Settling in Anaheim for the NCAAs
Anaheim weather is a welcome change from Utah.
The media hotel is the Anaheim Marriott, a few blocks from Disneyland and next door to the Anaheim Hilton and the Convention Center. I’ll be going over to the Honda Center this afternoon to gather interviews from BYU and Texas A&M players.
On the Southwest Airlines flight out of Salt Lake City, I went through Denver. Joining me on the plane to Phoenix en route to El Paso was the University of Utah basketball team. While it was early in the day and a lot of the players looked like they just rolled out of bed. The worst part, however, was the cattle boarding call for SWA. I had an “A” group, No. 45 and got a decent isle seat near the front. The Utes must have got their boarding passes late because they were the last on the plane and nothing was left but the middle seats. I don’t know how they feel about middle seats, but I hate them and I can’t imagine Luke Nevill being very fond of the middle slot.
In reviewing my notes over the past few weeks, I came across a quick interview I had with Tom Holmoe on the topic of Dave Rose. He’d just led the Cougars to a win over Wyoming and clinched his second straight league title by a record 14-2.
Holmoe reviewed why Rose is a successful coach and why BYU would win out at TCU, etc.
“It all starts with Dave Rose,” said Holmoe. “There’s been a couple of games this year where they didn’t play great, just a couple. In those games they rebounded and won their nex game.
“I believe he’s never lost two in a row in conference. It’s because he’s been able to make adjustments.. If they slide, he’s able to get them back on track right away.. I think that’s a great quality, a great trait. His personality is good for this team. Because he’s very, very orderly in his life, this team likes order, they love the structure. And you can see from night to night to night, there’s not a lot of difference in the way they play. They play at a high level and they are very similar , what you see is what you get. If they’re off, they’re still able to get it done. When their off against a really good team, it’s hard. (Wake Forest, Michigan State).
Holmoe said he loves the fact that in the three years Rose has been coach, their gaining more consistency. ” I love the fact he has a ton of confidence in the young guys. Early on people would come to me and say, “What’s he doing?, why’s he playing so many guys? (Collinsworth, Fredette, Lloyd), you’ve got to settle in on your team.’ But he knew what he was doing.. now when they go down the stretch and guys are tired or in foul trouble or a guy sprains an ankle, they’re ready do go. He’s really well prepared.”
I think Rose learned a lot from the UNLV loss. Perhaps he can apply it to Thursday’s first round game.
In the loss at UNLV, regardless of the unfairness of playing the Rebels on their home court, the Cougars can learn a lot from that one. They got pushed away from the basket. UNLV extended their defense and forced BYU guards to try and move the ball from too far away and ended up getting some steals. Rose countered by playing Fredette more minutes, because he can penetrate and score off the dribble. But BYU’s big men, Trent Plaisted especially, have to find a way to keep themselves down low where they are effective.
I think Rose got away from his substitution pattern in that UNLV game. Where he had subbed a lot of players early and quickly moved them in and out, he stood pat a little too long with others and I think they lost energy down the wire, just like a year ago. Collinsworth is having a great month of March and he can play the four or five position against many teams, however I don’t know if A&M is one of them.
Against the Rebs, and against A&M, I think BYU could have and should play more zone defense. I don’t know if A&M has a Curtis Terry that can dribble at the top of the key, drive and dish to set up 3-point shooters, but if they try it, sometimes a zone could help, especially if opposing shooters aren’t knocking down shots. UNLV’s penetration and kick was a play Lon Kruger went to almost exclusively the entire game on the Cougars and it only started really working in the second half.
Anyway, it should be a good game with the Aggies. A&M is a team that could overpower the Cougars, but BYU is capable, on a good shooting night, of running past a team like this.