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On Monday, BYU Basketball began the week buoyed by excitement and promise. On Tuesday, the Cougars' dream season was hit with nightmare news: starting center Brandon Davies is out for the rest of the season after an Honor Code violation.
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The BYU press release is as follows:
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PROVO, Utah (March 1, 2011) — Due to a violation of the BYU Honor Code, Brandon Davies will not represent the university on the men's basketball team throughout the remainder of the 2010-11 season.
Davies, a sophomore from Provo, Utah, has started 26 of 29 games for the No. 3-ranked Cougars, averaging 11.1 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.5 assists in 24.9 minutes per game in 2010-11.
BYU does not make public details regarding violations of its Honor Code. Given BYU became aware of this violation yesterday, some decisions regarding Davies' future on the basketball team and at the university are yet to be determined."
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To say the timing could not be worse is an understatement; three days after the biggest regular season win in BYU Basketball history and one day after reaching #3 in the national polls, and just as national observers are all but awarding BYU a 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament comes the news that the Cougars third-leading scorer and leading rebounder will not be a part of the postseason run.
The length of that run may now be determined by how BYU responds to the absence of one of the most athletic post men that the Cougars have featured. Davies is only a sophomore but was on the path to becoming the linchpin of the Cougars' inside game as BYU both embarked on a Big Dance journey and prepared for life in the West Coast Conference. Davies' future plans and/or role at BYU are now quite clearly in doubt.
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What Dave Rose's team will do in the short-term will be immediately known; the Cougars have a home game tomorrow night with New Mexico.
It is assumed that a banged-up Noah Hartsock will move from his power forward spot to the center position, with the new starting "4" man yet to be determined.
At San Diego State, when Hartsock's injury status made him a question mark to start or play, Rose was prepared to play Logan Magnusson in place of Hartsock. Given more time to game plan, and with Hartsock moving inside, expect Rose and his staff to consider Kyle Collinsworth, Stephen Rogers and even Charles Abouo as pieces to be moved around in Davies' absence. James Anderson remains a bench post presence, while Magnusson will be expected to give unmatched effort, whatever Rose requires.
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Rose, his coaches and players will view the Davies situation as just another challenge to overcome. The offensive game plan will be tweaked, certain players will be asked to do more, and the Cougars will carry on.
When Jimmer Fredette got mononucleosis last season, BYU still had to go out and find a way to win games.
When Chris Collinsworth was lost for the season after knee surgery, BYU still had to go out and find a way to win games.
Saturday in San Diego State, when the locker-room looked liked a MASH unit, the expectation was still to go out and win the game.
Rose is as tenacious and competitive a person as I have ever met. He will not allow this situation to derail his team. He also has at his disposal one of the most relentless offensive players that has ever played college basketball, and look for Jimmer Fredette to do whatever is necessary to give his team a chance to win--whatever that means.
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I can only imagine how Davies, the BYU players and coaches feel tonight, because I am sure most of Cougar Nation just feels crushed. An injury absence is in a way easier to overcome, because a player's health could be affected at any instant, for no reason at all. Injury may be unfair, but it is also without forethought or penalty.
Honor Code suspensions are a result of choice and consequence, and those elements make Davies impending absence tougher to understand and accept. He will now sit and watch (or possibly, not watch), as his teammates move on without him. The Cougars may or may not go farther than any team in BYU Basketball history, but Davies will not be along for the ride, and it didn't have to be that way.
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Another thought with which I am left in the wake of this evening's news:
For many, regardless of how BYU plays tomorrow night, or Saturday, or next week in Las Vegas, or in the NCAA Tournament... "The Story" of this team is no longer the sweep of SDSU, the national ranking, the potential 1 seed, or anything else. "The Story" is now about a player that jeopardized his and his team's fortunes.
And that is a shame.
For that tale to be replaced by an even more overpowering story arc will require more ingenuity, focus, determination, togetherness and full-roster excellence than we have ever seen from a Dave Rose-coached team.
I am personally looking forward to what comes next.
I believe this team will still do amazing things.
And I don't think the New Mexico Lobos are going to know what hit them.
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