Thank you, Basketball gods, for helping “BYU lose the 3rd time in the last 4 years as a 6th seed in the opening round”, per Wrubell.
I actually didn’t know when BYU was playing, but coming down from my workout hike I got a call from my sister, who excitedly told me BYU was down 7 with 2 minutes to go.
Sunset hikes are always nice (even in winter), but this one had an extra little dopamine frosting.
BETTER YET - getting in my truck to listen to Wrubell - who is usually wailing like a butt hurt 5 year old in these situations - deliver an exquisite statistical breakdown of how the Cougs coughed up their opening round game, yet again, this year.
Of the Big-12 teams, I think Arizona is probably best positioned - anything can happen, but they don’t really have many (if any) weaknesses.
Houston can likewise make a run. With at least a day’s rest, they can bring the energy on defense and make things miserable for the other team. In one game the broadcasters were talking about a drill Sampson runs where they actually put a lid on the basket and play half-court. That team can be relentless on D and rebounding.
Iowa State is also good and deep, wouldn’t be surprised if they play deep.
Kansas is good, but I think a notch below UH and UA. TTech slipped with the injury to Toppin, but McCasland is a really good coach and they have talent.
TCU beat Ohio State - impressive. Duke’s next, but no shame for the Frogs.
UCF vs UCLA - I thought Dawkins did a nice job this year, they have some talent. We’ll see.
No one on this board is happy with the state of Utah basketball. Three tournament appearances in 20 years and none in nine years is unacceptable. BUT, Utah still has more NCAA Tournament wins since 2013 than BYU. Ha!
When Wrubell said their all time NCAA tourney record is 16-36 (or something like that) I thought “I’m going to savor hearing this man go through all the hideous detail, tonight. Haha.”
I don’t know why he feels the need to channel Paul James with all the stats he barfs out, but… it was a nice treat!
As for us, time to trust Alex, Wes Wilcox & the other coaches. I can do that. We’ll for damn sure be better than this last season (which was remarkably competitive even if the record was dismal).
The East Provo Walking Bags of Money came into this tourney stuck in reverse, and got rolled for it. Honestly, their coach is going to be staring into a very tough discussion given how this ended up going for them. It’s nice to have a player like Dybansa to carry things, but all it takes is running into opponents who have more depth to negate any advantage TDS might have had.
If we beat them next season, expect their “recruiter but not a coach” to get rolled. If we are lucky, maybe they sack him at the Provo Municipal Airport.
Watched a lot of hoops yesterday. TCU with an exciting win for the conference over Big10 Ohio State. VCU with a huge comeback to beat the Tar Heels. High Point over Wisconsin with 99 hitting his only 2-pointer of the season to score the winning points. Saint Louis crushed Georgia.
Texas A&M and Houston won and now face each other in an old Southwest conference matchup on Saturday.
Meanwhile TDS with all the $$$$$ they spent is one-and-done again. That flop by Dybansta was an unsportsmanlike and desperate attempt to turn the game around (was a potential 4 or 5 point opportunity if the refs fell for it). I will note that before the brackets were released I told my dad that BYU needed to avoid matching up against a play-in winner as historically the 11/12 seeds coming out of Dayton win a LOT of games in the first round.
Today 5 more Big12 teams as well as Utah State in action.
I can’t sin Dybantsa - even though the flop was bad form. He played his heart out. The problem was he didn’t have enough players who could contribute enough to keep the game from totally falling on him.
Indeed can’t really blame Dybansta for faking getting hit by the elbow and trying to win. Really has been carrying the team on his back. He has great skills, can hit from outside, can pass, and is going to be great in the NBA. BYU lost a few players over the year but I can’t figure out how they struggled so often. They have players that have great games at time, but lack consistency. Loaded with talent but just didn’t become a great team. I thought in late December they were destined for a long tourney run and might even finally get that ‘most appearances without a final four’ label off their back.
Did Keba Keita get any better after leaving the U?
I didn’t see a ton of him. He still had the powerful dunks and swats like he did at Utah, but didn’t seem like his game grew at BYU under the tutelage of Burgess.
