Last weekend the BYU played New Mexico in the Marriott Center in a game of basketball. Billed as “the biggest game in Mountain West history", it apparently lived up to its reputation, delivering a great back-and-forth, hard-fought game that resulted in a narrow victory for the Lobos.
My brother had front-row, half-court seats that he won in some contest. Lucky.
Anyway, I was watching through the internet. (Watching as in seeing the score update on the website. It’s like the modern version of listening to the radio. In fact, now that I think about it, I should have gone to www.ksl.com and listened to it…on the radio. Oh well, next time.) I noticed that our star point guard, Jimmer Fredette, was not playing. In his place was a sophomore named Michael Lloyd, Jr whose name kept coming up on the screen. A quick search found that Jimmer was out with a stomach, yet somehow BYU kept it close and had a shot to win the game in the end.
So, here’s my question. Would I rather have a BYU victory against New Mexico now…or get a couple wins in the NCAA Tournament in March? Of course I’d pick the latter. I don’t suppose the two are necessarily mutually exclusive, but I think the revelation of Lloyd as a guy that can come in and provide even more spark is an important one that could provide dividends not only years down the road (he’s only a sophomore) but next month when we try to make it to the second round of the NCAA tournament for the first time in what seems like an eternity. (In fact, I don’t remember the last time BYU made it past the first round. It was 1992, but I guess I didn’t pay attention to college basketball back then.)
So while I’m sorry about the loss, I’m still enthusiastic about the future. GO BYU.
2 comments:
I got home and started watching about half-way through the second half. Loyd is a serious player - sort of a Mo Cheeks (maybe that's too old a reference), but with more speed. Needs to work on his 3s, but seriously quick. I loved his "pick up the loose ball in the corner and drive through all 9 other players on the court to lay it in off the glass" play. And he can dunk, too.
i was having a great day until i realized i've missed pretty much the whole bball season. sad. they better make it past the 1st round. they were SO close my freshman year. why did hanson leave early?
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