The great thing about being picked to finish last

By: Geoff J - December 12, 2005

If you hadn’t noticed yet, college basketball season is underway. The BYU Cougars have a brand new head coach and a brand new pre-season ranking in the Mountain West Conference. They needed a new head coach because Steve Cleveland apparently finally got sick of BYU last year and moved on to the greener pastures of, ummm, Fresno State. (Oh yeah — it’s true…). Former assistant coach Dave Rose stepped in to fill the head coaching role. And the new preseason ranking for the Cougs is… dead last. Yup, BYU was picked to finish ninth out of nine teams this year in the MWC.

And why not? Last year’s squad finished the season at 9-21 and with a new, unproven coach, and the program in seeming disarray; picking the Cougs to finish last seems like a reasonable choice to me.

But a funny thing is happening on the way to the cellar. After seven games this season BYU already has chalked up respectable 5-2 record. With an entirely new and up-tempo style of play (under the direction of the new head coach of course) and nearly an entirely new starting lineup; this year’s BYU team ain’t looking so bad after all. That’s not to say this will be a particularly good team, but they at least look like they won’t be terrible. And considering the expectations – that is a good thing.

The other good news is that the star of the team so far is a freshman. At 6’11’ Trent Plaisted is rumored to be quick, agile, and have both good hops and a nice shooting touch. He is leading the team in scoring (nearly 15 points per game) and in rebounds. He is joined in the starting lineup by a couple of seemingly promising junior college transfers and some returning players from last year. Interestingly it was another freshman, Lee Cummard, who was getting all of the pre-season hype rather than Plaisted. Cummard has been serviceable off the bench but it has been Plaisted that is stealing the show so far.

Now it may be that BYU’s winning record has been because of a fairly easy schedule so far, but the win over Washington State seemed pretty impressive to me. WSU beat SDSU and Wyoming after falling to the Cougs.

So what do you know this year’s version of BYU hoops? Have any of you seen this squad in action? Based on what I know so far I’m going to predict the Cougs win 50% of their remaining 20 regular season games and finish the regular season at 15-12 overall. (And yes that would be a far cry from finishing last in conference.) I won’t be surprised if they even win a MWC tournament game or two and maybe even get an invite to the NIT tournament. What is your prediction?

15 Comments

  1. When they played here in Spokane against WSU they actually looked good. We that live here in Spokane are “obligated” to be Gonzaga basketball fans….and considering how they are playing that’s ok right now. I’ve always loved BYU basketball, since the days of Stan Watts when they ran the floor and Conden was the passingist guard in the country.

    I think you’re about right in your prediction (you were in football), but since BYU tends to disaapoint us fans, I’d say 12-15

    Comment by Don — December 12, 2005 @ 2:34 pm

  2. 12-15 huh Don? That would mean a 7-13 streak from here to the end of the regular season. I hope that doesn’t happen, but we’ll have to wait and see I guess.

    BYU hoops hasn’t seen any real glory days since the 60s though (with the notable exception of the Danny Ainge “Elite 8″ year). The exciting thing about this squad is all but one player will be back next year so this could be the start of something good.

    (In the meantime you can root for the Zags. That kid on Gonzaga is being called the best player in the country by lots of pundits right now.)

    Comment by Geoff J — December 12, 2005 @ 2:48 pm

  3. As long as we beat Utah at home, I’ll be happy.

    Comment by Eric Russell — December 12, 2005 @ 3:12 pm

  4. BYU plays basketball?

    Comment by Rusty — December 12, 2005 @ 4:02 pm

  5. I love going to OU.

    Comment by D-Train — December 13, 2005 @ 2:19 am

  6. Big Ten 4EVA!

    Not related to basketball, but: Geoff, are you planning on giving a preview of the Las Vegas Bowl? If not, you should.

    Comment by Pris — December 14, 2005 @ 10:23 am

  7. You’re on Pris. I’ll write something up before the game.

    Comment by Geoff J — December 14, 2005 @ 2:08 pm

  8. BYU hoops hasn’t seen any real glory days since the 60s though (with the notable exception of the Danny Ainge “Elite 8″ year). The exciting thing about this squad is all but one player will be back next year so this could be the start of something good.

    Factoid: BYU has (had?) the record for most NCAA tournament appearances without a title (19 or so).

    The late 80s/early 90s were a decent time for BYU hoops. My freshman year (1989-1990) was especially good. Marty Haws and Andy Toolson. A painful loss to Clemson in the first round of the 1990 NCAA tournament (Haws rolls a layup off the back of the rim with just seconds to go). Undefeated at home. There was the brief promise of the Shawn Bradley era, which never materialized.

    Of course, I’ve been at Duke for the past 9 years. One gets kind of spoiled out here. Last year was definitely a down year.

    Comment by Bryce I — December 14, 2005 @ 3:09 pm

  9. Actually, Bryce, if 19 is the number for BYU, OU holds a somewhat more dubious mark. We’ve got 23 appearances in the Dance, with four Final Four appearances, two national title games (1947 and 1988), and no national championships.

    In the last six years or so, Coach Sampson does seem to have the program competing at a higher level than just trying to get into the tournament. I think we can make a real run in the next few years at a title.

    Comment by D-Train — December 14, 2005 @ 8:10 pm

  10. Well D-Train, your football team looks a lot like Duke’s football team this year so perhaps your basketball team will as well… (hehe)

    Bryce – BYU has made it to the Big Dance plenty of times in recent decades (though never advanced very far) but I have heard that under Stan Watts the BYU hoops team actually won a national title or two in the 50s and/or 60s back when the NIT was the only dance in the country. (Anyone have the scoop on this? Don?)

    Comment by Geoff J — December 14, 2005 @ 8:27 pm

  11. Oops, that factoid should be “without a Final Four appearance”, not “without a title”.

    Missouri also had 19 — they might be ahead now, as I don’t know how stale the page I was looking at was.

    Comment by Bryce I — December 14, 2005 @ 9:30 pm

  12. BYU won the postseason NIT in 1951, and also went to the NCAA tournament, finishing 1-2 in that event (I’m not sure what the format was).

    Full season-by-season results here.

    Comment by Bryce I — December 15, 2005 @ 12:38 pm

  13. Thanks Bryce. It looks like the Cougs took the NIT title in ’66 as well under coach Watts.

    Comment by Geoff J — December 15, 2005 @ 1:00 pm

  14. See, the interesting thing about that, Geoff, is that the Holiday Bowl is our rebuilding year.

    It’s the best BYU has ever done :)

    Comment by D-Train — December 17, 2005 @ 11:12 pm

  15. Ha! Well, bowl selections have more to do with the wicked secret combination currently known as the BCS than with the quality of individual program.

    Now if OU or any other school can win a national championship at the Holiday Bowl, then I’ll be impressed!

    Comment by Geoff J — December 18, 2005 @ 9:50 pm