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Mark Pope’s staff is scouring the transfer portal for immediate help. They did it before, during and after Matt Haarms officially said goodbye.
The other senior, point guard Alex Barcello, has yet to make such an announcement as of Tuesday, but that doesn’t keep Pope and the basketball staff from going through the database to find a point guard or even a center.
Meanwhile, this summer looms large for the program as freshmen are expected to report June 21 and Gavin Baxter continues to rehab his knee following surgery. Here is my column on what hangs in the balance in the coming weeks.
Cougar Insider predictions
Here is the question of the week: BYU’s men’s volleyball team just got swept again in the national championship final. It first happened against Ohio State and now Hawaii. What do you project will put BYU over the top next time when both title losses were copies of each other?
Jay Drew: Having watched all of BYU’s three most recent NCAA men’s volleyball championships in person, I’m beginning to wonder if I bring bad luck to the Cougars. I was there in 2016 when Ohio State swept BYU at Penn State, in 2017 when Ohio State swept BYU at St. John Arena, which was the Buckeyes’ home court at the time. And, of course, I was there last Saturday when Hawaii swept BYU at Ohio State’s new Covelli Center.
The common denominator in all three? Superior serving by BYU’s opponents.
So when I am asked what it will take to get BYU over the top in these championship matches, my answer is simple: Get better in the service receive game.
Problem is, BYU looked like a good service receive team all season, then fizzled under the bright lights. Again. In a way, it is almost inexplicable. For some reason, BYU teams don’t play well in national championship games. Also, the 2021 team, despite having the same players as the 2020 team, could never quite return to its 2020 dominance. I can’t put a finger on why.
Dick Harmon: BYU has a great volleyball program with outstanding recruiting and elite coaching. The talent is there. In this championship match, BYU and Hawaii had similar talent and were seeded No. 1 (Hawaii) and No. 2 (BYU). But in the title competition, Hawaii looked superior and BYU looked jilted, confused, frustrated and could not even win one single game in the match — an embarrassing sweep. And this is exactly what happened last time, against Ohio State.
I hate to bring up other sports but we’ve seen this out of other Cougar programs — BYU blowing a double-digit lead against No. 1 Gonzaga in basketball, the continual string of losses to rival Utah in football including holding a big lead two years ago in Salt Lake City only to lose late in the fourth quarter, the failure to beat Coastal Carolina in football when all the stakes were on the line in 2020. It’s called choking and not being big enough for the moment. It’s in the head.
Cougar tales
BYU’s volleyball received a bye directly into the semifinals of the NCAA championships and quickly dispatched Lewis then crashed against Hawaii in the final.
Here’s our coverage and analysis of BYU’s foray into elite volleyball competition this past week.
- How BYU’s volleyball team went bust (Jay Drew)
- Will there be a drop-off after NCAA loss (Brandon Judd)
- Game report in person, BYU dominated (Jay Drew)
From the archives
From the Twitterverse
Extra points
- State of the BYU football program (247sports)
- BYU to offer Snow College DB (KSLsports)
- BYU wraps up another softball title (Daily Herald)
- Harvey Langi signed by Patriots (Deseret News)
- How a hug helped the Jets get Wilson (Deseret News)
Fanalyst
Comments from Deseret News readers
Sometimes a team just isn’t ready to play. The mental sports guru at BYU has some decent well-written articles and even a little national PR but I have found that despite the hype surrounding that field, you have to recruit winners who are super tough-minded individuals and they will carry the team through tough times through unspoken example. Those types of personalities are going to perform at their best in big games/matches and there is very little you can do to change their focus.
For some reason, this men’s vb group just didn’t fit that tough mental mode. It is what it is and no overhyped mental coach can change that much of a personality. I am a little worried about the coaching prep going into national championship matches. 4 straight sweeps is very tough to figure out. Maybe it is just unlucky but I have to think there is a probability that Shawn might need to take a hard look at preparation and using big out-of-conference matches to toughen up the mental aspect of how a team or individual players react to lots of pressure being placed on them. You don’t really know what you have until a vb team is put under duress. This goes for the BYU women’s team also. They need a tougher nonconference schedule to see what they really do or don’t have and show them their weaknesses way before they hit the tourney!
— CoHawk
Up next
May 13 | 6 p.m. | Baseball | vs. Pacific | @Stockton, California
May 14 | 6 p.m. | Baseball | vs. Pacific | @Stockton, California
May 14-15 | TBA | Track and field | BYU Invitational
May 14 | 5 p.m. | Softball | Blue vs. White scrimmage | @Provo
May 15 | 1 p.m. | Baseball | vs. Pacific | @Stockton, California
May 18 | 6 p.m. | Baseball | vs. Utah | @Provo