Didn't see that coming

And from the Texas message boards:

I have never seen a bigger improvement in one week in any position group ever in all the football I've ever watched. That the offensive line imposed its will on Texas all night is crazy and I have no idea what happened. If we can see that kind of performance against Utah, it's going to be an interesting game. Full preview next week.

Coming soon

Near the end of BYU's final fall scrimmage, Taysom Hill showcased his knack for making big plays. One drive featured Hill ripping off a long sprint to set up an easy touchdown. The sophomore quarterback then delivered a pass covering 56 yards to tight end Brett Thompson to set up another score. BYU has promised to roll out a faster-paced offense this season that will regularly light up scoreboards like the Cougars did in their glory days. Hill is eager to prove he is the right quarterback to be at the controls of this revived attack.

Five days.

Can you feel that?

Goodbye, Riley

ksl.com

This will be my last post about Riley Nelson. My disdain for him is well documented, But he's gone now, having finally used up all of his college football eligibility. Having landed at Logan High School, teaching offense to bunch of teenagers, he will never throw another pass for BYU ever again.

Earlier this week, Nelson was interviewed on a local Salt Lake sports radio show. Among other topics, the hosts asked him about his health last season, when it was clear he was struggling to even move his arms in certain games. When asked specifically about the Utah game, Nelson gave this response:

The fractures were unstable in the University of Utah game meaning I could feel them grinding and shifting and moving in my back. … at halftime … there were moments where it was kind of hard to keep your mind focused, to keep your hand from shaking, but, you know it was great to have an opportunity to go out there and battle. … it was my senior year to play Utah at Utah — there was no way I was going to bow out or throw in the towel and my coaches were gracious enough to let me go ahead and compete.

Are you kidding me? A healthy Riley isn't even a competent quarterback, and here he is telling us that even terribly injured, he wasn't going to give up the chance to play Utah during his senior season. There's no mention of team. No mention of wanting to win. Just a selfish desire that it be HIM out on the field, gritting it out like only he know how.

The fact that Riley Nelson started 14 games for the Cougars is unfathomable. That Coach Mendenhall fell in love with Riley's heart and spirit and amazing good looks is very distressing. Can't we just play quarterbacks who are quarterbacks? I don't care if they are a prima donna (see: McMahon) or cries after losses (John Beck). If they can make all the throws with zip and accuracy, play them. If not, they ride the pine.

As far as this applies to the 2013 season, we know Taysom can run. We know he can throw the ball 60 yards. What we don't know is if he can get the ball where he wants it, every time. This season is his proving ground, in my opinion. Here's where he has to show accuracy. If, by the end of the year, he still has trouble hitting tight ends over the middle or dropping a pass into the hands of a streaking Cody Hoffman, I am all for exploring other options.

My point is, I hope we learn from the Riley Nelson fiasco. May we never play a converted fullback at quarterback again.

Mid-playoffs analysis

Photo by Issac Baldizon/NBAE via Getty Images

So yeah, the NBA playoffs are happening. Ever since we got rid of cable, I've watched maybe two entire NBA games. I still care, but not nearly as much as I used to, which makes sense, I guess.

The consensus among NBA experts and fans seems to be that this is the Heat's title to lose. I agree, and maybe that's part of my disinterest in this year's playoffs. After ripping off a 27-game winning streak and going 8-1 through the playoffs so far, LeBron has won something like 42 of his last 43 games. The only real threat to this team is maybe Memphis? but the Grizzlies just can't score enough versus a great defense to win four games.

And despite the Heat looking as vulnerable as you can while going 4-1 against Chicago, I feel like they're playing possum and conserving energy for when it really matters. Wade has looked like like an old man for the last few weeks (knee problems), but last night? When it was time to clamp down on the Bulls and earn some rest for the conference finals? 18 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds and 2 steals with only one turnover in something of a throwback performance. When it gets down to brass tacks, the Heat have another gear they can get into that no one else can touch.

That said, I really like what the Grizzlies are doing right now. Everything is built around strong, smart defense. Everyone, from Gasol to Allen Conley, know exactly where to funnel driving players and who to double team where and when. You cannot beat them going one-on-one, as the Thunder tried to do for much of that series. As everyone fretted about Memphis giving up their 20-point scorer Rudy Gay for essentially nothing earlier this season, the Grizzlies knew it was addition by subtraction. Getting rid of an inefficient scorer who is bad on defense makes your team better overall.

So here the Grizzlies are. No flashy free agent signings. No one scoring more than 15 a game. An All-Star banger down low (Randolph) and a Defensive Player of the Year (Gasol). Add in some lock down team defense and suddenly they're in the conference finals. The Jazz can do this.

Elsewhere, it was fun to see the Lakers flame out so spectacularly. It's been fun to see the Knicks fall apart when faced with some real defense from Indiana. It was unsurprising, but still kind of sad, to see the Nuggets fall apart in the first round after a great regular season. Just more proof that regular season success is no indicator of future championships.

As an aside, if you look at the likely final four teams: San Antonio, Memphis, Miami and Indiana, the Grizzlies and Pacers were #1 and #2 in defense this season. Miami was fourth and San Antonio was 9th.

Good luck making it far in the playoffs without an elite defense, everyone in the NBA.

Build around stars

Sports Illustrated

Lately there's been a lot of discussion about young talent versus experience as they relate to both the BYU football team and the Utah Jazz.

Situation A:

Jake Heaps commits to BYU amid great fanfare. He has a decent freshman season, and experiences a slump in year two, to the extent that the offense looks completely dead with him under center. With only nine touchdowns in five games to his eight interceptions, he was clearly struggling, and the coaching staff made the decision to bring in the more experienced Riley Nelson. Riley wins the 2011 Utah State game thanks to some last-minute heroics, and the short-term benefit is obvious.

Riley starts 16 of the next 17 games and Heaps transfers to Kansas. BYU won about half of these 17 games, though so many were against the likes of Idaho and Weber State it's hard to say the team was even that good.

The Riley Years turn out to be largely regarded as one of the worst periods in BYU football, especially since fans feel like the elite defense was wasted on an offense that couldn't even score a touchdown in some games. BYU is a middling program with no real shot at relevance nationally.

Situation B:

Al Jefferson is an established starting center in the NBA. He averages about 19 and 8 per game, but hasn't ever been on a real winning team in his entire career. The Jazz end up trading for Derrick Favors and Enes Kanter, both top-five draft picks and widely regarded to have a lot of potential. However, both Derrick and Enes struggle in limited minutes early with the Jazz, clearly not ready to lead the team to wins.

Jazz management make the decision to let Al have the run of the team for two years. Favors and Kanter are definitely bench players, never given major minutes except in the rare case of injury to the starters. The Jazz are a middling program with no real shot at relevance nationally.


Both cases, in my estimation, are examples of management choosing the known, limited value over the potential star talent. And both cases are massive mistakes.

To build a national contender. you need star talent at the core of your team. Miami did this with Wade, and then LeBron and Bosh. The Spurs did it with Duncan. The Lakers did it with Kobe and Shaq. Texas A&M is doing it with Johnny Manziel.

Great teams recognize star talent and make use of it as early and often as they can. They do not latch onto players who may be good, but not great. Smart GM's don't try and build around Luis Scola or Rudy Gay or Josh Smith. These players may be talented, may even make an All-Star team or two, but if they are expected to carry you to a championship, you're in for a world of hurt.

So find the stars. Play the stars. Cast aside the good-but-not-great players that might win you games now, but will never, ever take you to the promised land. Al Jefferson will never be the star on a championship team. Riley Nelson was never going to lead BYU to an undefeated season.

Does that mean Heaps would have? Does it mean Favors and Kanter will? I don't know. But you hitch your cart to the talent as far as it takes you. If it eventually proves itself to be of non-star-quality, start down a different path. But until that point, use it.

BYU gave up on Heaps way too soon. The Jazz have yet to give Favors and Kanter enough room to prove themselves capable or not. Both fell for the trap of wanting to win now rather than be elite later.

Here's hoping Taysom's talent can lift BYU to elite levels. Here's hoping Favors and Kanter are eventually proven stars, and become a fearsome frontcourt in the NBA on both ends of the floor as the Jazz become title contenders.

But if not, it's time to start looking elsewhere for the stars. New ones arrive every year.

BYU Football thoughts

www.ksl.com

I attended the BYU Spring Game a couple weeks ago with my Dad and brothers. It was surprisingly warm and we all got a little sunburned, with the exception of my Dad, who wore long sleeves and an Indiana Jones hat. Anyway, it was good to be at LaVell Edwards Stadium again, I became moderately excited for football this fall.

The problem with watching young quarterbacks at BYU is that most of them won't see the field for another 5-7 years, assuming they serve missions. So while it was nice that Tanner Mangum looked good throwing the ball, he won't get play for a looong time.

It seems Taysom Hill is the anointed starter. He didn't participate in full contact plays, but did sling the ball around a bit before the actual game began, and honestly, I wasn't super impressed. He sailed more than a couple passes across the middle, the kind that go over the tight end's head and are easy picks for safeties. I've always thought Hill's arm is strong enough to make the throws he needs to (unlike Max Hall or Riley Nelson), but accuracy was, and still is, a concern.

A couple days later, Hill gave an interview on a local sports radio station and actually impressed me quite a bit. He spoke about how the quarterback running plays where the QB is trying to find holes between the tackles are gone, and now any running he'll do will be outside the tackles, towards the sidelines and away from giant defensive linemen and linebackers. The coaches have introduced him to the art of sliding to avoid taking a big hit. He wants to throw deep post routes to Apo and Hoffman. His confidence level is very high, and he feels like he can dominate anyone, just like he did in high school.

So we'll see. I expect Taysom to be a major upgrade from where this team was last season, but will he approach Johnny Manziel levels? I doubt it, but if Taysom can be smart about using his legs to keep defenses honest, while using his arm to keep defenses honest, we could see some great things from him.

Anae's return is fine, I guess. I think he's a better OC than Doman by a long shot, but Anae's insistence that he could out-execute every team he played when he was first at BYU frustrated me to no end. I hope his time under Rich Rodriguez, known creative playcaller, has given him a bit of a unpredictable factor. If opposing defenses aren't quite sure what to expect from BYU this year, I'll take it was a win.

Jake Heaps tore it up in the Kansas Spring game last week, throwing for 257 yards, four touchdowns and no picks. Disclaimers: it was a spring game. Kansas' pass defense has been really bad the last couple of years. Still, if Heaps turns out to be a good-to-great quarterback, my frustration with Bronco for choosing Riley over him will no know bounds.

I'm very glad KVN is back for his senior season, and expect good things from the defense again. A tough schedule combined with an upgraded offense and a minorly downgraded defense (fare thee well, Ziggy) means somewhere between a 7-9 win season.