Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
In the "wake" of BYU road loss to the Demon Deacons, a few thoughts:
*******
BYU is now 0-8 lifetime on the road in the ACC, 8-20 against the ACC lifetime. Against ACC teams headquartered in North Carolina, BYU is now 2-13.
*******
No big secret here, but BYU can scarcely afford one bad night from the Big Three, let alone three subpar shooting nights from Plaisted, Cummard and Tavernari. The Cougars were equal opportunity missers Tuesday night, but those three combined to go 10 for 38 from the field (26%).
Cummard missed 10 of his 17 shots, but he played hard the entire game and played the most minutes of any Cougar (33). His face was flushed practically the entire contest, showing the effort he was putting forth, and Lee basically shot himself out of his slump (made 5 of his 8 shots after halftime). Last night showed why Lee Cummard is unquestionably the MVP of this team.
*******
The ultimate indictment of Trent Plaisted's performance (3/10 fg, 2/4 ft, 1 assist, 3 turnovers) was the number "23" in the "minutes played" category. Yes, Plaisted had 2 first half fouls that forced him to the bench with 5 minutes to play in the 1st half, but he had no fouls in the second half, and Coach Dave Rose essentially felt he was no better with Plaisted on the the floor than he was with him on the bench last night, and that more than anything shows how out of sync Plaisted was last night--and has been the last couple of weeks.
Plaisted has now shot 44% or worse from the field in 3 of his last 4 games, and his free throw shooting will apparently be a season-long crapshoot (42% ft shooting in his last 7 games--he has also made only 4 of 10 "front end" free throws in "one and one" situations).
It appears opponents have Plaisted more or less "figured out," and his low post scoring has lost any aura of reliability--as if he is guessing where his shots might end up. Even his simple lay-in attempts lack a shooter's touch, which might serve to underscore this point: when every shot you take is a hook shot or varation thereof, the ability to make shots facing the basket (lay-ins, free throws) is hampered.
Entry passes to Plaisted are being deflected/intercepted more and more frequently, and it's clear double-teaming Plaisted is more and more effective. And doubling with guards is proving troublesome, as smaller players are picking Trent's pocket in the post.
Right now, it's clear that if BYU is to be successful, the Cougars will need to make jump shots, because the low post scoring option is currently not yielding the dividends expected.
*******
Jonathan Tavernari's re-entry into the starting lineup could not have gone more poorly (2/11 fg, 2/9 3pfg, 1 assist, 4 turnovers).
Here is JT's line in BYU's four losses:
12/50 fg (24%), 10/37 3pfg (27%), 2 assists, 10 turnovers.
His four worst nights have come in BYU's four losses, and the two facts are clearly related.
*******
BYU is 11-4 through 15 games--the same record BYU compiled through 15 games last season.
*******
BYU should open MWC play with a home win over CSU Saturday. Rely on these two facts:
BYU has a 39-game homecourt win streak.
CSU just lost to Oklahoma Panhandle State.
Gametime is Saturday at 4:00pm on KSL Newsradio. It is also "Football Recognition Day," and the football team will be on concourse level at the Marriott Center signing autographs from 3:00-4:00pm.
*******
Which brings me to this:
Another lackluster bowl season has reminded me that college football's powers-that-be are the dimmest bulbs in the pantry.
Any sport whose regular season is infinitely more interesting than its postseason is in trouble, and college football is in trouble.
One of the arguments against a playoff is that under the current system, "every week is like a playoff," and that's actually also the strongest argument FOR a playoff.
College football is the only sport in which the intensity, excitement, competitiveness and watchability goes DOWN in the postseason.
Is a Yankees-Red Sox game in May more exciting than a Yanks-Sox game in October? Is regular season game 36 better than Stanley Cup Final Game 7 in the NHL? Will Patriots-Cowboys two months ago have more appeal than Patriots-Cowboys three weeks from now? Yet, in college football, bowl games and the BCS are essentially an afterthought.
The BCS games were uninteresting blowouts and/or lacking in worthwhile storylines, and the rest of the bowls just fill ESPN's TV schedule, and nothing more.
Bowl season is just a time for coaches to get fired and hired, for teams to lose their edge, and for college football as a sport to lose its steam. December/January is the least appealing part of the football season for me, when it could be the most exciting time of the year.
I have more thoughts on the matter, including suggestions for a better college football future, but I have a flight to catch and have to wrap up for now. Suffice it to say, if college football's ruling brass really wanted to, they could turn their postseason into a spectacle that would rival March Madness and make the regular season really worth playing. But they don't, so we will seemingly forever muddle through a pointless 30-plus bowl game postseason that is ulitmately as unsatisfying as it is predictably boring.
*******
