Once we hit tournament play, we ran into talented teams that had us scouted.

It happened in the Big12 tourney. Once the scheme was less of a novelty, it largely came down to our players making plays against other good teams’ players, and it was good enough for us to win 1 and go home.

Duquesne, a very good defensive squad, had the back cuts scouted and didn’t really give up anything. They were grabby and physical and instead of hitting back and/or playing through it, we let it take us out of our game. We could’ve still won had we simply stepped up and delivered an above average shooting performance or put the clamps on either of their scorers. We couldn’t. We lost.

On paper, 2024-25 is a squad where it should be more difficult to out-talent us at the point in the year when it largely comes down to very good, well-coached players going head to head for all the marbles. We’re missing continuity, effectiveness and execution though. It’s a different spot to be in that we’re used to seeing at BYU.