BYU Basketball: The curious case of the disappearing offense
By Shaun Gordon
There has been a theft. The BYU Basketball offense has gone missing, and the signs point to a few possible culprits.
Hey BYU basketball, where has all the offense gone?
For a team who started the season 18-5 and looked like a team on the NCAA Tournament bubble, that bubble has sure burst in a startling way. The Cougars are limping to the finish line of the regular season. They’ve gone 4-4 in their last eight games, and barely eked out two of those wins in overtime.
This is a BYU team that’s not playing good basketball right now.
Defense hasn’t been the side to blame for the Cougars. They’ve only allowed 70 or more points in regulation three times this month – 76 points scored by Loyola Marymount on February 1st, 75 by San Diego on Feb. 17, and 79 by No. 6 Gonzaga on Feb. 24.
Nope, it’s the offense that’s disappeared.
During non-conference play, the Cougars featured one of the most efficient offenses in the country. They passed the ball well, moved without the ball, and got good looks for easy points.
WCC play has been a whole different ballgame.
BYU Cougars Basketball
The Cougars averaged more than 77 points per game before conference play, and they’re averaging just over 72 points in the WCC. Five points may not seem like much, but it’s the difference between 76th in the nation and 207th. They’ve gone from an offense that was well above average to one that’s now well below.
Which begs the question: in this case of a missing offense, who or what are the culprits?
Stagnation
This culprit is purely based off the eye test alone. During WCC play, and especially in the last month, both ball movement and off-ball movement has decreased.
With the new offensive system and philosophy implemented this year, the focus has been on motion and movement to create good shots. They pace is much slower, and the run-and-gun style of offense was replaced with a patient, shot-clock-consuming, half-court offense.
The pendulum may have swung too far. As the season has progressed, the Cougars aren’t moving as crisply, aren’t getting as many easy looks, and tend to pass up good looks early in the shot clock because patience has possibly been preached too much.
Fatigue
This one goes hand-in-hand with the previous suspect. It’s no secret that the Cougar depth is dangerously thin, especially along the guard line. BYU is practically playing a four-man rotation for three spots in the backcourt, while five players are getting time in the two post positions.
The loss of Nick Emery has hurt the Cougars more than many grasp. Losing Eric Mika hurt, but BYU has had enough depth in the post to weather that storm. No one has been able to step up in the backcourt to replace the production of Emery.
Right now, three Cougars are playing more than 33 minutes per game: Elijah Bryant, Yoeli Childs, and TJ Haws. No Dave Rose-coached team has ever had three players take on that much of the minute load.
In fact, if this pace continues, Elijah Bryant will have played more minutes per game (34.4) than any other Rose-era player except for Jimmer Fredette and Tyler Haws.
That tends to wear you down.
Coaching Adjustments
The statistics point this one out. WCC coaches have figured out BYU’s offense, and the Cougars haven’t adapted.
During the second time through the WCC slate, the Cougar offense has been even worse. If you count only points in regulation, BYU is scoring less than 69 points per game. Once again, three points doesn’t seem like a lot, but it would drop the Cougars all the way down to 265th in the nation. That’s in the bottom-100 in the country.
If you take stagnation and fatigue as real factors in the offensive decline, then it’s on the coaches to see that and make the necessary changes to get things going again.
Maybe that means opening the offense back up, at least to a certain degree.
Maybe it means finding ways to give the workhorses a little more rest.
Whatever it means, it’s on the coaches to figure it out and make the adjustments. That’s what they’re paid to do.
The Culprit:
All of the above.
This team is playing stagnant on offense. They’re tired. Other teams have figured out their offensive system and the team hasn’t made the needed adjustments.
And the most worrisome part of it all is that there’s no time left to turn the ship around.
They’ve got to win it all in Las Vegas if they want to avoid another NIT season, and with this offense it’ll be another early exit in Sin City.