This article was first published in the Cougar Insiders newsletter. Sign up to receive the newsletter in your inbox each Tuesday night.
No. 17 BYU will host Bellarmine and Wyoming to close out the nonconference season while it looks to continue impressive trends in scoring, shooting, rebounding and defense.
Here is our coverage of the Cougars’ win over Georgia State, a team comprised of Power Five transfers:
Consistent storylines prevail (Dick Harmon)
BYU moves into rare position (Tom Ripplinger)
Adams becomes eligible (Brandon Judd)
Jaxson Robinson enjoys sixth-man role (Jay Drew)
BYU assist game is elite (Dave McCann)
Cougar Insider predictions
Question of the week: The BYU basketball team moved up from No. 18 to No. 17 in the AP poll, is No. 4 in the NCAA’s NET rankings, and is No. 5 in KenPom after the win over Georgia State. Is this impressive preconference play status a solid measurement of the team or a fantasy? Could it be setting up Cougar fans for some disappointment in January?
Jay Drew: As I’ve written and mentioned in radio interviews the past two months, these are halcyon days for the BYU men’s basketball program. Aside from that four-point loss to Utah, the Cougars have been as impressive as any team in the country. Can they keep it up?
That’s the big question, as they will almost certainly take a 12-1 record into Big 12 play in January.
BYU deserves to be in the top 25, no question about that. Are they one of the top five or so teams in the country? Probably not. In this case, I think the people — media members — are smarter than the computers. We will see.
Also, there’s plenty of room to get even better, as freshman Marcus Adams finally plays Friday against Bellarmine and UC Irvine transfer Dawson Baker gets his feet under him. Baker showed in the win over Georgia State that he’s the real deal. BYU fans might get disappointed in January, but they should enjoy these times for all they are worth.
Dick Harmon: In watching this Mark Pope team, I’ll let positive vibes rule. The reason why is because of consistency at hitting high marks in 3-pointers attempted, made and defended, rebound margin, bench points and scoring margin. BYU ranks near the top in the NCAA in all those categories. Yes, the wins have come at home or on neutral courts, but they’ve also come against a schedule rated No. 40 in the country.
If you consider BYU is the only team in the country ranked in the top 20 in KenPom’s offensive efficiency at 16th, defensive efficiency at seventh, effective field goal percentage at 15th and effective field goal defense at 18th, you get an idea that this is a unique team. Joe Lunardi has BYU a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament at this stage of the prognostication game.
Now for the reality. BYU will take lofty numbers into the Big 12, the toughest league in the country. It’ll clip some teams — good teams — in the Marriott Center, but they’ll also take lumps on the road. Some BYU followers will take the losses too hard because of expectations, but no question this is a very good team.
When you have 10 interchangeable players who play unselfishly and you can put five 3-point scorers on the floor at the same time, it becomes a matter of defense. Because Pope has chosen a 3-point-oriented offense and it is working, it gives BYU a chance in every game to outscore an opponent by making more 3s versus 2s.
It will be interesting to see how Pope will manage the team with three of his best players expected to return to the court for league play. The Cougars are 10-1 basically without Fouss Traore, Adams or Baker. Traore is the best post player, Adams is the most highly-ranked recruit and athlete and Baker is the best scorer on the team with a deadly midrange game.
Yeah, go ahead and drink the Kool-Aid. Enjoy it while the taste lasts.
Cougar tales
The early NCAA signing day for football is this week and here’s a look at who the Cougars have lined up. Punter Ryan Renkow has declared for the NFL draft. Here’s a list of who is staying and who is going from BYU football.
BYU flipped a football recruit who had committed to another Power Five team. Cougars get two instate transfers to commit to sign. Is Aidan Robbins electing to go to the NFL a positive for the program?
From the archives
From the X-verse
Extra points
- Jimmer counting days to Paris (Deseret News)
- How Fred Warner could make history (Deseret News)
- Texas prep QB looks forward to BYU (KSL Sports)
Fanalyst
Comments from Deseret News readers:
Current stats of home and away scheduled games for the larger conferences as of yesterday.
The Big 12 teams collectively had 12 away games out of 112 scheduled games. BYU had one against a good U of U team.
SEC had 18 away games out 145.
Pac-12 had 8 of 115 scheduled games. U of U had one against Saint Mary’s, usually a good team.
Big 10 had 24 of 158 scheduled games.
ACC 24 of 152 scheduled games.
Most all of the teams in these conferences also had 2-5 games against good teams from other major conferences that were at neutral sites. A vast majority had 5-7 games scheduled at home against schools that are members of smaller conferences looking to help with their strength of schedules and preparation for postseason opportunities.
BYU and Utah, as well as many other major college basketball teams, are similar in their scheduling. Let’s all enjoy the college basketball season.
Go Cougars.
— NHTransplant
I find that each win, while a win is always better than a loss, is a little less meaningful to me. I am still not sure how they will do when they are competing against top athletes who have the ability to guard their 3-point shot. BYU has no real inside strength or game if their outside shots are not falling. I still doubt their strength but am glad they are beating weaker teams like they should. The Utah loss bothers me. It is the only game they have played on an opposing team’s floor and I don’t think Utah is really all that good. Instate rivalry games can be unpredictable but BYU played poorly that night. Why?
Time will tell.
— DH48
Up next
- Dec. 20 | 1:30 p.m. | Women’s basketball | Missouri State | @ Springfield, Missouri
- Dec. 21 | 11 a.m. | Women’s basketball | Nevada | @ Springfield, Missouri
- Dec. 22 | 7 p.m. | Men’s basketball | Bellarmine | @ Provo
- Dec. 30 | 3 p.m. | Women’s basketball | TCU | @ Fort Worth, Texas
- Dec 30 | 4 p.m. | Men’s basketball | Wyoming | @ Provo
