Previewing BYU
BYU, although very good, is not a team I know much about. Thankfully DeacManiac81 from the message boards does and has generously agreed to share his insight, so I'll turn it over to him:
Opening Comments: BYU is a NCAA tourney team and could make the sweet 16 if they get a fair seed. They rarely get seeded fairly though, even in years when the have a good RPI like they did 2 years ago. They will challenge for the MWC championship and likely win it, but that is not a lock since they've got a bullseye and every team hates them like everybody hates Duke in the ACC.
Running the floor is what BYU does best and they're a very fit team. Defensively they're solid. Cummard and Burgess are very good on-the-ball defenders. The X factor for BYU seems to always be Tavernari. He runs hot and cold. If he's hot, it will be lights out for WF. He's been slumping lately and has been relegated to 6th man status.
Yeah, BYU has a ton of white guys so everybody wants to crack on their athleticism, but WF will have a hard time matching up with the athleticism of Plaisted and Cummard.
Likely Starting Lineup:
G - Ben Murdock (SR) 6' 2"
G - Sam Burgess (SR) 6' 3"
F - Lee Cummard (JR) 6' 6"
F - Chris Collinsworth (FR) 6' 9"
C - Trent Plaisted (JR) 6' 11"
Murdock is a solid PG. He sets up his team well and doesn't turn the ball over a lot. He's smart and strong, but lacks athleticism and isn't much of a scoring threat a scoring threat.
Burgess is a solid SG. Like Murdock, he's smart and strong. He doesn't turn the ball over much and he's lights out from behind the arc.
Cummard may not get the pub that Plaisted gets, but he's BYU's best all-around player. He reminds me of Jamaal Levy, but with an offensive game. He's an extremely athletic, wirey, savvy player who is a terrific defender. He fills up a stat sheet and lays it all out every game. He's a threat from behind the arc, has a mid-range game and will post up smaller players. He shoots 61% from the field, 43% from three and 90% from the FT line. When he's in the game, BYU plays VERY well. Unfortunately, he was in foul trouble in the big games against Louisville, UNC and Michigan State.
Collinsworth is starting because BYU needs somebody rebounding and playing tough D in the post. He's shown some promise.
Plaisted is one of the best big men in the country. He outplayed Hansborough earlier this year. He leads the team in scoring and rebounding. He's fast, athletic and very confident. He has almost no game outside of 10 feet though and is horrible from the FT line. Not much of a defender, but does show up to play D in big games.
Key Reserves:
F - Jonathan Tavernari (SO) 6' 6"
G - Jimmer Fredette (FR) 6' 2"
C/F - Vuk Ivanovic (SR) 6' 10"
G - Michael Loyd (FR) 6' 2"
As I said before, JT is an X factor. When he gets hot, he is nearly unstoppable. He was insane against Louisville. He's a pretty heady player on both sides of the ball. Fredette has shown a lot of promise as a freshman. He's mature and confident beyond his years (no he is not one of the older missionary guys) with a good stroke on his jumper. He can stretch the D with his range. He's a good defender and ballhandler. Ivanvic is just a big body who comes in and bangs. Lloyd has a good combo of quickness and speed, but makes a lot of mistakes and so doesn't normally come in unless Burgess and Murdock need rest or are in foul trouble.
Keys To Beating BYU: Teams that gamble and try to defend Plaisted with one man get burned without exception. He abused Louisville, UNC and Michigan State when they tried it.
When Chas and Weaver are guarding him, they should stay behind him with their hands up and try to make him shoot over the top, with somebody coming over to help from the front side. Then hope that BYU's shooters have an off night.
The Deacs need to force Cummard into foul trouble and hope that JT continues his slump. A lot of Cummard's fouls come when he comes off his own man to help and from his aggressive play in general. Ish and Teague need to ball hawk Murdock and Burgess.
BYU has no answer for James Johnson so JJ needs to resist the urge to take long shots and take the ball down low. Though Ish, Teague and LD will be able to penetrate at will, WF needs to hope the other guys can make the open shots that will create.
Wrap up: My dad got his MBA at BYU and taught at WF. I grew up a huge fan of both BYU and WF. I did undergrad at BYU and law school at WF. I never thought I'd see the day where they'd meet on the hardwood or gridiron. This will be a surreal experience for me. I'm going to try and enjoy the game and hope it's competitive and entertaining.
Prediction: BYU wins this one 75-63.
Great work there, I appreciate having someone with such great insight be able to share it. I just hope the prediction is wrong. My limited knowledge tells me we can keep it closer than that, but we'll see.
Tonight's game is only on ACC Select which is how I'll be seeing it. Old Gold & Blog Correspondent Stephen Edwards is expected to be in attendance and has previously agreed to write about it so I think the post game report will be coming from him tonight. Enjoy the game and Go Deacs!
