BYU 2011 Preview

I thought that Utah game really showed how good, if not better, BYU might be next year. Freshman Brandon Davies and his rookie teammate Tyler Haws combined for 27 points, 13 rebounds, and 3 assists. The team's Sophomores, not wanting to be outdone, combined for 25 points, 17 rebounds, and 4 assists of the their own (Noah Hartsock, Michael Loyd Jr, James Anderson, and Charles Abouo). The rest of the team had 19 points, 12 rebounds, and 3 assists (Miles, Fredette, and Emery).

Haws leaves on a mission to the Phillipines after the season is over, but Davies, I believe, will be back next year. I expect Fredette to test the waters of the draft, but not to hire an agent, and when he sees he won't get first round money, to come back for his senior season. We graduate Lamont Morgan Jr, Jonathan Tavernari, and Chris Miles. Two former starters (Tavernari has got to 6th man of the year in the conference, if they even give out that award) but we add Chris Collinsworth (F) back from a mission (started games in the 07-08 campaign), his brother Kyle Collinsworth (G) a top-100 high school recruit, Anson Winder (G) from Bishop Gorman High, and Nick Martineau (G) also returning from a mission.

With players coming in to fill the gap left by Haws and Tavernari (the Collinsworth brothers) and Loyd playing well enough to be an upgrade offensively to replace Morgan Jr off the bench, BYU is in a position to be as good or better next year with both Hartsock and Davies being an offensive upgrade at the 5 and guard play on level with this year's.

Leaving Position Points Rebounds Assists Reason
Miles C 5 3.6 1 Grad
Tavernari F 10.1 4.7 1.5 Grad
Morgan G 2 0.6 1.5 Grad
Haws G 11.7 4.5 1.6 Mission

Coming
K. Collinsworth G/F 23.2 10.8 8.7 Freshman* (Utah 4A SC as yet undecided)
A. Winder G 17 7 NA Freshman* (Nevada 4A State Champion)
C. Collinsworth F 3.2 4.8 0.45 RM
Martineau G 0.7 0.4 0.7 RM

* Stats are from High Scool games in their senior season only

I am happy that Haws has opted to go on a mission, he will be a big time contributor in the future. Davies opts to stay as he stands to get considerable playing time with Hartsock and Anderson the only other big men around. C. Collinsworth started 6 games in his 07-08 season with BYU and played well on a team that went 28-7 overall. Martineau was on that team as well, averaging about 5 minutes per contest.

The optimal replacements for those leaving are, in my opinion, as follows:

Hartsock for Miles (Davies has a pretty tough time playing solid defense and this will keep him from starting)

Loyd for Morgan (Loyd has shown in his extended minutes with Morgan out that he can score prolifically when Jimmer or Jackson are on the bench)

K. Collinsworth for Haws (Collinsworth is arguably the best player in Utah and one of the best BYU recruits in many years, he might have beaten out Haws to start had he opted not to leave on a mision)

C. Collinsworth for Tavernari (At 6'9", 205 lbs Collinsworth is more likely to play a true PF over Tavernari's version, which will be good for a team that needs more offensive rebounds because of how many shots the guards take)

Charles Abouo may become the most important player off the bench (maybe second to Loyd) and will need to step up big.

I know it is too early for post/preseason looking ahead, but I think that whatever this team accomplishes the rest of the way, it is likely that they will out-perform themselves next year. I just hope CSU beats Utah on Saturday so UNLV might go for the trifecta, losing to Utah for the third time this year in the MWC tournament so we can play Utah instead of UNLV. (A man can dream can't he?)