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BYU, Utah seemed to play in slow mo

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mwc >>> big east | 7:09 a.m. March 22, 2009
It's just a fluke that the mwc teams are out of the tournament. We play much better ball in our conference than any other conference in the nation! Head to head we would beat anybody, anywhere, at anytime. Just wait till next year. Same thing goes for our football program. Best in the country, hands down.
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Anonymous | 7:21 a.m. March 22, 2009
I've said it before, including on this website, speed kills, and BYU and Utah don't have it.
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Dream On | 7:52 a.m. March 22, 2009
Fact is- the speed,athletism, and quanity of quality is not here in this state. I have been commenting all season about the lack of quality compared to the bigger schools around the nation. This is just fact, and every once in a while, like every 10 to 15 years we will get a competitive team in a sport to compete. Live with it and quit dreaming it's been the same forever.
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sob | 8:42 a.m. March 22, 2009
they also looked like they were playing wearing boxing gloves, could not hit the bottom of the well if their lives depended on it.
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What about the SEC? | 8:50 a.m. March 22, 2009
SEC goes 1-3 in the tourney with their highest seed #8 LSU. Is this the same SEC with Kentucky and Florida that have won multiple national championships?

Listen, chalking up a whole season based on a few games in the tournament creates a lot of biases. Admittedly, this was a very down year for the SEC and that was very evident during the year. However, the MWC was solid this year with some big wins out of conference. The MWC had wins over tourney teams like Louisville, LSU, Gonzaga, Mississippi State and Arizona. So obviously they have the ability to play with these teams. Western Kentucky, Clevland State, Siena, Dayton have all won games in the tournament as well. It comes down to matchups, preparation, execution and heart. Wake Forest beat 2 #1 teams during the season but got kicked to the curb by a #13 seed. Don't tell me that it is all about speed and athleticism. How else do you explain Harvard beating Boston College?
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How Silly! | 9:19 a.m. March 22, 2009
BYU showed plenty of speed and quickness against ASU and Wake Forest.

They haven't played well in the NCAA tournament since the early 1990's. But that's not a speed problem -- it's a coaching and attitude problem.

I'm beginning to think Salt Lake writers are getting lazy. Speed is the easy (though incorrect) answer. Dig a little deeper.
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Slow Mo Utah > Colorado teams | 9:46 a.m. March 22, 2009
It was collectively a great season for basketball in the state of Utah. Five D1 teams won or shared four conference championships. SLCC won a national championship and Westminster did very well nationally.

At least, we are not Colorado-where their three D1 teams were all under .500
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TK | 9:58 a.m. March 22, 2009
This article definitely speaks to my frustrated side. The Utes looked so slow and out of sync in their loss I didn't know what to do with myself. This is the first tournament Ute squad that is full of players that I can't point out a favorite. Meaning, there's no Mark Jackson, no Britton Johnson, no Andrew Bogut, no Van Horn, no Andre Miller. Sorry but Nevill doesn't cut it for me. I've really struggled with the personnel the last few years and I look forward to Boylen hopefully getting some good recruits in here that can get this fan excited again.
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How Silly-2 | 10:03 a.m. March 22, 2009
BYU has been barely getting by for the last month. Shots haven't fallen, traveling calls, and people stepping on the out of bounds lines...

Unless the pressure started helping them actually hit shots, we all knew what was going to happen.


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seadit | 10:09 a.m. March 22, 2009
Unless you've played with or against college players (or pros), the biggest difference absolutely is speed & athleticism, just like in football. It translates into every aspect of the game - faster on the dribble, quicker jumps, faster to defend...

Rock is right, and you can see it every time Utah or BYU play the better hoops conferences in bball - generally speaking they just don't match up in speed and athleticism, especially this year!
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slow? | 10:19 a.m. March 22, 2009
I don't think everything was slow with BYU and Utah. They were very quick to be ousted from the tourney! Great job MWC, next time send real college teams, not your Junior High school champs.
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Meridian Coug | 11:19 a.m. March 22, 2009
Overall team speed and quickness has always and will always be a problem for BYU. The reality is that we are an LDS all-star team - usually minus the very top LDS players. Every now and then a very fast, quick and athletic kid will fit into our recruiting pool but we will NEVER have a bunch of those kids at any given time.

Collie is a prime example. He was an excellent college receiver and probably one of the top 3-4 BYU has ever had. But look at his physical measurables compared to the other receivers at the combine this year. He had some decent numbers but speed, quickness, and athleticism is probably the last thing any scout would say about Collie. And he is probably the best we have offered in years at what is a very speed/quickness driven position.

At BYU, it just is what it is - great kids overall who represent the Y and our religion well but rarely bringing top level speed, quickness and athleticism. Given that, I wish we would stop crying about what these kids don't do and recognize that they routinely OVERACHIEVE!!
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next tme..NOT | 12:11 p.m. March 22, 2009
I have watched utah teams for years both BB and Football. Once in a great while they get to the top
but they are not like the teams that are there year after year.. different priority's in life and not near the muscle makeup of the top athletes in the world..mind set isn't enough....just enjoy that they make it this far (first round)..they are great kids anyway..
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Re: mwc >>> big east | 1:30 p.m. March 22, 2009
Are you serious?! "Head to head we would beat anybody, anywhere, at anytime." Really? I have news for you: you went head to head and LOST.

Don't start talking about how your team (BYU or Utah) would "beat anybody, anywhere, at anytime"...you had that opportunity, and you blew it big time! Utah probably blew it bigger than BYU did, but they both stunk pretty bad.

The fact is that we CAN'T beat anybody, anywhere, at anytime.
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seadit is right | 1:55 p.m. March 22, 2009
if you've ever played against real speed and quickness, you know how advantagous it is. It can compensate for alot of thing, slow and methodical compensates for nothing!
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true blue | 2:25 p.m. March 22, 2009
MWC teams need to swallow their pride and start playing the good teams on the road. Yes that will translate into some losses, but it will also help get them used to playing faster. BYU and Utah don't have top end speed, but most teams don't. If you play against faster players reaction time gets a little better.
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Brainy | 2:33 p.m. March 22, 2009
AFTER the tournament Utah and BYU are considered slow and average by the pundits. Utah's good wins and BYU's close losses to very good teams mean they are close, but obviously not there yet. Good season Utah teams!
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UNLV | 4:17 p.m. March 22, 2009
Has the speed to compete on the National level. We don't build our teams around big men. We build our teams around fast,quick guards that can defend.
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UNLV? | 7:39 p.m. March 22, 2009
If UNLV can compete, what happened in the NIT, i.e. the tournament for the regular season also-rans?
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UNLV won at Louisville | 7:43 p.m. March 22, 2009
They're that good. UNLV should have been in the tourney
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