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In the midst of my moping while at work about BYU’s terrible loss this evening, i noticed that the men’s basketball team was playing. Hoping that they could bring some happiness to my otherwise sullen day I decided to turn it on (thank you work for having DirecTV with all the channels).

It was an enjoyable game to watch, if not an exciting one. I needed a game where the outcome was not really in doubt for most of the second half. I will admit my outlook was very unsure coming into this year with the loss of some key players last year, namely Trent Plaisted. I was very impressed with the way they played though.

What a game Chris Miles had. He had some great moves to the basket, and continued to go for it, even when he missed a few. JT had a rough game, but every shooter goes through slumps, and he will work out of it. Cummard had another great game, and deserves all of the attention he is bound to get this year. When you are as good as he is, you find a way to score. It will be fun to see how teams try and stop him.

Perhaps the brightest spot I saw tonight was how well the cougars were with help defense. There were numerous drives where the defender got beat, but another cougar stepped in and filled the lane forcing the other team to kick it back out. I don’t think enough can be said about the importance of defense if BYU is to be successful this year especially once they start to play better teams with quicker players. We can’t expect them to go undefeated, but 5-0 is a great start. It should be another great year.

I don’t know if there is anything I hate more than losing. It just sucks no matter what. It doesn’t matter if the game is close, or a blowout. It doesn’t matter if you got beat or you lost(there is a difference). It doesn’t matter if it is any other team, or your rival losing just sucks.

So how was I rewarded on this day that could have been so beautiful? I was rewarded with a blowout loss, that we lost, to our biggest rival. I really wish I knew what was wrong today. I am a firm believer that no one person is to blame for any one loss, but it is hard to overlook the game that Max Hall had today.

Let me first say I am a huge Max Hall fan, and was thrilled when he was named the starter last year. I also believe he is absolutely on the same level as Graham Harrel, Sam Bradford, and Colt McCoy when he is on, but there is no doubt he was very off today. Throwing five picks, three of which led directly to touchdowns, is unacceptable. I am sure he would be the first person to admit that, and that he is beating himself up more than anyone else could, but it was just embarassing.

The saddest thing was that most of them weren’t even close. He was misreading plays like crazy all night long. I have just decided that even though he is a Junior, this is only his second year, so he was just getting the rest of his “sophomore slump” out that was left over from the TCU game. He will definately bounce back and come on strong next year. It’s just sad to already be looking to next year before Thanksgiving.