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Here's what I thought while watching BYU's 94-60 dismantling of the Colorado State Rams last night: I'm watching the best team in the Mountain West Conference.
The Cougars will get a chance to prove that notion in the final seven games of their regular season conference campaign, but the way they played last night, they looked every bit the best in the Mountain West.
BYU doesn't have the best record in the league--that belongs to Utah, a 67-55 home winner over sluggish San Diego State last night. But the Cougars are only a single game back of the Utes in the loss column, and BYU is in control of its own destiny, both in terms of making up that game, and in terms of winning a third straight conference crown.
Did BYU give one up at home to UNLV? Yes. Did the Cougars let one slip away on the hill? Yes. Those are games BYU won't get back. But regardless of what has already transpired, if the Cougars are indeed the best squad in the league, they will be able to confirm it in the next three-and-half-weeks.
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What I do know is BYU has far and away the best offense in the Mountain West, and arguably the best defense.
Consider that in conference play, BYU leads the league in:
scoring offense
field goal percentage
three-point field goal percentage
field goal percentage defense
three-point field goal percentage defense
The Cougars are also the best team in the league at sharing and taking care of the ball--tops in assists per game and assist-to-turnover ratio.
Stats don't always translate to results in the win column, but in BYU's case, the numbers don't lie. The gap between BYU's 78.3 ppg and the second-place team (New Mexico, at 73.3 ppg) is greater than the gap between the second-place team and the sixth-place team. The gap between BYU's 18.11 assists per game and the second-place team (New Mexico, at 15.30 apg) is greater than the gap between the second-place team and the sixth-place team.
BYU is hitting on all offensive cylinders right now, and the defense isn't too far behind. The Cougars have allowed 60 points or fewer in three straight games and have allowed 61 or fewer in five of nine league games, while scoring 70 or more in eight of nine, and 80 or more four times.
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In short, it appears that BYU is once again "peaking at the right time," and another strong season-ending spurt could be in the offing. As mentioned many times in this space, Dave Rose has finished the final ten games of the regular season with a 9-1 record in all three of his prior seasons, and so far, his team is 3-0 in the ten-game sprint to the finish.
Next up for BYU, Saturday's game at TCU--a team on a five-game losing streak with the next-to-worst scoring offense in the conference. While BYU always gets a game from the Frogs in Fort Worth, Dave Rose is 8-0 alltime against TCU.
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Citing Alec Baldwin as Tony Bennett, "I love things that are great...good things are fantastic."
Here are some great, good and fantastic things from BYU's win over the Rams:
1) Jonathan Tavernari playing perhaps his best game as a Cougar: 21 points on only 11 shots in only 28 minutes. He added 11 rebounds and four helpers.
2) Lee Cummard's "flex appeal" after the "screensaver" dunk over CSU's Harvey Perry.
3) James Anderson's nifty touch around the net. He scored a career-high 16 points on 8 of 11 shooting. As for his free throw shooting, well, he's now 2 for 10 from the stripe on the season--not fantastic. I've gone back and forth on Anderson, not quite sure what he was going to turn into as a Cougar. I now think he can be an important contributor in the post--he just has a way with the ball around the basket.
4) BYU's season-high 28 assists, season-high 49 rebounds, season-high 65% shooting and season-high 62% accuracy from the arc.
5) Five BYU players had at least four assists, led by Jackson Emery's eight helpers. Emery leads the league and was 11th nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio coming into the CSU game.
6) BYU's 48-20 advantage in paint points, against an admittedly undersized CSU squad.
7) Charles Abouo's 11 points and 6 rebounds. He had scored only 10 total points with five rebounds in the previous seven games combined.
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A football note: spring ball is scheduled to begin on Monday, March 16th--the day after "Selection Sunday."
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