#21 BYU at Creighton - Wednesday 7pm

[cu8493]

The one thing that I come away from last night's game is that anyone who voted Kenny Lawson as pre-season MVC player of the year has not really been paying attention. He has been, is now, and I suspect for the rest of his career will be soft as putty. Perhaps when Echineque is eligible and Kenny can more out to the four part of the time he will find more success (if he hasn't so thoroughly disgusted McDermott by then that his role gets reduced to spot play). McDermott stated after the game that some guys are going to make changes or McDermott will make changes. No doubt, Lawson is one of the guys he was talking about.

Another one thing that has become obvious is that Doug McD has a unique nose for the ball. He may not be the most athletic player on the court, but he has a knack for being in the right place at the right time. He is going to be a lot of fun to watch as he gets stronger. He alone was worth his dad's salary. He and Echineque (assuming Big E lives up to the hype) are going to be a formidable 1-2 punch who may yet salvage this season.

The other one thing I take away from the game is that Korver so far this year adds nothing to the team. 0-4 and 2 rebounds in 28 minutes of play is pathetic. Unfortunately, no one seems to be able to step up and take minutes away. I'd prefer to see more of Manigat (though still making plenty of freshman mistakes, at least he doesn't play scared), Young and Ashford on the floor together and less Korver.

A friend I took to the game asked why I thought Altman left this time as opposed to the other offers he has had in the past. Watching this game, I think it is pretty clear. This team without McDermott would struggle to score 45 points. We would have been talking an ineptitude not seen since the Rick Johnson era came to a close. I am sure Altman saw that. To the extent there was any luster left on Altman's resume after last year, it would have been so soiled after this year he would not have sniffed another BCS offer probably the rest of his career. Oregon bailed Altman out in a big way.

[TylerDurden]

Lil Mac reminds me of Howard from Butler. Not a great athlete, but a good guy to have on your team. He can score inside and will rebound.

That said, Creighton may be in trouble this year. It doesn't look like they can hit jump shots consistently.

Of course, that would assume some other Valley teams are better than what Creighton puts out. So far, I think only WSU and MSU are clearly better. UNI probably is better as well.

[Realhoops]

Jays lose 77-65. Jays were able to tie it a couple times in the second half but was never able to take the lead. Lawson had another horrible game, he seems to have regressed from last year and seems softer if that's possible. Only bright spot was McDermott who scored 20 points and 10 rebounds. Can't wait till Dec 18.

I thought Antoine's play was another bright spot. Solid defensive game while mostly guarding Fredette and frustrating him, solid offensive game, not a lot of mistakes for all the time played and effort put forth. D.Ash had another solid offensive game, too, which I think makes three of the past four games pretty solid for him. Runnels had some very bright moments again, which would have looked even better if only we had a Center to put on the floor.

I think if you take Kenny Lawson and Kaleb Korver out of the mix last night, there were a lot of bright spots. The horrible play and complete waste of oxygen that they combined for last night made that game look far worse than it was. BYU is a very solid team, with people at almost every spot on the floor who can score and hit shots consistently, and if our "POY" Center shows up AT ALL, this would have been a very close game, even with the dreadful shooting in the first half. Additionally, if Coach Mac would elect to take Korver off the floor and at least go with a guy who might hustle or occasionally do something positive (even with a risk of a few mistakes), like more of Manigat, for example, there might be more positive to say.

I'll say this right now: I know there are several games left for Kenny Lawson, Jr., to show up and look like he wants to be a contributor to this team. But as of right now, when G.E. becomes available and inevitably becomes a starter in the middle, I'll be PISSED if Kenny gets to start at the 4 and little Mac gets his starting spot taken away or his minutes significantly cut.

Whoever said that Kenny "might not" be the best player on this team right now is way off. Kenny most definitely IS NOT the best player on this team, and I didn't think he was before he somehow got named the preseason POY. Antoine Young is the best player on this team. Doug McDermott has been the second best player on this team all year. Frankly, for most of this year, I think D.Ash has been a better overall player than Kenny. In a lot of ways, Runnels has been better than Kenny, too. Kenny *might* be number three right now, but that's more on potential than anything else.