Welcome to CrashUtah – Where BYU fans Talk Sports

If you told me at the beginning of the season that BYU would have a share of the MWC championship, I would have been very happy. Well, I actually am happy for BYU, but it seems to be a kind of empty happiness.

This is one of the oddest seasons I’ve experienced. Usually BYU has one killer marquee win that makes you feel like the team has potential to be really great. Of course, that major marquee win (or two) is almost always paired with some loss which should have never happened.

A quick look at the losses and you see that BYU Basketball basically won the games they should have won and lost the games they should have lost. The only exception was the loss to UNLV at home. However, I don’t think anyone is really all that surprised that UNLV could beat us at home. UNLV always seems to find something extra special when playing BYU and so the loss wasn’t a huge surprise. Disappointing, but not surprising.

I think the hollow feeling I have is related to two losses to UNLV (which makes me really sick since I work at UNLV) and a loss to the Yewts (this is never good). Add in the near marquee win becoming a 1 point loss to Arizona St on a change of call alongside a competitive game against Wake Forest until the last 5-10 minutes and I sit here wondering if this team is for real or not.

The question remains of whether this team can finally do the deed and win the Las Vegas Invitational and then a win in the NCAA tournament. They haven’t given me a reason not to believe, but they haven’t given me a reason to believe either.

My greatest hope lies in Jimmer. We’ve dreamed about having a player at BYU who can take it to the hoop. We finally have him and I believe he’ll be the difference in March.

I couldn’t be more excited about tonights BYU game against #6 Wake Forest. I’m so glad that Wake Forest was willing to travel to the Marriott Center to face BYU.

As I’ve read through some articles on Wake Forest on stat stood out above the others. The Deacons lead the nation with 43.9 rebounds a game. They also lead the ACC (and rank fifth nationally) with a rebounding margin of plus 10.4.

Wake Forest’s rebounding margin is just scary when I think back to BYU’s previous games. The Utah State game in particular I remember BYU just getting worked over on the boards. BYU will have to find a way to manage the rebounding margin and work in the intangibles of playing at home to win the game.

I hope the Marriott Center isn’t like past BYU basketball games that have occurred over the break. The #6 team in the nation should be enough reason to pack the Marriott Center. Pack it in their like we’re playing the yewts.

In all of my reading of CougarBoard, the best BYU/Yewt post I’ve ever read has to be the following rules posted by IndyCoug.

1. No BYU fan should ever root for Utah. Period. There are 7 other conference members BYU fans can root for if they are truly concerned about SOS or the national profile of the MWC. It’s mathematically impossible for all 9 teams to be great each year, so there’s no shame, nay, it is even commendable to root for Utah to reside in that mathematically necessitated cellar-dweller position.

2. If BYU needs Utah to win a game in order for BYU to secure a conference title, BYU fans should not root for Utah, but merely against the team they are playing. Keep Utah out of the equation as much as possible.

3. BYU fans should not discuss the upcoming Utah football game more than their own upcoming football game (like this week on Cougarboard). Utah shouldn’t be a main topic of conversation. It should primarily reside in a dark, unspoken realm of disdain.

4. The only time Utah should emerge from a BYU fan’s dark, unspoken realm of disdain is when Utah loses. Only then is it permissible to briefly discuss the Ute’s sucking and discuss the manifold benefits of schadenfreude. Afterwards, the conversation about the Utes should be backburnered until their next loss.

5. Any time a Utah football player is particularly good (Alexis Smith, Widdle Weddle), no BYU fan should feel compelled or obligated to admit such, give credit to or show unabashed admiration towards. If you can’t say something bad about them, then say nothing at all. Please refer to points #3 and #4 if you’re confused about this.

If you have a problem with the above points, then maybe you need to take up a different team as your favorite collegiate team and dispense with the charade of claiming you’re a BYU fan.

I’m sure that many will be feeling the twisted emotion tonight when the Yewts face Oregon State. I believe tonight’s game fits with IndyCoug’s rule #2 above. We can certainly root against Oregon State.