So, it's been awhile. I apologize — the madness of final exams conspired against me. Now let's get back to business. There is much to discuss.
I hate losing. I hate losing at home even more. And I straight-up loathe losing at home when you probably should have won. All those things happened Saturday in Provo. But that being said, I'm shocked I'm not more upset than I am.
Before I get into the nitty-gritty of today's loss, one thing needs to be stated: While losing certainly stings, this is a very good Baylor team with two legitimate first round draft picks. They have insane athleticism, endless length, and great outside shooters. There is absolutely no shame in losing a tight one to the Bears.
Did I want to win? Absolutely. I literally had a sick feeling in my stomach as I watched that lead slip away in the second half. But as much as I hated to lose, I have a hard time ignoring the huge number of positives takeaways we saw on the floor, including one big revelation...
1. Matt Carlino Is Special
First and foremost, let all speculation about whether or not Matt Carlino is good enough to live up to the hype cease now. There are certainly a few fair criticisms to be leveled against the newcomer's game today, but failing to live up to the hype is not one of them. Carlino finished with 18 points in 24 minutes, and provided a scoring threat from the point guard position that BYU has lacked all season.
And lest we forget — this was his first collegiate game. Think about that for a second. Let it sink in.
Wow.
As solid as Anson Winder and Craig Cusick have been all year, BYU has officially found its point guard. If Carlino doesn't start every game from here on out, I will be shocked. He is clearly a full step above both Winder and Cusick — and that's saying something, because I really like both those guys. The kid is the real deal, and he's only going to get better over the next four years. (Pause. Try not to hyperventilate. Yes, I understand it is difficult. It's all very exciting.)
To be honest, the only big problem I had with Carlino's game against Baylor was the same problem I had with BYU as a whole — too many turnovers. Carlino finished with four, including a particularly painful one down the stretch, and the team had 16 for the game. That's far too many, but when you consider that he was playing his first game as a D-I point guard and doing so against one of the best, most athletic teams in the country, it becomes slightly more palatable.
The Bears picked Carlino up full court and pressured him relentlessly, forcing him to handle the ball and make good decisions in some difficult situations. All in all, he did fairly well against the press, but still made some dumb freshman mistakes. There's not really a good way around those learning experiences, so we'll just have to watch as he figures everything out.
That being said, I was thoroughly impressed with Carlino — his stroke was obviously silky smooth, he showed nice vision in the open floor, and he played with an aggressiveness that the Cougars have lacked at the guard positions. He even played some decent on-ball defense! (However, his defensive awareness when he's away from the play needs serious work.)
It was all, dare I say, very Jimmer-esque. And that's not to say that Carlino is as good as Jimmer or even anywhere close — but #32's extraordinarily large metaphorical shoes feel that much closer to being partially filled today. If you're not excited to watch Carlino grow and improve over the next few years, you don't have a pulse. This guy is going to be special.
2. Guarding the 3-Point Line Isn't BYU's Strength
In both BYU's losses this season (I'm purposely not including USU, because that was an unfair casualty of the Zylstra experiment), the other team shot the lights out — both Wisconsin and Baylor shot better than 50 percent from deep. To be sure, both teams are full of exceptional outside shooters — both shoot over 40 percent from beyond the arc as a team — but it seems that BYU should be making it more difficult on them than they have been.
The real culprit here is probably BYU's zone defense. The zone can be devastatingly effective, especially against teams with limited perimeter options. In an ideal world, the Cougars should be able to rotate to shooters quickly enough to prevent open looks. As we saw last night, that isn't happening right now, and it's absolutely killing them against teams who can knock down shots.
Part of this may be on Dave Rose — at some point before a nebbishy runt like Brady Heslip drops six treys, you should probably get your team out of the zone. Why didn't he go back to man-to-man and have someone stick on the Canadian gunner at all times? I realize Baylor has other deep threats, but taking Heslip out of the play with physical defense would have been helpful. Make them throw it down low where you can double-team and try to create some turnovers — it worked wonderfully in the first half.
Yet, BYU stayed in the zone and probably for too long. Once Perry Jones III got it going in the paint, everyone started to collapse on him, which left a lot of open looks for the other guys. (Why they were letting Jones catch in the high post — the weakest part of a zone — at all is mystifying to me in and of itself, but I digress.) Teams like Baylor and Wisconsin will make those open shots, and it's really tough to win when you get outscored by 18 points on 3-pointers alone.
I'm not one to question Dave Rose too often, but that decision had me stumped. The Cougars will need to fix their rotations and improve off-ball awareness in the zone (here's looking at you, Matt Carlino!) if they want it to be an effective defensive option against good teams with perimeter scorers. Otherwise, it's probably best to pull the plug once somebody starts heating up.
3. Welcome Back, Brandon
Brandon Davies has been largely been either invisible or terrible over the last few weeks — not many positives to pull out. He's been listless and passive and has looked weak in the paint. But hey, he does draw a lot of charges, so there's that. I don't say that to downplay the importance of Davies' drawing charging fouls (they are crucial momentum-changers), but when the guy you thought would be your best player going into the season is bringing nothing to the table outside of getting run over, you may have a problem.
Thankfully, the old Brandon Davies showed up on Saturday — and in a big way.
Davies was more aggressive offensively than I've ever seen him in the first half against Baylor. He was catching the ball on the block and making the kind of strong, assertive post moves that scream, "I know I can score on you, and I'm going to do it." If you're having trouble recalling what that looks like, just watch this.
Don't forget — this was all against two guaranteed first round picks in Jones and Quincy Miller — and Davies straight-up ate both of them alive in the first half. Very impressive stuff.
Unfortunately, BYU got too trigger-happy from deep and stopped feeding the post for a long stretch in the second half, which seemed to break Davies' rhythm. When they finally went back to him, Baylor started double-teaming and essentially took him out of the offense. Nonetheless, he battled hard, grabbed some boards, and got to the free throw line — not necessarily the same dominance we saw in the first half, but still effective.
Brandon finished the game with 18 points, 13 rebounds and only one turnover. That's a monster stat line that the Cougars need to see more often from him. Imagine if Davies brought that same attitude and aggressiveness to a regular game against average defenders who won't be getting paid millions of dollars to play in the NBA within 12 months? Scary.
Hopefully Saturday wasn't just a one-game aberration and will instead mark the beginning of a more assertive Brandon Davies who's hellbent on decimating the West Coast Conference. Keep your fingers crossed, Cougar fans.
Stray Observations
- Charles Abouo frustrates me to no end. He was absolutely terrible for most of the game, even causing me to scream at my television for Rose to get him out of the game on multiple occasions. (Effective, I know.) He turned the ball over five times, which is a lot considering he doesn't handle it all that much in the first place. His passing was terrible and his dribbling may have been even worse. He made horrible decisions with the basketball, the least of which was his choice to dish to Brandon Davies — Brandon Davies! — for a last-gasp 3 at the buzzer. And yet he still ended up with 17 points, the lion's share of which came in a five minute stretch at the beginning of the second half where he got to the rack at will, and 9 rebounds. I can't explain it. He does so many bad things that drive me nuts and make me want Rose to bench him forever, but then he goes and partially redeems himself in these short spurts of brilliance. It's maddening.
- Speaking of that last Davies almost-shot, that wasn't all on Charles. Yes, it was an awful decision, but he should never have been in that position in the first place. Eight seconds is a lot of time, and Carlino needed to go get the ball from Abouo as soon as he pulled down the rebound. That's his job as a point guard and as probably the team's best option to take that last shot off the dribble. Unfortunately, he didn't demand the ball, and it instead resulted in Charles dribbling into the paint with his head down and desperately kicking out to a guy who hasn't made a 3-pointer all year. The youngster needs to learn from that.
- On a more positive note, when Carlino drove the lane and made a nice kick to Damarcus Harrison in the corner, who then drove into the lane for a pretty runner, I literally stood up and yelled "This is the future!" at the top of my lungs. You have to be excited to watch those two guys grow together (along with Tyler Haws!) over the next couple years. The future is bright in Provo.
- Brock Zylstra had a terrible game again. He shot the ball poorly from deep, didn't look aggressive going to the basket, and turned the ball over religiously. He's a nice player, but he looks horribly overmatched against good teams with elite athletes. I'm not sure if there's a better solution at shooting guarder right now for the Cougars, but Brock has been less than inspiring as of late. I'm open to suggestions.
- We always knew there would be a casualty in the point guard rotation once Carlino became eligible — and it looks like that guy is Anson Winder. Craig Cusick got the start and nearly all the non-Carlino minutes at the point, while Winder was relegated to a few garbage minutes right before halftime. This is kind of unfortunate given how strongly he came out of the gate, but Rose just can't afford to put somebody on the floor that the opposition doesn't have to guard. It's like Winder is Rajon Rondo, but without all the super-awesome non-scoring stuff that Rondo brings to the table. If he wants to get serious minutes, he better start showing up an hour early for practice to shoot a couple hundred shots. He'll get his chance again, and he better be ready to knock down open looks when it comes.
- Baylor isn't the type of team that Noah Hartsock really excels against, but he still posted solid numbers, going for 15 points and 5 boards. Noah has turned himself into a very good player who knows how to pick his spots, even against longer, much more athletic teams. He just gets the job done night in and night out, and really serves as the backbone of this BYU team.
- As a side note, Jimmer Fredette played his first NBA game last night. He went for 21 points and 4 assists on just 11 shots — and he did it all within the flow of the offense unlike some people. (CoughMarcusThorntonandTyrekeEvansCough.) I think it's now safe to say he can hang in the league. Oh, and he started. Pay up, Reilly.
UP NEXT: BYU vs. Buffalo, Tuesday at 9:00 p.m. EST
Photo: BYU Photo
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