1. As The Bench Shortens...
So much for Coach Rose's mix-and-match approach to early season personnel moves. Whereas ten players were seeing significant minutes through Tuesday's game against Longwood, the bench seemed to shorten significantly against Nevada on Friday. Rose stuck largely with his starters and a few bench players when necessary, creating a seven-man rotation that looked more like something one would see in February or March, not November.
While the starters played well together and obviously got the win, I still have trouble with Rose shortening his bench this early. Lots of the younger, less experienced bench players need these extra minutes early in the season — particularly guys like Damarcus Harrison and Josh Sharp, who will undoubtedly be asked to step in and contribute occasionally when the games really matter in conference play and beyond. Getting them valuable experience against good competition now — as opposed to rolling the dice later when it counts — is important for the team's long-term success, so I am understandably uneasy over the fact that BYU only had 36 combined bench minutes tonight.
To be fair, I could also be overreacting. Sometimes these things just happen, and a coach makes an in-game decision to ride a hot line-up. To me, this seemed like something more than that, especially when the starters began to struggle against Nevada's pressure near the end of the first half. Everyone looked sluggish and out-of-sorts, but no reserves were brought in to inject new life. It seemed like Rose was set on riding his big guns come hell or high water, and he never really deviated from that plan of action. (For the record, it worked out pretty well for him.)
So who am I to question the great Dave Rose? No one, I suppose. He's proven time and time again that he knows what he's doing with this whole "coaching basketball" thing, so my criticisms are nothing but the ninnying of an overly nervous fan. I would personally like to see a few more bench players get important minutes against the Nevadas, Wisconsins and Oregons of the world, if only so they can be ready to contribute against the Gonzagas if needed. I think that would be a beneficial use of these early season, non-conference games. But then again, what do I know?
Say it with me now: In Rose We Trust.
2. Anson Winder: Marathon Man
I don't know if anyone else noticed this, but Anson Winder played a lot of minutes tonight. Starting for the first time in his young career, Winder played all but two minutes against Nevada — all while racking up 9 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals. I won't say it was a virtuoso performance by any stretch, but Winder did a really nice job countering Nevada's pressure and pushing the ball out in transition. He is a one-man fast break, something that really helps BYU play at the type of frenetic pace Rose wants. The offense just seems to work better that way, and the Las Vegas native puts the Cougars in that mindset.
Winder's huge chunk of new found playing time obviously had to come at the expense of somebody, and Craig Cusick was that man. Cusick played just two minutes and pretty much enjoyed a courtside seat next to Dave Rose the entire game, a far cry from the ample minutes he got in the previous three contests. While I'm glad to see Winder playing at a high level and I think he deserves the extra time, it's unfortunate that Cusick has to end up on the short end of that stick. It's not like he did anything wrong — he ran the team competently and didn't turn the ball over. Winder obviously brings another dimension (namely speed and aggression) to the offense, but Cusick remains a worthwhile player in his own right. He'll get his chances again, but maybe not for awhile. We're currently living in the Anson Winder age.
All of which begs a serious question — if Winder continues to progress and improve in the point guard role, what happens when the previously assumed point guard-in-waiting Matt Carlino becomes eligible on December 17th? Does Rose hand him the reins? Does he stick with Winder until he does something that merits a move to the bench? Does he embark on a slow (and potentially awkward) transition of power to the UCLA transfer? These are the questions that come with having an embarrassment of riches, and I don't have any good answers.
If Winder continues to assert himself and play well over the next three weeks (and we have no reason to believe he won't), how do you take all that away from him and say, "Thanks, but the real point guard is here now"? And at the same time, you also have a massive talent in Carlino who has been waiting in the wings for so long now. How do you tell him, "Well, we weren't really planning on this Winder kid playing so well. Grab a piece of pine for a bit, we'll let you know when we need you"? It's a weird situation — not totally unlike the one that emerged after scrappy insurgent Riley Nelson replaced quarterback-of-the-future Jake Heaps in the Utah State game and shocked the pants off everyone. How do you decide which guy gets the (temporary) shaft?
I won't pretend to have any idea what Rose is planning to do come December 17th. I would suspect Carlino will start in a bench role with a significant number of minutes, and that we will see both guards on the floor together quite a bit, with Winder playing his more natural spot at the two. This kind of line-up could potentially address the conspicuous hole left at shooting guard by Brock Zylstra's largely underwhelming performances and Damarcus Harrison's relative youth, so I'm kind of bullish on it.
In fact, it's not much of a stretch to imagine a Carlino-Winder starting lineup come January or February — it would certainly be much smaller than the Cougars' current incarnation, but it would also feature two excellent ball-handlers and allow Winder to play more as an aggressive slasher than a distributor. In theory, it sounds promising, but who knows what will actually happen?
Only one person has any answers, and I suppose we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. At this point, all we can do is enjoy what Winder is doing — and it's been very pleasantly surprising thus far.
3. Turnovers, Turnovers, Turnovers
BYU won the turnover battle tonight, but not by much and not by their own volition. Nevada coughed up the rock 18 times and seemed to have some kind of moral opposition to holding onto it for too long. It's not that BYU was playing particularly suffocating defense — they sat in a zone for much of the game, and they were active but not overly aggressive — so saying that the Cougars "forced" those turnovers is something of a stretch. The Wolfpack were pretty intent on handing them the ball on a silver platter.
On the other end, BYU turned it over 15 times, which is still too many for a team that wants to compete for a WCC title. Granted, Nevada employed a few pressure defenses, including a variety of zone traps, that tested the Cougars' resolve in a way they haven't seen since the Utah State game, but that's too many mistakes for this team.
Newly minted point guard Winder lost it three times, but that's not particularly bad in and of itself, considering he served as his team's primary ball-handler for 38 minutes. Obviously one would love to see that number at zero, but Rose can live with three in such a large chunk of time. Less acceptable, however, are Charles Abouo's five turnovers, as well as the two apiece from Josh Sharp and Stephen Rogers in extremely limited minutes.
Abouo is most concerning, due to the important role he currently fills in BYU's offense. They need him to score efficiently for the offense to function at a high level, and turnovers reduce that efficiency. He doesn't handle the ball a lot (his scoring tends to come from catch-and-shoot situations and quick bursts to the basket), so those five turnovers are less an occupational hazard and more a result of some particularly questionable decision-making. Charles, who had an otherwise stellar game, has to cut down on the mental miscues.
Some may say I'm overreacting — the Cougars did win by 20-plus points, after all — but they were also extremely fortunate. Nevada managed to turn BYU's 15 turnovers into only 10 points, something I wouldn't bank on happening against a team like, say, Wisconsin. Good teams will make you pay for your mistakes, so it is imperative that the Cougars take better care of the ball tomorrow evening. It's probably safe to say the Badgers won't be handing out 18 freebies like the Wolf Pack did, so BYU will need to limit their own.
Stray Observations
- The seniors soared again tonight. Noah Hartsock continued to show why he's the team's MVP, matching his career-high with 21 points and 6 boards. Charles Abouo also exploded in the second half, knocking down shots from all over the court. He finished with 22 points and 8 rebounds. These guys have become essential to the Cougars' success, and they'll need to turn in another stellar effort for the team to beat Wisconsin on Saturday.
- Brandon Davies continues to mystify me. He didn't play poorly against Nevada, but he also wasn't a world-beater. He showed flashes of legitimate NBA-type potential, including a few breath-taking post moves. (And no turnovers!) But he also got in early foul trouble and finished with just 10 points. If you would have told me before the season that Davies would only be averaging 10-12 points per game in late November, I would've bet my life savings that the Cougars would also have a losing record — and obviously lost it all. Perhaps this team is much more suited to a by-committee offensive approach than we previously thought?
- Brock Zylstra knocked down a couple 3-point buckets tonight, but he didn't seem to add much more to the game. At this point, he seems to be strictly a catch-and-shoot guy (Steve Cleveland would agree with that assessment), which is certainly a valuable piece for Coach Rose to have, but I don't know that he merits the 30 minutes he got against the Wolf Pack. I'd like to see a few of those go to Harrison and Rogers, if only to expand their opportunities a bit and give the offense yet another look.
- Stephen Rogers went from hot to cold tonight. After lighting up Longwood for 17 off the bench Tuesday, he managed only 2 points on 1-for-4 shooting in limited action against Nevada. This isn't abnormal for a bench gunner — sometimes you just can't summon the magic on demand, and it's not like Rose gave him much time to get it going anyway. Thankfully, the extra offensive production wasn't really need in this case. Hopefully Rogers can get a few more minutes against Wisconsin to get into the flow of the game.
- Damarcus Harrison getting to play in front of his mission-serving older brother? Pretty cool stuff. Wish he got a bit more playing time to do it, but he made the most of the little he got. He may have some growing left to do, but I really like this kid's future.
UP NEXT: BYU vs. #11 Wisconsin, Friday at 8:00 p.m. EST
Photo: Associated Press
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