A funny thing happened on the way to the MWC cellar…
The BYU men’s basketball team continues to prove critics wrong by winning game after game in conference. Picked to finish dead last in conference, the Cougs are currently in third place with a solid 7-4 record in conference. In the last 4 games they beat top conference teams New Mexico (breaking a 21-game win streak for the Lobos at The Pit), Air Force, and UNLV to improve to a 15-7 record overall. The only gaffe in that stretch was getting clobbered by a surging Utah team in Salt Lake City. With 5 games left on the schedule, three of which are at home, and 4 of which are against the bottom half of the conference, the Cougs have an excellent chance of finishing the regular season with 18-19 wins. With the conference tournament to follow and at least an NIT bid looking to be in the cards, a 20-win season is looking more likely than ever.
The home win on Saturday against UNLV was televised on ESPN2 so I finally got a good look at the team. I was impressed with what I saw. First year head coach Dave Rose has his team in excellent physical condition and they seemed extremely comfortable in the open court. There were more steals and fast breaks in this game than I remember ever seeing from a BYU squad before. They seemed confident and competitive too, which I really liked. At one point in the first half BYU led by 17 points, only to see UNLV storm back and take a 5 point lead in the second half. But rather than fold, this BYU team seemed to get mad and took the lead back and kept it. You gotta appreciate that kind of fight.
Still, this is admittedly not a great team. They looked bad in their half court offense most of the time. They are clearly a work in progress still. But the team is young (only one senior) and pretty deep (with several bench players contributing significantly) so BYU fans have to feel encouraged about the direction the men’s hoops team is headed.
The fans and media seem to be noticing too. After averaging less than 10,000 per game for the season, the Air Force game drew 16,000+ fans. Plus Dick Vitale named freshman center Trent Plaisted his diaper dandy of the week and ESPN.com columnist Pat Forde named Dave Rose the #3 top new head coach in Division I.
Men’s Volleyball
The juggernaut that is BYU men’s volleyball just got a little better. Cala Yoleyder, a 6’8″ outside hitter and former member of the Cuban national team was cleared to play for the Cougs. Already ranked #2 in the nation, the Cougs are even better with Cala on the team. He has made an immediate impact in his first few games, with a full 26 kills in a recent comeback win over USC. With a couple of national championships in the last few years already, the Cougs are well positioned for another one this spring.
Women’s Basketball
If you hadn’t heard, the BYU women’s basketball team is really good this year too. The team is 20-2 to date and ranked #18 in the country. This team is also well positioned for a run in the NCAA tournament this spring.
The men do continue to impress. I’d say that legitimate at-large hopes would depend on winning all five of those last games and making a good run in the conference tourney.
The women are solid, but I don’t know that they’re really battle-tested. They’ve beaten New Mexico at home and Utah in SLC. The road win over UCLA is big, although not as big now as it was at the time. Also some points for the close loss at home to NC State. I’d see them getting a five or six seed, winning their first game, and then having some real trouble with the three or four that they would face in the second round. Although, their RPI is creeping up. They might just do better than that five or six, but it would probably require running the table. Biggest chance to impress is the season-ending trip to The Pit.
20-2, though. Sure can’t complain that much.
Comment by D-Train — February 13, 2006 @ 4:40 pm
D-Train,
I agree. If the men finish with a major run they have a chance at an at-large bid. Most likely it will take winning the tourney, though.
I think you are right about the women too. Getting to the sweet 16 will be very tough — but then again, they did it a few years ago.
Comment by Geoff J — February 13, 2006 @ 5:38 pm
Should BYU get to the finals of the tourney and lose after running the regular season table, I can’t think the committee could look past them. BYU’s men had a 57 RPI last week, which you would presume will get better this time. You’d ideally like to see that in the 35-45 range in order to have a real shout at a bid.
And, thinking over the BYU women again, I actually think the Sweet Sixteen is well within their grasp. I don’t think they match up well with the eight or ten best women’s teams at all (say, Duke, UNC, UConn, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Maryland, LSU, Ohio State, and Rutgers), but the 11-20 type teams are all vulnerable to a squad like BYU.
By the way, I’m thinking of doing a Bloggernacle hoops bracket contest at UoM. Any and all, comment at this post if you’re interested.
Comment by D-Train — February 14, 2006 @ 1:14 am
Note – The polls just came out BYU men’s volleyball is ranked #1 in the country again this week.
Comment by Geoff J — February 14, 2006 @ 6:22 pm
D-Train,
I agree that the men could probably get in with wins up until the tourney finals. The committee appreciates coming on strong late in the season and the RPI would probably justify it too. I suspect that the MWC will be happy to get 2 teams in on a down year like this though and it would be hard to bump AF or SDSU without a major late season run.
As for the women, the MWC is looking much better this year with 3 ranked teams as of this week. With a 4-6 seed making the sweet 16 is very doable.
Comment by Geoff J — February 14, 2006 @ 6:28 pm