There was very little substitution in the 2nd half after the BC-Keith-Madden-Wooster-Smith line up went in and got hot. Which I’m kind of glad to see. And kind of not. Bajema, Lovering, and Ben Carlson didn’t get any meaningful 2nd half minutes. Once we got up 20 I would have liked to see Craig get some of our 2nd tier players in.
But that is nitpicking. It was fun to watch how much the offense opened up once Madden hit his first couple of 3’s.
Decent crowd.
Interesting to see who shows up on a Sunday afternoon/New Years Eve & students still not all back from the break.
Washington is always my least favorite game as they play all zone, which slows down the game.
I want to see how we attack that iconic Boeheim Zone.
Schematically, it’s easy to envision a lot of options, and we have the outside shooters, the bigs, and the passing to find the right shot - and now Deivon to get through traps before they form - but it’s like playing Air Force in football: it’s one thing to prepare for it, it’s another to deal with it at full speed.
I suspect Bajema will be talking a lot today and tomorrow morning. 
The shooters we’ve got, if they’re on, should put us in a strong position to win. When you’ve got a big like Branden Carlson who is an outside threat, that really messes with the basic zone concept to keep the ball out of the low block. I envision, or maybe it’s just a big wish, Carlson threes dropping, UW tries to extend the zone out to at least get a hand up near him, and then a lot of passes dumped to Keita for easy dunks. Keita is really sealing off his spot in the low block lately, and if they can get it over the top to him there’s nobody sane that really wants to get in his way.
Despite that disparity, Wazzu had 15 second chance points and Utah 9. Wazzu had 6 more shots than Utes but 8 fewer makes. The teams had the same # of free throws but the Utes hit 3 more than Wazzu.
I agree about having BC lined up outside to open up the middle. Whether he’s on or struggling, he’s shown over & over that he can heat up outside.
Different PAC teams will play it different, but Wazzu was big, long and athletic, and Keita was a beast down low. His ability to present a target on the block, wide & strong, is impressive. If the passing can feed him, and he develops a baseline pivot fade J… let’s just say he’s developing before our eyes and becoming really difficult to deal with.
Every team will play it different, but he’s drawing defensive attention that others should benefit from.
Given the soft touch he’s showing from the foul line I would think there’s a good chance of this being added to his game. Of course right now his shooting percentage is off the charts* since they’re almost all dunks or layups.
I am loving watching him develop.
Last night was a pivotal game in his development, IMO. The easy feeds from BC getting doubled will slow down, but his energy and athleticism are huge assets to the team. The 2 handed volleyball block was awesome, but also reveals how much room he has to grow.
Pregame I’ve seen him shooting threes like bigs are taught to do now. He’s not an elite outside shooter, but his shot looks like it could develop, though it’s so far from his initial skillset in basketball.
Gabe mentioned on the postgame when Keba was being recruited here he was pretty quiet during the visit, he’s a quiet, unassuming kid. At one point, they were out to dinner, and Keba turned to Gabe and said “I block, I rebound and I dunk”. (Gabe responded “that’s awesome, come do that here at Utah!”)
For some kid 2 years from volleyball and Mali, that’s where Keba’s game was. Hopefully he’s replaying everything in his mind in his sleep, because there’s so, so much more.
BC and Keita remind me a bit of Sampson and Olajawon. If Keita develops half the skillset Olajawon had, he’ll make a lot of money.
I know many are not fans of Worster, but I just want to share this particular offensive sequence (2:16) and highlight the screening by him; he took out two defenders. Worster may have athletic limitations, but he seems to have ample court-smart to me.
There are fans that don’t like Worster? Hopefully it’s just the idiots on Twitter and Facebook.
He’s not a prototypical point guard or any position really. But he’s got his basketball IQ. Reminds me of Gale Gondrezak or Jeff Johnson. Maybe a hybrid of the two.
I think actually having a true backup pg will help Wooster a lot. In previous years he was forced to play 35+ minutes a game.
Agreed
Watching Washington vs Utah on TV. I hope if the Big12 has traveling partners that Utah is with BYU and avoids Sunday games.
Rough sledding right now. UW is significantly more physical and just all around better than Wazzu, and probably a more accurate depiction of what we’re going to face in the conference.
UW on a 26-5 run, ugh
And Utah countered with a huge run of their own. It wasn’t even in question at the end if Utah was going to win or not. They simply outmatched Washington in that second half. They had ZERO answer for Branden Carlson. That’s a really good Washington team though. They took Colorado to the brink in Boulder. They also beat Gonzaga. And Xavier.
Did anyone else see the weird head-first push Breidenbach put into the chest of Lovering? Lawson responded by getting a little physical, establishing his space and Breidenbach then flopped, drew the foul & sent LL to the bench with 3 in the first half.
That was annoying as hell, but indicative of how that game went early, a frustrating, dis-jointed collision.
It helps build confidence to overcome second half leads, but the Utes need to get out of the slow-start habit. That will cost them, especially on the road.
Yep. Like I said in the other thread, that guy was annoying. And he really did look like he took a wrong turn on his way to Anthropology class and ended up on the basketball team.
My brother took to mocking Breidenbach last night for humor purposes, and it turns out he was a 4 star recruit from Rancho Santa Margarita. 6-10, good passer, fundamentally sound and a good shooter.
And a good foul-baiter, too. He looks out of place, but the guy is a good player. Last night reminded me of the old WAC days, guys like Gary Brewster of UTEP who annoyed the hell out of us.
They don’t do travel partners. Like many other things: if it makes logical sense, the Big12 doesn’t do it and vice-versa. Here’s hoping the B12 era is short and relatively painless.
I personally love Sunday games though. And they’re a great way for a league to stretch its weekend slate, avoiding overlaps while maximizing exposure.