BYU - TCU, for the win

[pmac]

Knell 8 minutes. More if he get super hot.
(Sorry, thought that was in there as one of the 5 players. Accidentally deleted)

[JCoug]

@grasshopper

NOT SURE WHY YOU KEEP SAYING SAUNDERS OVER KNELL. Saunders comes in and plays the 4. He comes in for Worthington. Knell plays the 3.
I’d also like to see Khalifa and Fooss start playing the high low game. Bring in Atiki and Worthington in rotation as well. START SAUNDERS FOR KNELL.

That is an interesting way to start and end a post. Does it mean you are convinced?

And who is Worthington? The guy that played for BYU 5 years ago?

[grasshopper]

You keep throwing Saunders in at the 3 or small forward. That is what he is. But, he doesn’t substitute for the 3 man. He substitutes for the 4 man, Waterman. So, there is 200 minutes. But, Johnson won’t be playing the 4 man. And the way it’s working now, Robinson won’t be playing the 3 either as he’s backing up Hall more. So, the minutes to be divided up for the 3 and 4 will be:
Waterman, Saunders and Knell. If the other team has a small line up then Johnson or Robinson can play the 3 man. Knell has to play 15-25 minutes. Unless Pope lets Adams start playing.

[pmac]

Knell at 15-25 minutes is what he is playing now. So you don’t want him to have less minutes.
That’ll cost us 10+ points a game based on how sub par his game is.
So if Saunders needs to play 8-10 minutes more and Knell keeps his current minutes who is playing less?

[grasshopper]

It won’t cost any points. Saunders is a 4 man for the most part. He should play 3 if they use my lineup.

[fish]

@tlarimer

The media acts like Saunders dominating TCU ATHLETICALLY is a revelation, but this is what he has been doing all year. I bet he has the highest +/- on the entire team. His ability to elevate and finish at or above the rim against legitimate B12 defenders is because SAUNDERS IS AN ELITE ATHLETE. He’s not just some “overachieveing hustle glue guy.” He’s all of that and also the best pure athlete on the roster.

Here are the facts:
Knell over the past13 games, a liability in every game except TCU when he went ballistic
T-Rank Player Stats - Customizable College Basketball Tempo Free Stats - T-Rank (barttorvik.com)
Saunders- had one stinker, OU over the same 13 game period.

@pmac

Saunders defense - limiting his man from scoring and his defensive rebounds and hustle plays to keep the ball alive etc - is probably a plus 10 points or more for the team vs knell. On offense Saunders can drive to the basket (make the shot or draw fouls, offensive rebounds are huge, keep ball alive) much more than Knell. Just open 3 pt shooting is close to a wash (a plus for Saunders given Knells 20% last 10 games or so) so Saunders is probably a plus 4 points for the team a game. So that’s in the neighborhood of total 14 point swing for Saunders.

Saunders has been remarkable for 2 straight games now. Knell was really good for 5 minutes in the TCU game.

As Aro put it:

@aro

Saunders and Knell both played critical roles in the TCU game. Knell shot BYU back into the game and Saunders got BYU over the top. Both were in the game at the same time at certain points but Saunders is clearly the better all around player.

Did not want to make this a critique of Knell so much as to say, Knell has his place as a 3 pt specialist but Saunders can do sooooo much more if his shots are not falling. In home games, I like Knell a lot but Give me Saunders all day on road games where 3s are hard to come by. We all need to realize one other point,
Both Johnson and Knell are team captains, Pope is not going to bench Knell anytime soon and Saunders comes in for Waterman almost as often as he subs for knell because Saunders plays so much bigger then he really is. Knell could never sub for a forward in a million years.

Foos lost his starting job to Khalifa and that should be reversed back. Foos has been destroying teams this past week.

@grasshopper

The key is they can’t play 40 minutes each. That includes Waterman because Saunders doesn’t come in for Knell. He comes in for Waterman.

Wrong! Saunders has subbed in for Knell more often then any other player this season but you are right about substitutions, It boils down to who BYU has to defend. In those nights when Waterman is off, Saunders is 1st off the bench.

Now, let’s hope BYU plays D vs. ISU and shoots less 3s, drive more to the hoop. More Foos and Saunders please

[JCoug]

It hasn’t been an easy job for Pope to figure out who, how and when to rotate his players but I think he has been masterful at it this season.

Imagine being down to Kansas on their home floor, where they haven’t lost this season, and trying to get your team motivated and believing they can win when they have never done anything close to what they did in the second half of that game.

Imagine being down by 17 at halftime on your home floor with a packed arena and trying to figure out what you are going to do to get your team to play better… and do more of what they really haven’t done up until the previouis game.

Now imagine trying to do all of that at a school like BYU… honor code, low paying gig, etc.

He’s done that and he did that in back to back games.

We are lucky to have him.

[grasshopper]

We actually 100% agree! How about that! Pigs do fly!

[fish]

@JCoug

It hasn’t been an easy job for Pope to figure out who, how and when to rotate his players but I think he has been masterful at it this season.

no doubt, to be in the top 5 in the big 12 says a lot about Pope and the team makeup.

One stat that I did not bring up is TCU is not that much better at drawing fouls then BYU. BYU really struggles with teams that have a high % of getting to the FT. (FT Rate) BYU, to begin the season was dead last at drawing fouls, we have improved from 22% to 27%. as the season progressed… TCU’s FT Rate is 34%.

By the numbers, it is clear BYU loses games when the other team’s FT Rate is very high vs. BYU’s
Case in point: Ok ST loss…BYU had a 23% FTR, Ok St had a 54% FTR. it was worst in the KSU loss…BYU 13% FTR-KSU 64% FTR

In our last two wins…BYU 42% FTR- KU 52%…BYU 35%-TCU 15% FTR.
ISU is interesting…37% FTR but very poor at the FT at 69%. So BYU does play ISU as good as anyone not named Houston. and in the 1st game BYU and ISU had identical FTR numbers (42%)

[grasshopper]

Because we are a finesse team attempting to mostly avoid contact, we will not have as many trips to the FT line. Happens shooting 35 3 point shots. So, make the necessary 3’s like 36 % to offset the lack of FTs. The ISU game should be interesting.

[JCoug]

Oh how I wish I could read what you deleted…

[tlarimer]

Oh Jim, you stole the words from my mouth! Now we MUST KNOW what Fish posted!! I would have probably responded to Hop with something that would have been auto-deleted anyway…just for fun…