BYU Blasts Past Wofford And Gonzaga

March 21, 2011 by Jim · Leave a Comment

BYU In The Sweet 16

What a great weekend! BYU did what they had to do this weekend. They got the requisite amount of points from Jimmer Fredette, but they also got key contributions from the rest of the team. This is very important to moving forward from the emotional distress caused by the national media coverage of honor code violations.

The Wofford game on Thursday wasn’t much of a yardstick. The Cougars got a lot of contributions from players other than Fredette, but this was Wofford they were playing. Yes, Charles Abouo, Noah Hartsock, and Logan Magnusson scored in double figures, notching ten points each. Yes, Kyle Collinsworth nabbed eleven rebounds.

But you couldn’t help feeling that this was just a superior team taking care of business against a plucky but outclassed team that wouldn’t have finished over .500 in the MWC.

The game against Gonzaga, though, was a major eye-opener. For the Cougars to win against top-notch competition, it is going to have to go like it did Saturday. Here is the scenario:

Jimmer Fredette hits his first few shots. The other team keys on him, and this opens up the floor for everyone else. And everyone else comes through. Then the floor is opened back up for Fredette, who administers the finishing touches.

This is how it has to happen, and this is how it happened in Saturday. In a way, it was what happened against Wofford, but against much better competition.

Once again, three other players scored in double figures. Noah Hartsock scored thirteen, and demoralized Gonzaga with three for three shooting from beyond the three-point line. Jackson Emery scored sixteen points, and every one he scored seemed to be crucial. Stephen Rogers came off the bench to score ten. And Kyle Collingsworth picked up seven rebounds to go with six points.

Most of all, Jimmer Fredette only took 23 shots to score 29 points and added five free throws for a total of 34. Fredette scored 1.26 points for every shot from the field. When he is over a point per shot, BYU is usually going to win.

games current players basketball BYU Blasts Past Wofford And Gonzaga

Moving on…

Now, the Cougars go to New Orleans to play Florida. If they beat Florida, they get the winner of Butler vs Wisconsin. Florida is a winnable game, but it will be no cakewalk. The Gators may be far-removed from their two consecutive National Championships, but their team is full of players who were once elite recruits and has finally found its own identity.

The Gators who won the National Championship had a core that was tall and athletic. They turned out to be so talented that they almost made winning look easy. The current Gators are built in the mold of head coach Billy Donovan. They don’t have a roster full of first round NBA draft picks, but they are a very gutty, scrappy team. They play with passion and a lot of “basketball sense.” The Cougars can win this game, but they are going to have to play as well as they did against Gonzaga on Saturday. Anything less will result in an early exit.

If they beat Florida, cheer for Butler to beat Wisconsin. Wisconsin is a matchup nightmare for BYU, as Pitt would have been. They are too big and strong inside, and would exploit the lighter and smaller Cougars. They are also a very patient team that runs a lot of clock on offense, plays stifling defense, and can easily disrupt the tempo of a team that relies on outside shooting.

Wisconsin wins ugly, but they win. And their style of game fits NCAA Tournament play extremely well. Butler, on the other hand, is a matchup that the Cougars can win. They don’t do anything great, but do a lot well. They are a well-balanced team, but they don’t present the almost-insurmountable matchup problem that Wisconsin would.

What BYU Must Do Against Florida

The Florida game is going to have to be almost a carbon copy of the Gonzaga game for the Cougars to win. Fredette will need to hit a few early and hope that Florida doubles him or plays a zone that focuses on him. This will open up the floor for other players.

Then, Hartsock will have to hit from outside and Emery will have to slash his way to the basket once the court is opened up. Kyle Collinsworth will also have to continue to rebound as well as he has, and another great set of contributions from the bench players would be a major bonus.

Fredette will once again have to average more than one point per shot. He should get to the line against Florida, who like to play pretty tight on defense, but the points per shot statistic will be more important than his total number of points.

Will BYU’s Depth affect their Performance this week?

So far, Kyle Collinsworth has played admirably in place of Brandon Davies. However, there isn’t anyone to fill his slot on the bench as well as he did. This could be a problem, but may not. So far, the Cougars have done just fine.

If this was a tournament like most conference tournaments, where you play three or four games in a row with no rest days, the effect of Davies’ suspension on team depth could be a major detriment, as it may have been in the MWC tournament. It is very possible that BYU simply “ran out of gas” against SDSU while playing their third game in three days.

In the NCAA Tournament, though, you play two games a week with a day’s rest in between. There is plenty of time to rest and heal nagging injuries. Also, everyone is running on adrenaline in both games, and fatigue doesn’t really seem to factor in as much as it would in conference tournaments.

A Quick Prediction…

The Cougars will beat Florida in New Orleans on a last-second shot by, who else, Jimmer Fredette. If Butler beats Wisconsin, BYU will be able to get by them and into the Final Four. If they have to play Wisconsin, though, it will probably be a long flight back to Provo.