Our season didn’t truly start at the start of conference play. Our season started when we lost to Houston. That’s when we saw what kind of athleticism and defensive intensity we would face. These last 12 games are what I like to call “The Gauntlet.” So, which players have risen to the occasion, and who has proven to be overmatched?
Season 3pt %:
Knell .395
Noah .379
Hall .362
Jaxson .352
Richie .345
Khalifa .316
SJ .292
Ok, fun. That includes all our “practice” games against inferior athletes.
But let’s see those numbers over the last 12 games, as the competition has risen and with it the pressure.
Saunders and Noah have actually GOTTEN BETTER from deep as the competition has improved. Khalifa has stayed the same (he generally only shoots 3s when he’s wide open, so who’s defending him doesn’t matter). Jaxson and Hall have dropped off significantly, but their overall game has improved—Hall handling the ball, Jaxson scoring in other ways, and both providing excellent D. SJ sucked from deep before The Gauntlet and since. His shot has been off all year and that’s just that.
But who has TRULY CRATERED since the going got tough: Knell. And that is with a high volume of attempts, which has just killed us. the numbers don’t lie. The only guy on our roster who can only do one thing—shoot 3s—has been our WORST 3pt shooter. This is costing us wins. I love coach Pope, I love this team, and this is not a personal thing because I’ve never met Knell. But we have the guy who is the most limited athletically of all our guards and wings playing near team high minutes, and he’s the worst shooter on the team, at least in the last 12 games since the competition has truly ramped up.
IMO every guy should have to earn it ON THE COURT, and not just because he’s been around 7 years. During The Gauntlet he has literally been our worst shooter, yet is playing near team high minutes. There, I said it. Let the pushback begin. IM NOT TALKING ABOUT SHOOTING 3s IN PRACTICE or against small colleges in December looking for a payday. I’m talking about shooting 3s when defended by future NBA players and then running The Gauntlet twice a week for a month and a half. I didn’t make up those shooting numbers. Go look at ESPN if you want to check my math. I’ll admit it if I miscalculated something, but I think the facts are pretty straightforward: your worst 3 pt shooter shouldn’t be playing the second most minutes on the team and taking the second most 3pt shots.
So, against Kansas in the land of Oz, we suck the first half and can’t hit 3s. We do something different in the locker room at halftime and come out hitting 3s and beating a team that hadn’t lost at home for 19 games. Then, against ISU in the state of River City, we come out strong and dominate ISU. But, then run out of gas in the 2nd half shooting 13% from 3s, 2-15. Everyone but Knell missing. Hall gassed as he took a breather only 3:50 minutes into the 2nd half. And at the end we turn the ball over the last 3 out of 5 possessions when we still could have won. Stewart is even getting more minutes. I hear Adams could play.
So, what’s happening here? Why are the 3’s not dropping? We had wide open shots in the 2nd half. Just 2 more go in and we win. That’s what we should be talking about. The reason why 3’s aren’t dropping. Because we aren’t going to win shooting mostly 2s against elite future NBA players. We get flustered and travel because of intimidation (Waterman and Fouss). Hall dribbling off his leg, again at the end of a game.
The season for our kids is long. Happens every year. Injuries and illnesses. We simply need more 4 and an occasional 5 star who do t have to use all their energy up by midpoint in a season. So, until then, Pope has been trying to limit time on the court to under 30 minutes for every player. But what’s happening is Hall and Robinson are playing the point and getting burned out. Stewart has to play more and so does Knell. If Adams isn’t going to play then there is no one else to come in. Depth has always been the key if we are going to be able to get through the next week and a half and make the NCAAs. Knell has to play 20 minutes or more in rotation.
Given…sometime in the last 6 weeks Pope, not in regards to Knell, said that the NBA doesn’t start cruching the numbers the way you have until halfway through the season…41 games…not sure how much that way of thinking is affecting his decision making…but it seems to be the only thing I have heard that makes sense of it…
Ewan has a bit of a different take though he says that the best five on the floor, weighted heavily for the last ten games, includes knell…
I have a nephew who is 26 years old. Great kid, married with a baby and one on the way. He works in the financial services industry. He was a decent basketball player until a head injury pretty much ended his playing days. I think he was a junior or something in high school when it happened. He played basketball with Sam Merril and Trevin Knell on club teams as a kid (that 11-13 or 14 year old range… He was always taller than the other kids until they all hit high school and the other caught up. He played center and at that young age was a big contributor on those club teams. He played on the state championship team with Merril at Bountiful HS. Here’s the thing…
When they played youth club basketball together, all 3 were on the same team but at some point Knell left that team to play for some club team that Thurl Bailey was connected to. Those teams eventually made it to some championship game and Merril’s and my nephews team beat Knell’s new team… karma.
I’m guessing that the pressure got to Knell in the title game and he caved in… just a guess.
Guess who the highest rated player on BYU?
Saunders- who was averaging 15 mins a game until about 4 games ago.
Good point. Hall needs to get a breather for that final stretch in tight games. ISU was a win if Pope had managed his minutes better.
One out of 2 ain’t bad. hahahaah, nice try.
Maybe from a production sense but if Defense is 50% of the equation, Knell would be dead last on the team. We literally have to hide him on the worse scoring threat from the other team.
Before the ISU game, I said, "ISU turns teams over at a higher rate then anyone in the country. BYU had 17 TOs and ISU got 22 points out of those TOs. Ball game and how did Knell help?
Can he dribble?
Can he create an assist?
Can he grab rebounds?
Can he defend?
Knell 6 pts. was 2nd most minutes on the team @28 minutes. Tom and I can go on about this ALL DAY.
I love Knell at home firing away, I don’t like Knell in road games where defense becomes a premium and 3s are hard to come by.
Saunders had 20 points by half. a perfect game to go with intense defense on ISU’s toughtest players.
Johnson, only 7 points, wow, let’s just bench him, right? Until you look at what he did on the boards…11rebs!!! and Spenc. spent the entire game guarding their best players.
Let’s just cut the crap here
If BYU wants to win games as they are only going to be much tougher from here on out…BYU needs it’s best 5 on the floor when it counts. And weighing in as D is 50% of the picture:
Saunders
Johnson
Hall
Foos
Robinson
With a whole lot of Waterman
And a lot of Khalifa
Knell (That’s right, dead last in making 3s and dead last in defending)
Stewart, he does not hurt us to be in there to spell Hall.
Wait a minute. You also said you want him shooting 3s at home. So, just away games. Based on your analysis, we should only play 7. Ya, that’ll work. Not.
Including Stewart it’s 9. Knell’s purpose on the team now is to give more valuable players a rest. Zero defense and 20% 3 pt shooting demand that. So is that 8 minutes? 12? Probably about there.
I know one thing, it’s not 28!
I’ll amend my reply
I want minutes allocated and player combinations made that give BYU the best chance to win games
Do you? Ignoring value that a player brings or doesn’t bring increases odds of losing.
Everyone else gets this
Why don’t you?
This team can compete with any team in the nation…
The BYU Cougars have become a better and more dangerous team in recent weeks. They won on the road at Kansas and conquered Phog Allen Fieldhouse, which has been one of the toughest places to win in college basketball — arguably No. 1 in the country — for the past 20 years. BYU came back from a double-digit deficit to blow out TCU. The Cougars very nearly won on the road at Iowa State, the second-place team in the Big 12, earlier this week. They outplayed Iowa State for a large percentage of the game. BYU can shoot 3-pointers and create a strong offense when everything is going well, but the Cougars are tough. They have proven they can be tough in an unforgiving and deep Big 12 Conference. https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/oklahoma-state-vs-byu-prediction-odds-pick-how-to-watch-men-s-college-basketball-game-3-9-2024/ar-BB1jAEV7
Knell has his last home game of the season tonight…hope he makes it a big one.
I would start knell at the beginning of both halves and if he is on target keep him until he cools off.
Robinson does seem to play better coming off the bench…
Still haven’t seen much of the promised two bigs Khalifa and Foos on the floor together…which I think would be truly dominate…maybe next season.
Coached high school basketball 10 years. That’s what everyone is saying. Always making fun of his defense. He’s better than a burned out Saunders or anyone else. We need to go deep.
Oh, so you gave a player who couldn’t shoot well and minimal rebounds negligible assists and slow footed defense more playing time than the player(s) who could do those things
You didn’t do that - parents and school would have run you off
We won games and titles. Now, to your continuous misstatement of my posts, I’ve not said to play anyone more than someone else. I’ve simply pointed out that Knell plays the 3 and sometimes the 4 when needed. There’s a rotation that goes on with mainly 8 players now. I don’t believe this team can win anymore games with a rotation of 7. I’ve also advocated for Saunders to start as well as Robinson. I’m even for them trying a high low with Fouss and Khalifa, especially against the teams with big frontlines with skill. And rotate Atiki in it. But, with that said, based on the game itself Knell and others must play 15-25 minutes a game to keep players fresh. Stewart isn’t Hall but his time should be closer to 10-15 minutes a game. Hall is too tired now at the end of games.
………….zzzzzzzzzzz