3/9/2013: Fitting End

BYU struggles with consistency (again) and loses to an inferior team (again).  That was BYU this season.  BYU bows out of the WCC tournament earlier than it should have and after only one game, becoming the first 3-seed to do so under the bye/double-bye format of WCC Tourney.  This shouldn't come as a surprise, this has been typical of BYU since the late 1980's.

What really plagued BYU in close games shone through clearly again tonight: cannot get a stop down the stretch and can't ever make a basket if/when they have a lead late.  They made a couple of big shots to take leads, but they never could make a shot with a 1-point lead to stretch it.  They may have gotten one stop when they needed it, but they never seemed to get two in a row in the last 4 minutes.

BYU had some good players in Davies and Haws, but, in the end, there just wasn't anything around them.  Carlino continues to be inconsistent, at best, or just bad most of the time, at worst.  Zylstra had no business logging the minutes he did, but there just wasn't much to play in his place (though I would argue there were several other lineup possibilities that would have been better).

Anyway, BYU should be around a 4-5 seed in the NIT.  9 days from now, they'll find out if they get a home game or not...I don't think it's going to matter with this group either way.  They look like a one and done even in the NIT.  Any team that is good enough to make the NIT is good enough to beat this current lineup of Cougars.  BYU went 0-7 against NCAA Tournament-bound teams.  They went 1-2 against likely NIT-bound teams (assuming Santa Clara doesn't make the NIT), with the lone win coming against the loser of the Big Sky Championship Game Montana/Weber State.

I'd like to say the future looks bright, but they lose three starters and probably won't get Bronson Kaufusi back next season.  They lose 3 senior starters to replace with freshmen and JC transfers.  Besides Davies, I don't feel Zylstra was ever any good and Cusick certainly wasn't very good THIS year, but still, they must not have had anyone on the roster that was better, and there isn't anyone coming in that can be absolutely counted on to fill those voids.

On a brighter note: Spring Football has started...