NCAA Preview: BYU Cougars
Posted by rtmsf on March 18th, 2009BYU (#8, West, Philadelphia pod)
vs. Texas A&M (#9)
Thurs. 3/19 @ 12:30pm
Vegas Line: BYU -2
Thanks to Vegas Watch for providing these graphs that measure the moving average of a team’s spread (moving avg.) over time vs. the spread for each individual game (indiv). If a team’s moving average is higher than zero, then Vegas currently has a higher opinion of them than Pomeroy, and vice versa.
General Profile
Location: Provo, Utah
Conference: Mountain West, at-large
Coach: Dave Rose, 85-28
08-09 Record: 25-7, 13-5
Last 12 Games: 10-2
Best Win: vs. Utah, 63-50, 2/28
Worst Loss: vs. UNLV, 70-76, 1/21
Off. Efficiency Rating: 114.3, 22d
Def. Efficiency Rating: 90.8, 23d
Nuts n Bolts
Star Player(s): Lee Cummard, 17/6/3 assts on 52%/39%/87% shooting
Unsung Hero: Jackson Emery, 8/4/3 assts/2 stls in the backcourt
Potential NBA Draft Pick(s): Cummard, #51, 2009 draft
Key Injuries: None
Achilles Heel: Rebounding. BYU doesn’t board the ball very well (90th)
Will Make a Deep Run if…: The shots fall for the nation’s #7 shooting team (49%) and they manage to avoid teams with size (UConn looms in round two).
Will Make an Early Exit if…: The Cougars realize they lost to this same Texas A&M team in the first round last season.
NCAA History
Streak: 3
Distance to First Round Site: 2,156 miles to Philadelphia
Prediction: BYU tested itself with games against Arizona St. and Wake Forest early in the season. Both were losses, but both were close until the end. It says here that the toughness of Cummard, Jonathan Tavernari and Jimmer Fredette get a win over Texas A&M this year before falling to UConn.
Major RTC stories: None
Preview written by… RTC
