Random thoughts on the Utah Valley game

[.44caliberkiller]

1. Say what you will about Edwards, and I for one have been quite critical of him at times this season. But you have to give him credit for getting this team ready to play and not packing it in after the disastrous game against Air Force. One of the reasons I feel like so many are down on us playing in the CBI this year, is the fact when we played in it in the past we were just basically going through the motions and seemed uninterested. A big part of coaching is getting your players to go to battle for you, and while I think we can all agree Edwards has a long way to go it's been great to see him and the team continue to fight.

2. I hate to say this but it looked like we were the team who was getting tired. And that should never happen, as we play at the highest elevation of any team in the country. Hopefully along with hitting the weight room hard during the off-season we also work on our conditioning. Playing at 7220 can be one of our biggest advantages, and an advantage than no one else has. For a University that doesn't have a lot of advantages in athletics, we shouldn't squander the ones we do indeed have.

3. Naughton had a very good offensive performance minus one boneheaded 15 foot jump shot attempt. At times Naughton gets such good position down low he makes scoring look so easy, he was even backing down Utah Valley's big man Neilson. Then for some reason he just disappears for long stretches of time. Edwards has alluded to the idea that Naugton needs to "demand the ball" and play with more urgency. Hopefully he gets to that point next year because I think he can be one of the better big men in the conference.

4. It was awesome to see Mcmanamen get to 1,000 career points, and it was even better that he did it on basically a game winning shot. Jmac was solid on the offensive end for the most part and he actually chipped in 5 rebounds which was a nice change of pace. But he was absolutely murdered on the defensive end and for some reason we had him covering their leading scorer Toolson for a majority of the game. Toolson was able to penetrate at will and scored 15 points in the first half, and while he didn't score in the second half him beating Mcmanamen off the dribble initiated much of their offense in the half.

5. Other than Mcmanamen I thought we played pretty solid defense. We held them to 36.7% from the field and 27.3% from the arc. Which is pretty impressive, because as for as the eye test goes Utah Valley looked like one of the better offensive teams we've played all season. Their ball movement was excellent and kept constant pressure on our defense, but we gave great effort and we were able to limit the damage despite giving up some easy hoops in the paint.

6. It was nice to see us not "live by the three or die by the three" as it has been for so much of the time this season. The three's weren't going in, but instead of continuing to jack them up we found other ways to score. We had several dunks, mid range jump shots, and were able to get to the line just enough to get the victory.

7. James foul trouble was mishandled by both himself and Edwards. When James got his third foul there was around 12 minutes to go and we were only up by 3. He was rightfully pulled from the game but he sat for only a couple of minutes while we were still maintaining a small lead. There was no need to bring him back into the game so soon while we were still maintaining or extending our lead. So that's on Edwards. James picked up his 4th foul soon there after on a boneheaded play where we were already beaten for a layup but he compounded the problem by trying to challenge the shot. He has got to know better that, and that's on him.

8. I thought the reffing wasn't particularly very good but for once I thought we got the benefit more often than not. I thought we got several bail out calls when we were driving the lane that lead to us shooting a lot of free throws. I'm not sure what the rule is, but how is their coach able to grab the ball before it's officially out of bounds while James was in position to make a play on the ball?

9. Herndon was exhibiting a nice little mid range game. He hit three mid rangers, and it was particularly nice to see because although being a proficient three point shooter he hasn't shown much proclivity for hitting mid range jumpers. That would be huge for both him and the team if he could add that weapon to his arsenal.

10. Dalton's shot has gone AWOL. But it was nice to see him to continue to play hard and rebound even though his shot wasn't falling. Even on nights when Dalton's shot isn't going in, he can still be a force on the boards. That's exactly what he did against Utah Valley as it seemed like he was the one guy out there rebounding with a purpose. I just wish on nights that he doesn't have his shot working that he not try to force it, and just focuses on rebounding.

11. Lieberman has been showing off some sweet alley-oop skills as of late. I believe he has initiated an alley-oop three times in the last two games. I wish we tried the alley-oop more often, because the opportunity is constantly there. Obviously NBA players are more skilled but they use the alley-oop frequently and make it look so easy, I just think we could incorporate it more since most times we try it, it is successful.

12. Hopefully we can fill the AA a little more for the championship round. I'll never understand Wyoming fans. We travel to away games, bowl games, the mountain west tournament so well but we can't seem to show up for home games. I understand that a lot of people don't care about the CBI, but is the men's CBI really that much different than the WNIT? Women's basketball is so top heavy it's ridiculous, where as the men's game has a lot more quality and depth. Although I would say the WNIT has more prestige than the men's CBI, I don't think the difference should be crowds of 2,500 for the CBI and over 15,000 for the WNIT.

[stymeman]

That Wolverine squad reminded me of BYU Jr.....pesky, sneaky fast and still worthless LOL

[LanderPoke]

I was pleased to see we didn't resort to taking 30 threes. Herndon shouldn't shoot any transition threes ever.

I'm a little disappointed in the crowd, too, but Edwards' B.S rotations all year and the Air Force debacle left a bad bad taste in people's mouths. I bet we see 4k there for the game on Wed.

Our guards, mostly JMac and Lieberman, didn't have a prayer of keeping their guards our of the lane and got beat off the dribble every time. Need to improve that somehow.

JMac has hit some big shots late in games throughout his career. Took some nads to convert on that and 1.

Now the Pokes get to take a trip to South Carolia in March. I wouldn't mind going to SC right about now. See what hard work and focus will get you? lol

[cali2wyo]

While there weren't many fans there, pretty much everyone was passionate and engaged. It sounded just as loud if not louder than many of our regular season games on TV at least

[LanderPoke]

While there weren't many fans there, pretty much everyone was passionate and engaged. It sounded just as loud if not louder than many of our regular season games on TV at least

It was a good crowd for the size. It got legitimately loud a couple times.

[Vt poke]

Their big man Neilson was tough! 6-11, 245 and 25 years old is tough to compete against. Any idea what Coastal Carolina brings?

[McPeachy]

Hey .44caliberkiller - great recaps this year on our games, loved them.

On point #8, I cannot, for the life of me, understand how that was not a technical and possession call by the referees.