Jim French Stepstool

Talked about this earlier--if UW isn't making threes, they aren't going to stop shooting them. Eventually water has found its' level this season & the percentages justify shooting them. Today 7-29, the starting five 2-21. BYU won the rebounding battle 41-36 but it seemed much worse to me, probably because of the OREBs. It seemed like BYU made an emphasis to battle for 2nd & 3rd looks, and we responded poorly. I remember one time just ahead of the under 8 TO there was a BYU miss, Winter had perfect box out position, and his man still scrapped, battled from behind Winter w/o fouling & somehow kept the possession alive. That, and the 50-50 balls were mostly no contest today. Cougars were awfully good today, and obviously we need to be much better in an atmosphere like that. BYU seemed to play as if THEY were the team that lost a close one in the tourney last year & wanted revenge. Impressive energy. Austin Rapp is going to pay a lot of dividends this season, for sure. But today kinda illustrated how important it is to get offense from him cuz the ancillary stuff, at least today, was non-existent. Positives, I would say the bench wasn't a huge factor but competed, and Carrington & Janicki actually provided a little offense as well. My favorite comment from the announcing team was about the enthusiastic support in the stands & how well the BYU fans travel. Really? Provo is like 40 miles away, and you would assume many of their alums live right in SLC.

Spot-on. Then after the three, the next two BYU possessions were missed shots, but one resulted in a putback dunk, the other a long rebound where Boyd committed his 3rd foul.

The two early fouls on Boyd seemed to hurt quite a bit. I didn't expect them to struggle that much with him on the bench, but it was a pretty bad stretch. I agree re foul calls in the college game. Some of these 'points of emphasis' & changes every off-season, IMO there's no need for it. Basketball IS a contact sport. I don't think anyone wants to watch a "he's a projected top ten pick & missed the shot, so It must've been a foul" type game. That said, BYU is showing great aggressiveness & many of the calls today are probably legit. Need to stop the ball w/o having to help a lot. Tough vs this group.

Early on, I thought they were defending OK, mostly. But it got worse later on, not dealing well with some really good ball movement, not stopping penetration. Of course, this IS a really talented BYU group. Dybantsa, there were times we did all we could & it made no difference. A couple OREBS allowed late in the half hurt quite a bit. I think we're somewhat guilty of getting rattled on the offensive end. Jones, he played like this is a little too big of a stage for him right now, and maybe it is. Rapp had about as bad a half of basketball as you can imagine. Winter was pretty active but needs help inside. There IS some foul trouble brewing on BYU's side as well, so we'll see if UW can settle down, get some good looks, get back to the FT line.

If he had #s like he put up in '24 would that make him a functional starter in your opinion?

Given his glove, I think a season like Ortiz had w/the bat in 2024 is pretty damned acceptable. I'm not ready to accept a poor offensive season at age 26 as the norm quite yet. There's a lot to be said for rolling with him again next year while Pratt & Made add seasoning.

And maybe a period here or there. That would be refreshing.

I agree that most of the shots from 3 have been good looks, and Gard doesn't seem to mind if they're early in the clock. What's key is that if the defense is extended the screen & roll needs to hum since posting up isn't a big part of the picture, at least not now. And like you said, Boyd & Blackwell driving the ball.

The defense has been showing signs of more consistency but isn't "there" yet, which is why I'm not overly optimistic about the BYU game. From what I've seen so far, a win on Friday would need to be a 92-87 type game and I don't know about them shooting it well enough for 40 minutes to do that in their first trip outside the state, and vs quality. But the guards have it in them to defend, and the bigs are getting there--Rapp in particular did some nice 'dirty work' on Monday. Dybantsa for BYU is a really tough matchup. I'm guessing Rohde gets the call.

I thought I heard sports journalists sticking in their lanes outside my window this morning, but it was just a herd of flying elephants in Bermuda shorts.

Can't agree more. And if/when needed, all three perimeter guys can run point. Nice versatility on the roster.

And four for the game (team total), and one was questionable as the ball was pinballed around & maybe should not have been ruled a TO. That's Dick Bennett-type stuff, while playing much faster. Keeping that # low helps justify the high 3pt volume, too. A cold spell from deep can kill you if it's combined with 15 trips where you get no shot off.

I mentioned the other day about the high volume of 3pt shots & how I don't see it changing much. That'll make for some roller-coaster sequences. Like last night, I may not have this nailed perfectly but I believe they started out 1-9 from three, then made 7 of the next 9, then something like 3-12. At the end of the day, 15-39 is a percentage that pretty much justifies the high volume. SIUE really packed in their defense too, which mitigated the drives to the hoop & the screen & roll game. Would still like to see the occasional post up from Winter. If nothing else, passes out of the post almost always result in better 3pt looks. He isn't stuffing the stat sheet AFA scoring or rebounding, but Garlock had 4 more assists last night. Sees the floor really well for a FR big. Once he develops somewhat of a mid-to-low post offensive game his ability to pass will put some terrific pressure on defenses. Outside of a little too much penetration allowed, they guarded pretty well. Some really tough bank shots on drives from SIUE in the first half kept UW from maybe allowing around 60pts, which in todays' game is pretty outstanding. Maybe the most impressive thing from SIUE's perspective is shooting almost 45% & scoring 69 pts with their best scorer (Malith) in foul trouble for virtually the entire game. I suspect they'll make noise in the OVC. There were two commercials on the video board last night, one UW sponsored & one for Piggly Wiggly, featuring Zack Kinziger. They've been talking about trying to sign kids to NIL deals of multiple years. I wonder if something like that has been hammered out with Kinziger, since it appears he isn't playing this season. It would be a refreshing development.

I'd be really surprised if Fenderson played any PG for UW. He certainly seems like a wing forward to me. Some got a tiny bit anxious when Balls' signing was a couple days behind Fendersons'. Maybe just a long-distance thing. Yeah, he's versatile & I agree the ceiling is pretty high. He's apparently spent a lot of time playing 'up' in relation to his age range.

Yes. We're about to head out to the KC. It's one of those games where you want to get out to a good start----they've done that defensively the last two times out---and if you do so, don't let down as Indiana seemed to vs Incarnate Word.

Signing day was last week and both committed freshmen signed & are in the fold for next season, LaTrevion Fenderson from Racine & Jackson Ball from New Zealand. Both are 6'5"-ish but Fenderson is more of a physical player who has a nose for the ball & whose best offensive game right now is from about 16ft & in while Ball is a guard with versatility who has competed successfully vs older competition & has a real shot at early minutes next year if Blackwell leaves early, and probably even if he doesn't. Still recruiting Dominykas Daubaris, an 18-yr-old 6'9" forward from Lithuania who was in for a visit last month.

My unscientific theory is that the early book on Durbin vs MLB pitching is that his strength was middle-out & he should be pitched inside, which played into some balls going too far in and his being plunked. But he showed an ability, especially late in the year, to turn on balls w/some power. If it results in some reluctance to go inside that in itself would cut into his HBP rate. Either way I agree getting hit at a 4.7% rate isn't sustainable. I'm guessing he'll be a solid OBP guy regardless. For a rookie the swing decisions were mostly good & his K rate was very impressive.

Yeah, I read about the $10 per hour service industry jobs & had to check the date of the post. I thought I was in some kind of time warp where the post somehow pre-dated internet message boards.

So much of the OF being productive across the board seems to rely on Mitchell coming through, which is disconcerting due to his inability to stay on the field as well as the swing-and-miss issues. Nevertheless, I think he makes the roster assuming he gets through March in one piece. More than enough natural ability to keep from pulling the plug just yet. As long as uncertainties re Mitchell remain, Perkins will have a role here. This assumes money or player capital won't be going towards OF help, which would be my guess. After '26, perhaps Luis Lara fills a Perkins-type role. AFA a vet FA lasting deep into the offseason for a cheap price, I wouldn't mind Refsnyder as a righty PH & perhaps a once-a-week start vs a LHP. But he doesn't fit the defensive profile that the organization likes.

Maybe it's petty, I dunno. But part of me loves The Brewers finishing ahead of Counsell both years after he left, with back-to-back MOTY hardware for the guy who more than replaced him.

More-or-less as expected vs Ball State. The Cardinals were a small team, but even considering that the UW bigs were all very impressive on the defensive end. Fundamentally sound, boxed out, not much reaching. Another double-double from Winter, three blocks from Rapp, and Bieliauskas & Garlock combined for 10 rebounds with no TOs & four assists. Just like the NIU game, things got sloppy after building a big lead, and to be honest Bucky looked lousy & uncertain when BSU went to the 1-3-1 zone. Teaching point. Obviously 15 TOs is more than you'd like. Blackwell got up 6 shots, not one of them from inside the arc. Just not a good decision-making night from him. I guess if he has a night like that, have it in a buy game in November. It really seems at times like they hoist too many 3PT shots (38 attempts tonite). As I alluded to, you don't want Blackwell going an entire game w/o attacking. Yet they shot around 37% from deep, which analytically most coaches will take. And Gard encourages the high volume so as long as they're good looks I don't see that changing much. I see a little bit of a trap game element next. SIUE is the last 'take the opponent for granted' type game before BYU. Yeah, UW should win it, but this is probably the toughest opponent out of the first four, and they have a little bit of experienced size. It'll also be a Super Bowl for starting guard Jack Campion, who hails from Milton. Just one of those games where you don't want to overlook the opponent, a little like UTRGV last year around this time. Mason Jones (#24 for Ball State) had an outstanding game on both ends. Very active & smart.

I think not. Both Carrington & Janicki are ahead of him defensively. Barring health issues I don't see him rising above 10th man, which would give him mostly some 1st half time AFA quality minutes are concerned. The current team definitely is deeper in the backcourt than the 13-14 squad. That gave Koenig a path to bench minutes that year (I think that was the season George Marshall left the team, and Marshall was in the rotation the year before. Not that he was better than Koenig, but his leaving maybe expedited Koenigs' role a bit earlier).

I didn't 'hate' the trade either, but at the time I wished we could've gotten Jansen for a lotto tic or two rather than giving up Areinamo. I suppose the glut of MINF in the organization made it more palatable. Still.........

I think as time goes by, the 3pt marksmanship could be the difference between Jones being a complete offensive player & simply a good but not great one. His shooting form looks textbook to me, so we'll see. As an upperclassman I see him as an effective wing that can slide to the point at times if need be--not a 'pure' PG but in the mold of a Klesmit or a Davison.

Here's another good one. There were two TDs in the game. One was a 7 YD drive; the other 1 YD.