I see what BYU fans are saying about the refs, but they weren't nearly as bad as they're being made out to be.

BYU lost because BYU played very, very stupid basketball for the last five minutes of the game. Yes, it would have helped if Haws hadn't fouled out on the worst charge call since my Aunt Mabel tried to put a Tesla on her Mastercard. It was always going to be a challenge to win this game without either Nixon or Haws late, and with Yoeli essentially unavailable. We had an unfamiliar five on the floor.

But folks, that was some stupid, stupid ball. Offensively, BYU is dangerous when BYU moves and cuts. Watch the last five minutes. Standing around, lazy movement, waiting for Tools (who was sporadically excellent) to do something amazing. Often he did. One too few times--but Tools also passed off to Seljaas when he had a layup to give BYU a 5-point lead. The game was over. Toolson makes that shot 80% of the time. But he didn't take it. And then he didn't GET the last shot, which is inexcusable. I like Barcello very much, but that's not his shot. I can't believe that's what they drew up during the timeout (I guarantee you it wasn't).

One thing Mark Pope's team has done very well this year is take good shots and grind as a team, without relying on one player to do things. I was worried that when Childs came back, we'd have difficulty retaining that identity. We did. Offensively, we were the worst I've seen us this year down the stretch. Defensively, we did not compete well most of the night. Kansas didn't score 60 on us in the paint, and they have actual players. Some of that is refereeing, but a lot of it is not. A lot of it is brain-dead play. It wasn't Utah's low-post play that killed us--it was driving layup after driving layup. That's just bad defense. There's no excuse for it.

BYU is a pretty good team. Four losses: to Kansas (BYU never wins that game), Boise and Utah in overtime on the road, and SDSU (which is undefeated) by 5. Last year, this team would be well under water. As it is, 6-4 is decent. We've beaten two tourney teams, one of them on the road and one on a neutral floor. We are dramatically better than I expected we would be. Not tourney material, but pretty good.

But last night didn't show that. Last night we lost to a bad basketball team by playing even worse than they did. I know the guys feel worse than we do, but honestly? They deserve to. With no exceptions. You cannot--CANNOT--lose that game. BYU is a better team than Utah. And once again, it didn't matter, because for about 25 of the 40 minutes, Utah played better basketball. If last year's team beats Utah (fairly badly), then this game should not have been close.

And Yoeli me no Yoeli. WITHOUT Yoeli, BYU is better than Utah. With Trevin Knell, BYU is better than Utah. With three people chosen at random out of the student section, plus my Uncle Kumen, who is two years dead, BYU is better than Utah.

I don't mind a team losing when its outclassed. I didn't expect BYU to beat Kansas. I think Houston, Boise, SDSU, VaTech, UCLA, those are tossup games. But Utah is a bad team, and outside of Looney Tune land, there should be no floor on which BYU ever loses to them. That was the worst part of that game, and the first time Pope's team this year ever reminded me of Rose's last year. Extremely disappointing.