Happy International Women's Day. Buy that special lady in your life a little something special today. Or, if you're broke like me, just do something special for her today. Sorry, I've been absent for a few days. Unfortunately, my life does not always revolve around writing stuff about sports...
Wyoming Game Recap
BYU's defensive deficiencies aren't in the post. The loss of Davies makes that aspect more of a liability, but the biggest issue for BYU is keeping penetration out of the lane. The biggest impact of the Davies loss is on offense. So it was nice to see BYU score 102 points without him. I know Wyoming is bad, but scoring 102 points is tough to do, regardless of the competition. Also, nobody else managed to score over 96 against Wyoming in 30 tries. BYU will have to outscore people in the upcoming tournaments, so it was nice to see that they can still put it in the hole without Davies.
MWC Teams and "Of-The-Year" Guys
Typically, BYU fans always have a gripe with the selection of All-Conference Teams, as well as Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, etc. This season, Jimmer was unanimous POY, which he should have been. The MWC got it right. Jackson Emery was Defensive POY. The MWC got it right. Dave Rose shared Coach of the Year honors with Steve Fisher. The MWC got it right. Fisher did what he was expected to do, Rose exceeded them.
The only gripe I have is that Jackson Emery, the conference's best defensive player and the 2nd-best offensive player on the best team, got beat out for the First Team by SDSU PG D.J. Gay. Emery is clearly a better defender than Gay (evidenced by one being defensive POY and the other not even making the defensive all-conference team), and on offense they are similar enough statistically-speaking, that I thought Jackson should have got the nod. He still made 2nd team, but this is the crap BYU has always dealt with in this petty conference.
TCU wins the conference in football by ONE game: they sweep the awards and dominate the all-conference team. Same thing with Utah. BYU wins the conference in football by THREE games and doesn't even sweep the awards, not to mention the lack of BYU players on the first-team. Joke. Good riddance! Enjoy your new TV contract negotiations without BYU, Utah, and TCU, i.e. without the Salt Lake/Provo and Dallas markets, and without 75% of the conference's paying customers.
MWC Tournament Thoughts
Wednesday brings the start of the MWC Tournament. Wyoming plays TCU, with the winner taking on BYU. TCU always plays BYU tough. They are a bit more physical. BYU should definitely hope to get Wyoming. Even with them shooting lights out on Saturday, BYU beat them by 24, though it was a closer game than that the first 35 minutes. Neither team is a resume-builder, so BYU should just hope to get the easiest opponent.
As far as the second round, it would be better for BYU to beat New Mexico, in my opinion, for statement purposes. A win over CSU would give BYU another top-50 RPI win (would take them to 10-1 against the RPI top-50, with 5 wins away from home). Assuming BYU wins, both would be statements, I just think a win in a rematch with New Mexico would be a bigger statement for the Committee than beating a team they already beat twice, even if it is a quasi-bubble team. It's a high-risk, high-reward type of game with New Mexico: beating them would say a lot, losing to them for a third time would be a big negative on the resume.
Obviously, SDSU is the opponent that seemingly best benefits (or least hurts) BYU in the Finals. It is also one that BYU will have a difficult, nigh-impossible, time winning. And a loss to SDSU would hurt BYU's seeding chances, since it may move SDSU ahead of BYU on the S-Curve. BYU still matches up favorably with UNLV without Davies, and a win against them on their home floor would certainly be a big statement for the Committee. As a BYU fan merely hoping to win the MWC Tourney, I hope for UNLV on the other side. SDSU may be the better opponent, but there is something to be said for ousting the home team in the Finals. Plus it would give BYU a better seeding than the Aztecs if the Cougars advance further than them in the MWC Tournament, even if BYU doesn't win it. At this point, it's all about getting a better seed. If BYU gets to the Final, winning the tournament would help the seed more than losing to a better team, especially with BYU and SDSU so similar in resume. BYU should be happy to take their two head-to-head wins and leave it at that. I see no reason to give the Committee a chance to put the Aztecs in the West Regional!
I agree with you Jackson. How can you be the second best scorer on the best and defensive POY and not be on the first team all conference. But then Jimmer was regional POY last year and not in the conference, even though he was player of the week more than twice as often as the player chosen.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to join the West Church Conference.