys that operated with the idea in mind that their offensive contributions were too important for them to make much effort on the defensive end of the floor. This carries over to others and has a negative effect on the culture and competitiveness of the team.

There is good talent on the team and in recent years we've improved in our length and athleticism. We just need to use it better than we have. We aren't good enough to have one-way players. Jimmer was a really really special talent, unparalleled in his ability to create and make tough shots (no other BYU player in our history could drop 40+ pts while being double teamed by a future 2x NBA DPOY and Finals MVP and his 6'8" long-armed athletic teammate (Kawhi Leonard and Billy White) with a 3rd long-armed shot blocker hanging out in the paint to protect the rim.

We've had games this year where we played with the proper motivation on both ends of the floor and there's no reason we can't show up and play hard every game. That is one thing we can control. You can't always control if your shot is going to fall but if you're grinding hard on defense every possession you can offset cold shooting by forcing turnovers and getting transition points (generate offense from your defense).

Maybe the problem is we have too many "good guys" on the coaching staff who are like over-indulgent parents wanting to be buddies with their kids instead of teaching them accountability. It doesn't mean you have to be an insulting jerk (like a former assistant coach who nearly drove away a number of players), but the coaches have to maintain and hold the line that the culture of the team is more important than any individual player. After all, culture eats strategy every day of the week for lunch.

Rose seems to have become really comfortable at his job and seems to prefer to have good friends around him that he's comfortable with. If he no longer has the drive to establish the culture he needs the right assistants who can (doesn't mean we need jerks either). I don't think with all the "good guys" we have on staff (Lacomb, Cummard, etc) that we have the right mix to accomplish that. Kalani had to clean some house to get his offensive coaching staff in order after 2017 and it seems he made the right move (as painful as it was to let TD go). Rose's decision last season to replace Schroyer with Cummard was kind of a let down and more of comfort move than anything. "The speed of the leader determines the rate of the pack" and Rose's building of a nice and comfortable group of coaches has carried over to a very comfortable environment and culture for the players.