BYU men’s hoops back in the top 10. It’s Jimmertime in Provo.
I figured this could be a bloggernacle catch-all thread for the awesomeness that is BYU hoops this season. BYU cracked the top ten in the coaches poll this week after going into Las Vegas and completely stomping the Runnin’ Rebels. (Jimmer Fredette dropped 39 points on their noggins.) The Cougs are now 16-1.
I’ll use this post to update progress of the team over the next few week. BYU heads to Salt Lake tonight to play the struggling Utes.
Have you been keeping up on the BYU hoops team this year? If not you should be.
Sound off below.
Some of the shots he was hitting at UNLV were flat-out sick.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2oFPIEa1KM
Comment by Tim J — January 11, 2011 @ 3:06 pm
Nice link Tim. Here are some articles gushing with Jimmer love:
http://college-basketball-blog.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/26283066/26896659
http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/20711/the-byu-bandwagon-departs-today
Comment by Geoff J — January 11, 2011 @ 3:37 pm
Kaboom! Jimmer explodes for 32 points in the FIRST HALF against Utah. Finishes with 47 in a blowout win.
Jimmer was the lead story tonight on Sportscenter, including a live phone interview.
Comment by Geoff J — January 11, 2011 @ 9:35 pm
Outstanding. What I want to know is: fifty years from now, will every good basketball player be able to shoot like that?
Comment by Mark D. — January 11, 2011 @ 10:59 pm
5 years from now.
Comment by john f. — January 12, 2011 @ 3:56 am
Holy hell that was a great performance last nights. I’m personally holding a grudge against BYU for waiting to have such a spectacular year for when I’m across the Atlantic and can’t follow it as well as normal. Boo.
But that’s my only critique.
Comment by Ben — January 12, 2011 @ 4:30 am
The games against SDSU could be epic…
Comment by L-d Sus — January 12, 2011 @ 5:24 am
Wow. Thanks for the update.
Comment by Stephen M (Ethesis) — January 12, 2011 @ 6:55 am
The Question is whether there is an ontological gap between Jimmer and the rest of the rest of the players.
Comment by Matt W. — January 12, 2011 @ 8:02 am
Very funny, Matt
Comment by Mark D. — January 12, 2011 @ 8:44 am
Lol
(Literally Matt #9)
Comment by Geoff J — January 12, 2011 @ 8:56 am
I gots the luv for Jimmer.
The only question now is how many tourney games they can win. I think the answer is probably 2. I hope I am wrong.
Comment by bbell — January 12, 2011 @ 9:14 am
Yeah, it will be interesting to see how this success translates into the postseason. Traditional opinion holds that jump-shooting and quick-scoring teams don’t always last, because they are bound to have an off-night and won’t be able to play the grind-it-out type of game necessary to go deep into the tournament.
But, the thing is, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to imagine BYU–and more specifically, Jimmer–having an off-night.
Comment by Ben — January 12, 2011 @ 9:49 am
Jimmer’s rightfully receiving the bulk of the attention, but BYU’s ability to play as a team in which each member accepts and thrives in his respective role has contributed to their success this year. And Jimmer isn’t the only one racking up individual accomplishments. Emery became BYU’s all-time leader in steals last night (passing Danny Ainge), and Hartsock and Davies have both stepped it up and exceeded expectations as undersized big men.
Comment by Christopher — January 12, 2011 @ 10:19 am
I worry about Jimmer getting shut down by a super athletic guard from a major conference in the Tourney
Comment by bbell — January 12, 2011 @ 1:36 pm
Don’t worry bbell. There is not a player in the country that can shut down Jimmer alone for 40 minutes. Even the best teams in the country would have to throw multiple guys at him if they really wanted to shut him down. But if they do that there will be other BYU players open and most of those guys can make teams pay.
A bigger risk BYU faces in the tourney is getting overwhelmed inside. But there are only about 2-3 teams in the country that pose a real threat on that front.
The biggest risk in the Big Dance is having an opponent get hot on an off night for BYU. But that sword cuts two ways and BYU could get hot too.
Comment by Geoff J — January 12, 2011 @ 1:50 pm
I dunno Geoff. Remember Duke’s JJ Reddick? He was about as good as Jimmer and got shut down in the tourney every year by more athletic teams. I guess we will have to see.
Comment by bbell — January 12, 2011 @ 2:01 pm
I still don’t understand how a brilliant talent like Jimmer escaped the elite ACC b-ball schools: Duke, UNC, Maryland. He was practically in their backyard. He really belongs in the ACC playing and dominating against superior talent on a regular basis. Good for BYU they got him. As an ACC fan, I wish he were here; he belongs here.
Comment by rbc — January 12, 2011 @ 2:27 pm
bbell,
I don’t think Jimmer is all that similar to Redick. Both shoot the lights out from distance, but Jimmer has a seemingly bottomless bag of tricks around the basket — something that could not be said of Redick. Sure, teams might be able to “hold” Jimmer to the 20’s but that is not stopping Jimmer, just slowing him a little.
The best defense against Jimmer is the mono virus.
Comment by Geoff J — January 12, 2011 @ 2:34 pm
rbc,
This is the wrong year to be crowing about the ACC. Beyond Duke the conference isn’t very good this year.
Comment by Geoff J — January 12, 2011 @ 2:35 pm
True re: the ACC, but ACC hoops fans routinely have years like BYU fans are having this year. Enjoy the ride while it lasts b/c they are fun. It probably wouldn’t be too optimistic to start looking at tickets for Sweet Sixteen locations and, ahem, even the Final Four. If BYU keeps this up they should be looking at a very high seed which always helps in the tournament. Of course they may get hurt a bit by having to be shoehorned into the Thurs-Saturday brackets, but they should earn a high seed anyway.
I still say Jimmer looks out of place at BYU.
Comment by rbc — January 13, 2011 @ 4:42 am
I was not aware that Glenn Falls, NY was “practically in the backyard” of ACC schools. In fact, the only school remotely close to Jimmer’s hometown in the ACC is Boston College. According to his profile, the only schools from the ACC that recruited him were Wake Forest, NC State, and Virginia Tech.
Comment by Christopher — January 14, 2011 @ 8:56 am
True Christopher. I have seen several Syracuse fans bemoaning the fact that they let Jimmer get away though. He was from the Big East backyard.
rbc — All-Americans and POY candidates don’t make it to BYU very often so of course he is an anomaly there. Ainge was too.
Of course I think you are wrong about how Jimmer “looks”. As a 6’2″ white kid Jimmer looks right at home at BYU. That’s probably why he wasn’t recruited more vigorously by those Big East and ACC schools. But his game is dazzling.
Comment by Geoff J — January 14, 2011 @ 10:13 am
JJ Redick was a great college player and is a decent NBA one, but he’s more of a run around a bunch of screens (like Reggie Miller) to get an open shot. Jimmer creates his own shot 90% of the time. Off the top of my head, there are two current NBA point guards Jimmer has played, and neither could stay in front of him- Jeff Teague (wake forest) and Armon Johnson (nevada). IMO, only the Kansas State guards last year, on a strictly one on one basis, were able to get the better of Jimmer.
Comment by Lance — January 14, 2011 @ 11:17 am
Basketball rectruiting budgets at Duke, UNC, MD, if there are any, make the entire state of NY in the backyard of those ACC powerhouses. (It is to their collective shame they allowed someone as good as Jimmer to flee across the country w/o even trying.) And, NY is also in the backyard for ACC football, not that it is much better recently than ACC basketball. Scan the roster of ACC programs and you’ll see them littered with NE football talent, at least the ones who escape the evil clutches of Penn State. (If only we could better penetrate Southern talent-rich states for football.) Silly point, really.
Take it from me, going deep into the Tournament and Final Fours are an absolute blast, especially in person. BYU fans are probably unfamiliar with the annual conflict between the Final Four (April 2 & 4, 2011 in Houston this year) and the Priesthood Session of GC. Double check your calendars now, b/c that may be a real issue for BYU fans this year. I have about 10 solid reasons why it is perfectly acceptable/reasonable to skip the priesthood session in favor of the Final Four. For us in the East, the National Championship game is less of an issue since it usually starts late enough to pack in a FHE before tip off or at least move it to Sunday in honor of the game. The timing conflict between the Saturday Final Four games and Priesthood Session is irreconcileable: it’s one or the other. I know, the horns of a dilemma.
Comment by rbc — January 14, 2011 @ 11:20 am
Lance,
It is true that KSU “held” Jimmer to 25 or so points, but they didn’t do it with strictly one on one defense. It was a team effort with All-American Jacob Pullen leading the defensive effort. (Had the officials called that game a little tighter Jimmer could have made a killing at the line. But alas, mugging is sometimes allowed.)
Comment by Geoff J — January 14, 2011 @ 11:43 am
rbc,
In defense of all the teams that missed out on Jimmer; white kids with average height and average athleticism are not usually on the recruiting wish list. Sure Jimmer was a prolific scorer, but he was from a smallish high school so it is not surprising they didn’t see his potential.
Plus Jimmer is Mormon and BYU has a leg up on active Mormon athletes in many cases.
Comment by Geoff J — January 14, 2011 @ 11:47 am
Geoff,
Jimmer had 21, and was 5 for 13 from the field so his shooting wasn’t as bad as what I thought it was (I just looked up the box score). Pullen had 34 (and did get away with mugging Jimmer a few times) but he also had four steals-a couple of times off Jimmer and from what I remember, he completely took away Jimmer’s crossover.
It will be interesting to see what comes out of the pre draft nba workouts, I think Jimmer will test out higher than average with respect to quickness, speed and jumping ability.
Comment by Lance — January 14, 2011 @ 1:05 pm
Apart from this BYU sports related thread, I just want to add how much I enjoy this blog overall. There is a lot of intelligent, thoughtful, provacative, challenging and entertaining stuff here. Even the BYU sports stuff is way more even handed than what I typically am subjected to at Church and I gather you are a really big BYU fan. Keep up the good work.
Comment by rbc — January 14, 2011 @ 9:14 pm
provocative, not provacative.
Comment by rbc — January 14, 2011 @ 9:15 pm
Earlier this week at work (in Virginia) I passed a room with a tv that was showing SportsCenter and the #1 play of the previous day – Jimmer’s nearly half court shot – had just aired. Some guy pointed up at Jimmer on the screen and said, “That guy right there. That guy is bad.”
Comment by Eric Russell — January 16, 2011 @ 10:22 pm
Nice Eric.
Comment by Geoff J — January 16, 2011 @ 11:26 pm
BYU came in at #9 in both polls today.
Comment by Geoff J — January 18, 2011 @ 12:54 am
More important than that Geoff, they’re now #1 in the RPI (an important tool apparently used by the committee in selecting and seeding teams).
Huge game on Wednesday hosting SD St. ESPN says its bigger than Duke-UNC.
Comment by Tim J — January 24, 2011 @ 12:55 pm
Yep, and the hype for tomorrow night’s game could not be higher. My prediction: BYU 88 SDSU 80.
Comment by Geoff J — January 25, 2011 @ 9:29 am
Hmm, today SI offers tips on controlling Fredette just in time for the SDSU game.
Comment by Justin — January 26, 2011 @ 3:56 pm
The Marriott Center better be rockin’ tonight. SDSU is good.
Comment by Don Johnson — January 26, 2011 @ 4:35 pm