Rose hints at another lineup shakeup


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Saying there are "a lot of undecided spots on our roster, as far as playing time is concerned," BYU head coach Dave Rose anticipates that he'll "probably" change up his starting lineup for Thursday night's home game with Northern Arizona.

After using the same starting quintet for the season's first five games, Rose has since used four different lineups in the ensuing seven games, with only small forward Tyler Haws and center Brandon Davies having started every game.

Matt Carlino has started eight of the 12 games at point guard, and after a brief spell coming off the bench, has re-joined Haws and Davies as an every-game starter. Those three players comprise BYU's "big three," with the trio atop the BYU ledger in points scored and shots taken.

The shooting guard and power forward spots remain in flux, with Brock Zylstra having been replaced by Craig Cusick after nine games at the "2", while Josh Sharp's nine starts at the "4" have been broken up by starts from Agustin Ambrosino and Nate Austin.

Tonight, versus the Lumberjacks, look for any lineup movement to occur at those two positions, and don't be surprised if both Zylstra and Sharp return to the starting five, giving Rose the same lineup with which he opened the season.

"We'll settle into a lineup here pretty quick," Rose said after Wednesday's Marriott Center practice, "and I think our guys understand the urgency of being able to perform well and play well."

Thursday's game is followed by a Saturday meeting with Virginia Tech in Salt Lake City, then West Coast Conference play gets underway.

"League is right around the corner, and we've got a couple of really tough games to go through," Rose says. "It's important for us to play well, for guys individually to play well and hopefully we can get on a little bit of a roll."

Under Dave Rose, BYU has won at least ten games before the start of league competition in each of the last six seasons; the last time the Cougars didn't hit the double-digit plateau was in Rose's rookie season of 2005-06, as BYU went 8-3 heading into MWC play. At 8-4 on the season, BYU would need wins Thursday and Saturday to extend its current streak.

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Northern Arizona is making its first-ever visit to Provo; the two teams met last season on a neutral floor in Prescott Valley, Ariz. and the Cougars won comfortably, 87-52, behind a then-career-high 23 points from Brock Zylstra and a career-high nine assists from Anson Winder.

Rose says the 2012-13 Lumberjacks are "a better team" than last year's version. "(Wing Gabe Rogers) is a really good scorer, their point guard (DeWayne Russell) is one of the top freshman scorers in the country (9th nationally), and so, those are two guys we didn't see last year that really make them a much better offensive team."

The 'Jacks are coached by a Jack--rookie head man Jack Murphy, who at 33 years old is the tenth-youngest bench boss in Division I. Murphy comes to NAU after three seasons on Josh Pastner's staff at Memphis; before that, he was an advance scout for the Denver Nuggets, and prior to that served as a staffer for Lute Olson at Arizona.

"I've known Jack for a long time," said Rose on Wednesday. "In fact I've known him since he was a manager at Durango High School (in Las Vegas), and he actually hired his high school coach (Al La Rocque, as an assistant at NAU). Jack is one of those guys who just works--he's a hard worker and he understands the game, has great connections in the game, and has a really good knowledge of what it takes to win and what it takes to be successful. I think hes done a really good job with this group of guys--they seem to continue to get better."

"I'm happy for him, and hopefully he wins them all except this one."

The Lumberjacks are 4-7 on the season, and are coming off a 98-51 setback at Colorado--the school's largest margin of defeat in 21 years. According to Ken Pomeroy's ratings, NAU is the worst Division I team on the Cougars schedule, currently ranking 296th nationally.

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As expected, the Cougar hoopsters gained another roster player this week with the addition of football defensive lineman Bronson Kaufusi. Wearing jersey number 44, Kaufusi is getting his first look at serious basketball since starring for Timpview High School before his LDS mission. Kaufusi averaged 15 to 16 points per game in his sophomore and junior seasons at Timpview (2007-08 and 2008-09), before a knee injury derailed his senior campaign.

Asked how the 6'7", 260-pound freshman might help this BYU team, Rose said "we'll figure that out. We'll see what his role is and how he fits. Right now, he looks like a pretty good football player playing basketball, but we are impressed with his hands, he's got a nice touch on the ball, he's got good feet for a big guy, and obviously he's a big body."

"We've kind of just decided we're going to go though it for a week or two and just see how it works out and see how he feels and go from there. We'll evaluate after three or four or five more practices."

On what Bronco Mendenhall thinks of Kaufusi's decision to moonlight, Rose said that Mednenhall "felt like if Bronson and his family wanted to do that, that he would allow him to do it. (Mendenhall) wanted to know how I felt, and my feelings have been the same all the way--I'd like to just see (Kaufusi) with our guys, and see how it works out."

Rose said he doesn't plan to dress Kaufusi for either game this week.

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Let's get to this week's PAP update, which shows a slight uptick in the team number, and more players up than down from last week to this week. Five of the top six players retain their previous week's ranking, with Cory Calvert making the biggest move (up two spots) and Aguie Ambrosino taking the biggest tumble (down three spots). Seeing limited time, Calvert has gone from 11th to 5th place over the last two weeks.

Points Available Percentages for BYU Players (as of 12/27/12)

RankPlayerGames PlayedMinutes Per GamePointsPoints AvailablePAP (%)Last PAP (%) 12/17PAP (%) DifferentialRank Last WeekRank Differential
1Brandon Davies1228.623741357.458.4-1.01Even
2Josh Sharp1220.85610354.452.6+1.82Even
3Tyler Haws1233.023645951.451.8-0.43Even
4Ian Harward125.3204346.546.50.04Even
5Cory Calvert108.2286245.240.0+5.27+2
6Nate Austin1214.04710544.841.0+3.86Even
7Brock Zylstra1223.58220041.039.2+1.88+1
8Agustin Ambrosino118.4317640.844.7-3.95-3
9Craig Cusick1224.56016037.537.7-0.29Even
10Matt Carlino1224.18623137.236.9+0.310Even
11Raul Delgado109.4226832.428.2+4.211Even
12Anson Winder85.873023.323.5-0.212Even
TEAM12912195046.846.6+0.2

Takeaways:

-- BYU simply has to get better play from its experienced point and shooting guards. The bottom four players on the PAP list are all "ones" and "twos," and include a senior, a junior and two sophomores who started a combined 39 games last season--and all are under 40% in the PAP rankings.

Senior Brock Zylstra isn't a traditional shooting guard, since he can also play both forward spots, but his current number is down almost five percent from where he ended last season. The best point/shooting guard performance, by the numbers, is currently being turned in by freshman Cory Calvert, who isn't seeing enough floor time to make a huge impact. As noted, however, he has made a significant move, percentage-wise, over the last few weeks, and could be in line for more playing time, since he is making a better percentage of his shots than any other point or two-guard.

-- Time is passing quickly for the Cougars' two junior college transfers, and neither player has had the kind if impact I anticipated when they signed with BYU. Aguie Ambrosino did have a career night against Division II foe Eastern New Mexico last week (14 points, 8 rebounds in 22 minutes), but followed that performance with a scoreless outing in eight minutes at Baylor. Aguie has failed to score in six of his nine appearances, and has taken only two free throws in 92 minutes of play at the "four." He opened the season 1-for-6 from the arc, proceeded to go 4-for-5, and is since 1-for-7 from distance. The parts to his game are there, he desperately wants to succeed and I am equally as eager for him to improve. I hope things click quickly, because the Cougars could really use this guy--and I like him; I think he can be a great fit for this team.

Raul Delgado is getting more playing time of late, and he is getting closer to being ready to help this squad. That said, the shooting guard spot has basically been there for anyone to grab in recent weeks, and I'm a bit surprised it hasn't been Delgado.

The 6'2" shooting guard played in only seven of the the first nine games and averaged only seven minutes per game in those appearances. Delgado has since averaged 15 minutes over his last three games, and has scored 13 points in those games, after netting only nine points in his first seven. So, clearly, he is coming around, but his shooting numbers remain very poor, and I am left to wonder: where is the guy who shot 43% from the three-point line last season in junior college and once knocked down 12 triples in a single game as a Western Nebraska CC Cougar? Delgado is currently 2-for-11 from the arc as a BYU Cougar.

It was thought that Delgado's defensive abilities would be an asset on the perimeter, but like Ambrosino, Delgado has been a little slow in putting it all together on the defensive end. He has shown flashes on that side of the floor, but not enough to be considered any kind of stopper.

-- Nate Austin's PAP is down seven percent from his freshman season numbers, and despite starts in the last two games, he's just not the guy he was before offseason shoulder surgery. This won't be a lost season, but it won't be the season I thought it would be after observing him as Noah Hartsock's main backup in 2011-12. Injuries/surgeries have hit the Cougars extremely hard in recent seasons, and in the end will have had a significant impact on this year's squad--not just in players who had to quit the game (Collinsworth, Rogers), but in players who are battling back to regain their former prowess and confidence. You can include Anson Winder (ankle) and Ian Harward (back) in that group.

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It continues to interest me that a BYU team so defined by its shooting woes has actually shot 52% or better from the field in half of its games. Dragging down the Cougars' numbers are five games (including four losses) in which BYU has shot 39% or worse. In only one game has BYU been in the middle: a 47% outing v. Cal State Northridge. It truly has been "feast-or-famine" from the field, through 12 games.

BYU shot a season-low 17% from the arc at Baylor (2-for-12), and that is an ugly number, but the Cougars have a ways to go to match last season's standard for long-distance futility, when BYU shot under 20% on 3PFGs seven times.

Through his first six seasons as head coach, Dave Rose's teams shot a combined 39% from the arc. Last season, that number dipped to 35%. This season, against Division I competition, BYU is shooting 29.7% from distance.

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Tonight's game with Northern Arizona tips at 7:00, with pregame coverage getting underway at 6:00 on KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM/1160 AM and BYU Radio (SiriusXM 143).

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