1. BYU was the better team last night. Yes, Baylor is dealing with injuries but the more talented team that played won the game last night.
2. Kanon Catchings was downright incredible. He got 25 minutes which was great for him as he had been hovering just above the 10 minute mark for about 4 games in a row before seeing it go up last game and even higher this game. I 100% believe that KY did the right thing in not inserting him at the end of the game. The guy obviously has dealt with confidence issues, but that is on the upswing. Let's keep the confidence high and slowly ease him into a bigger and bigger role. If he keeps it up from the last two games he will be closing soon.
3. I posted that I couldn't tell if it was Mag or Abouo out there. I didn't mean to say they looked the same. I meant to say they played the same. Abouo was a wing defender who could guard up and lock down when needed. Mag played terrific defense all night. He played 32 mins and was outstanding (and also hit a clutch 3 although please no more missed dunks). My post was a compliment to Mag who was playing like Abouo did.
4. Egor Demin was good last night. He needs to continue to take the ball to the hoop as a late score was big for us when he hung and used his height bank it in. He had some very good passes especially the one to Mag for the missed dunk.
5. I honestly am not sure Coach Young's late game infatuation with Hall (I trust Coach Young though). I like Hall, he made a big 3 for us. But they were going at him a bit defensively and offensively he isn't the player that a Knell or Baker is. He also had two late turnovers (his only two on the night) that were killer. Overall I thought he played fine, I just don't understand playing him the last 4 minutes of the game and 5 minutes of OT. I will say though that they said Knell looked hobbled which might be the reason that he went out and not Hall when Demin came in.
6. Knell led the team in +/- with +9. Keita, Egor and Catchings were all a -1 tied for the worst. It shows the variability of plus/minus as Catchings was our best player last night.
7. Fouss. I don't know what has happened this season but his finishing around the basketball has seemingly gone way down. He was 3-6 which is fine, but he should have made at least 2 more. They were easy. Also, he is a great offensive rebounder, but please get him to box out more defensively. We gave up 14 offensive rebounds last night and the majority were when he was in the game. Also someone needs to teach him he is not a huge shot blocker (he can block some, not saying he can't) and to quit jumping on every head fake he sees.
8. If Keita was 2 inches taller he would be an NBA guy. He has the athleticism. He is by far our best pick setter. But I feel like those 2 inches means he needs to jump to block shots every time as opposed to being able to stay down in a primary defensive position and make the guy shot through his hands.
9. To Coach Young, when you get up 6 with a couple of minutes left please don't go into a prevent offense. I understand running some block, but too often we end up starting with like 8 or 9 seconds on the shot clock and we get a prayer thrown up, if that. Running clock is important, but scoring is more important.
10. Refs and specifically Tony Padilla, why are you so bad? First let me say I am not complaining specifically for or against BYU. But in both halves the refs started off calling fouls and the foul count was heavily in BYU's favor only to change the type of calls they were making to even it out. At the end of the game every time Wright went to the hoop you simply called a foul if he touched somebody. Those weren't fouls the rest of the game so why were they then? I mean the bailout in regulation when he had nowhere to go was just that. When will refs figure out that a well called game is a consistently called game, not a an equally called game. Generally one team is going to foul more than the other and when that is the case it is ok to call it like that. Also, we don't need to review every ticky tack thing. A flagrant 2 on Knell? Come on. A flagrant on Mag for accidentally bumping someone? Neither of those required you to go to the monitor.
11. Kanon Catchings was 4-4 from 3. The rest of the team was 4-17. We have to shoot better as a team to win, but the fact that we did win shows the type of talent that we have. Oh and thanks Kanon for making that number respectable.
12. I was very impressed with Edgecombe (of course he went 6 for 8 from three so hard not to be impressed). He is probably worthy of a top 5 pick (I haven't scouted everyone else). I will say that I would not call him a Dwyane Wade clone. Wade had a 6'11" wingspan and Edgecombe a 6'5" wingspan. Wade is much longer than Edgecombe. I see Edgecombe as a playmaking guard closer to a Jalen Green type player, but better defensively and with better intangibles. Jalen Green is having a great year for Houston. I will say if there is an advantage to less wingspan it is generally the ability to shoot better. Edgecombe shot fantastic last night. If he can become the knock down shooter consistently that Dwyane Wade was not then all the better for him.
13. Richie was off all night shooting and fouled out on some touch fouls. Yet he finished with 17 points, 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals. He is such a good player and affects the game positively for BYU in so many ways.
14. That was BYU's best win of the season and BYU found a way to pull out a close win. To me that is a best case scenario for last night. This team is becoming mentally stronger and guys are stepping up with the game on the line. That didn't happen nearly as much a couple of weeks ago against Texas Tech, TCU and Utah.
15. For those of you that questioned Coach Young's coaching early in the season (you can see I question decisions, but I trust he knows what he is doing as he is a fantastic coach) I hope you can see how good of a coach he is. He had a good game plan that took advantage of Baylor's switching last night. Just a couple of weeks ago Egor and Catchings were "broke" and now they are performing at an extremely high level. His foul with 10 seconds left up three was 100% the right thing to do and worked to perfection. He is running some new actions and plays against different teams that have proven effective. I love where he has this team right now.
16. BYU needs to continue to win to make the tournament, but for most bracketologists they are on the right side of the bubble on January 29th. As most of us said since the beginning of the year we want to see the team peak in March. In my opinion we have taken a jump, hopefully the team has at least one more jump in them. If so, they will be a team no one will want to face in March. I have confidence that this staff will have the team humming in March.