Pilots @ BYU Saturday on BYUtv @ 6 (PST)

In addtion to being broadcast live on BYUtv at 6 PST; this game will also be shown on CSNNW (taped delayed) at 11 PST.

Not a lot of interest in tonight’s game, I’m guessing.

BYU should thrash the Pilots; so anything less than a thrashing may not be a W, but if there’s at least a good performance tonight in the nearly 21,000 seat Marriott Center, the Pilots and their fans might be able to come away with some positive thoughts as they move towards the WCC Tournament and next season.

The Cougars (18-8, 8-4 WCC) lost a 99-87 decision to San Francisco in Provo last Saturday.

Leading scorer Tyler Haws, who averages 20.7 ppg, finished with 16 points against the Dons, while senior C Brandon Davies added 13 points and nine rebounds.

It marked the second straight league loss, following a 74-68 defeat at San Diego. BYU also lost at Gonzaga (83-63) and dropped another home loss to Saint Mary’s (70-69) on a 30-foot buzzer-beater.

The Cougars’ non-conference losses came to Florida State (88-70), at Notre Dame (78-68) and at Baylor (79-64).

Senior Brandon Davies averages 17.8 points and 7.9 rebounds, while sophomore guard Matt Carlino adds 11.2 points per game.

Cougars were picked to finish second in the WCC Preseason Coaches’ Poll.

BYU hasn't lost three in a row since '05.

Signs you're running a half-decent program...

Yes, it was another loss, but one has to be pretty impressed with the play of our young guys….Bryce, Oskars, Jake, and Thomas (he’s played so many minutes over the last two years; it’s hard to believe he’s only a sophomore). The eight assists and four steals by Bryce were VERY impressive.

And Tanner….another good shooting night….one just has to wonder where this team would have been if he could have had a consistent year.

It was not an embarrassing loss, but it was another loss, nonetheless!

This weekend was kind of an emergence for Ehlers. Had really only seen meaningful minutes against Portland Bible and in the blowouts, and suddenly this road trip comes and he's getting ~15 minutes off the bench. And acquitting himself just fine.

Here I've been warning that using the last scholarship on a JC shooter would leave the Pilots thin at PF after Nicholas is gone. Maybe Ehlers will be the guy after all.

And by the way...Pilots recruited Ehlers from the backyard of another D1 school. He's been getting almost no floor time all year as a freshman and now has been effective with a big spike in floor time late in WCC play...sound familiar?

The order of battle at the beginning of September was supposed to be Ryan with Dorian as his backup/eventual replacement. The absence of Dorian meant that Jake had to burn what was supposed to be his redshirt year. It was obvious from the first practices that Jake would need to literally get up to speed before competing at the D-1 level after high school….and develop physically.

Now, after a year's worth of practice (well, since last June) Jake has shown to be a quick learner with the potential to one day be as good as Ryan and his eventual replacement…….he sure showed a nice touch on the ball last night.

Yes, it is my understanding too that Rev and his staff are looking at JC guards who can handle the ball and SHOOT.....but they've also got to find that wonderful combo in someone who has the potential to compete in the classroom at UP.

It's been mentioned a number of times that the WCC is a guard oriented conference....if that's true (and I believe it is), then the recruitment of a JC guard who can take some pressure off Tanner and the rest, could go a long ways toward taking the pressure off Ryan, Jake, Thomas, and Riley up front…..wouldn’t that be good to see!

DoubleDipper wrote:It's been mentioned a number of times that the WCC is a guard oriented conference....if that's true (and I believe it is) . . .

Let's see: Pangos, Dellavedova, Doolin, Ireland, Foster, Dee, Lorne Jackson. Most of those guys are leading their team in minutes and points. Yeah, I'd say it's a guard oriented league.

Comment from the BYU broadcast:

The spacing is very poor by Portland. And lot of it has to do with the fact that the guards are being gapped, and they're just playing off of them.

Hope the staff is able to find that shooting guard they are looking for!

Sorry I couldn't help the team get the road trip sweep, but I do have a few thoughts after seeing the two games live.

First off, I didn't really get to pay super close attention on Thursday as I was at the game with about 10 other Pilot Fans. Old friends in the San Fran area so we were catching up/chatting and the game didn't have my full attention. I did like how we battled in the end at that game. I've always felt playing in close games can teach a team, especially a young team lessons that will serve them well in years to come, and we really haven't had a ton of them this year so that was good.

As for the BYU here is what stuck out:
First off, it was a loss. We were down big by halftime and BYU really put on cruise control the rest of the game. We made a couple of tiny runs, but we just couldn't get enough stops down the stretch to really threaten. Bryce, Oskars, and Jake were really impressive. Bryce has a high basketball IQ and loves to push the pace, which I like. Oskars is aggressive and never backs down from a fight. He seems to feed off of the opponent’s crowd and really thrives in physical type of game. Jake I think really showed what he could do. The entire game he was battling, hustling. He hit some open shots, grabbed some rebounds, and seemed to be talking a lot on the court. I can really see this freshman class being a solid leadership group. I also like how Tanner didn't let the crowd get him riled up. The students had a sign that read "Tanner Riley Anger Meter" or something like that with an arrow that moved from calm to raging, but someone thought it was too inappropriate so it was taken away within 5 minutes. I didn't see any harm in it, but to each their own. As far as the team goes, I was impressed on the passing. 22-12 assist to turnover ratio is pretty good. There were a lot of possessions where we beat the zone by passing and that was good to see.

There were a few bothersome aspects though. First I don't understand how we can have no one crash the boards offensively and still get beat in transition. It happened a few times where BYU would rebound easily pass the ball up ahead and get a great transition shot. I understand if 5 guys are crashing how this happens, but if we're sending 4 guys back, that should shut down their transition options. Also, we were not closing out hard at all. I can't tell you how many poor closeouts there were that allowed either an open shot to good shooters or left our defenders in poor defensive position and the BYU player able to beat our guys consistently off the dribble. Offensively what was concerning was the lack of penetration to beat the zone. It hurts when the zone sags off Derrick because he doesn’t shoot the three. It allows them to basically crowd the top of the key area which means that the post players don’t have to help and can stay home on the bigs. It also allows the defense to be in prime rebounding position.

Speaking of Derrick, I’m curious how the rotation will look next season. The BYU game was basically a 9 man rotation. Most teams run an 8 or 9 man rotation. We’re losing Rodgers but bringing in Alec as well as David returning from injury, not to mention the open scholarship. Should be interesting how things shake out.

DTLegend wrote:The students had a sign that read "Tanner Riley Anger Meter" or something like that with an arrow that moved from calm to raging, but someone thought it was too inappropriate so it was taken away within 5 minutes. I didn't see any harm in it, but to each their own.

Haha, I chuckled at this. Good, clean fun referencing on-court stuff...I'm surprised it got taken away.

DeanMurdoch wrote:

DTLegend wrote:The students had a sign that read "Tanner Riley Anger Meter" or something like that with an arrow that moved from calm to raging, but someone thought it was too inappropriate so it was taken away within 5 minutes. I didn't see any harm in it, but to each their own.

Haha, I chuckled at this. Good, clean fun referencing on-court stuff...I'm surprised it got taken away.

How silly that they took the sign away. I love that sign!

Also, let's take a moment to appreciate the vast difference in student-fan culture at BYU and UP. Can you imagine anyone in the UP student section paying enough attention to a UP road game to have known that an opposing player was ejected from a game after an altercation? And then, having that knowledge, devoting time to coming up with a creative sign to mock that player? Not a chance.

Kudos to the BYU students for being real supporters of their team, and creative participants in college athletics!

I don't know, it seems UP students were well aware of the Heytvelt shenanigans and made sport of it.

up7587 wrote:

DoubleDipper wrote:It's been mentioned a number of times that the WCC is a guard oriented conference....if that's true (and I believe it is) . . .

Let's see: Pangos, Dellavedova, Doolin, Ireland, Foster, Dee, Lorne Jackson. Most of those guys are leading their team in minutes and points. Yeah, I'd say it's a guard oriented league.

Yet our guards are an afterthought in the offense...