After a great season and very high hopes for the post season, the men's basketball team played like...well let's just say the picture to the right explains it all. The Cougars had a 9 point lead at one point in the second half and ended up losing by 2, 79-77, to Xavier (pronounced Zavier no eX-avier). I could go off on this one about unfair "home court advantage", but I wont because BYU still should have won. Actually I will...it is ridiculous that the 9 seed gets better home court advantage than the 1 seed. There has got to be something against BYU and I am sure that will continue until we actually prove that we deserve some respect.
The women on the other hand...well, again look at the picture on the right. The ladies lost by 26, 80-56. They would have won, but they left 2 key components to their game in Provo: their 3 point shooting and their defense. Hopefully they will remember those next time.
Ok...enough Cougar bashing. Both teams did have great seasons and we had a lot of great individual performances. Both coaches won coach of the year, Keena Young won MWC player of year, Dani Wright won MWC co-player of the year, Mallary Gillespie won MWC player of the week 3 times, and other individual awards. Both teams won the regular season conference title and both made it to the MWC tournament finals as well. Both teams also are looking pretty good for next year with some key players coming back and some good recruits coming in.
Good luck to all the seniors who will be moving on to different en devours next year. You will be missed.

Posted by Drew Dowling at 12:33 PM on March 20, 2007
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Although the men's basketball team did not win the Mountain West Conference Tournament (don't get me started on this because it was rediculous that UNLV played the tournament on their home court) they were still invited to the big dance as an eight seed. They will be playing this Thursday against Xavier at 9:30 eastern time on CBS. The eight seed is BYU's highest since 1995 and if they win, they will most likely go up against arguably the best team in the country. If you don't get the game on your TV you can always go to cbssportsline.com and sign up to watch every game of the tournament for free online. Go Cougars!

Posted by Drew Dowling at 04:33 PM on March 12, 2007
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After trashing Utah by 23 on Saturday in front of a sellout crowd, the Cougars won the Mountain West Conference and will be the #1 seed in the MWC tournament. Yesterday TCU beat New Mexico and will play BYU on Thursday at 12:30p MST. There were also some big awards handed out yesterday. Keena Young was awarded player of the year in the MWC and Dave Rose won coach of the year for the second year in a row. You can watch the MWC tournament on CSTV.
Jeff Judkins, the women's coach, also won Coach of the Year in the MWC for the second year in a row and Dani Wright is the co-player of the year in the MWC. The women will play their first game of the MWC tournament against Air Force on Wednesday at 6:00p on the Mountain.

Posted by Drew Dowling at 12:10 PM on March 07, 2007
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On Wednesday the women's basketball team beat Utah at home. The men's team hopes to make it a sweeps week when they take on Utah at home on Saturday. The game begins at 5:30pm and will be televised on yours truly, CSTV. Don't forget to wear white to support our Cougars as they look to win the Mountain West Conference outright. A win could also put the Cougars back into the top 25 and in very good position to make the NCAA tournament.

Game Notes

photo courtesy of www.byucougars.com

Posted by Drew Dowling at 07:27 PM on March 02, 2007
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After overcoming an 11 point deficit in the second half, the Cougars were able to pull out the victory on the road against Air Force last night. Not only did this win end the Falcon's 30 game home win streak, giving us the nations longest home win streak at 30 by ourselves, but it also wrapped up the regular season Mountain West Conference title for the first time since 2002-03. Right now we are gauranteed at least a share of the conference title and with a win against rival Utah on Saturday we won't have to share it with anyone else.
Students with All Sport passes don't forget to pick up your tickets for this Saturday's big game against the Utes tonight at the women's game. The women will host the Utes at 8pm in the Marriot Center and the tickets to the Men's game will be handed out after the women's game tonight. It will be first come first serve so the first ones to the women's game tonight will get the best seats at the men's game this weekend.

photo courtesy of www.byucougars.com

Posted by Drew Dowling at 02:32 PM on February 28, 2007
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The Cougars are ready to get their season started in Southern California against the UCLA Bruins, who were the runners up in the NCAA tournament last year. The #5 ranked Bruins look to be the Cougars' toughest opponent of the year and if the Cougars come home with a win then they could find themselves ranked in the top 25 very shortly. Don't forget to watch the game on Wednesday night and come to their first home game on Saturday night at 7:30p.

Posted by Drew Dowling at 03:18 PM on November 13, 2006
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The Men's basketball team lost a disappointing opening game against Utah in the Mountain West Conference Tournament. The Lady Cougars have won their first two conference tournament games against Colorado State and TCU and will be playing in the championship game tonight against Utah on ESPN 2 at 10pm.
The men's team trailed just about the whole game, but were able to make a late surge giving them the lead, but were unable to hold on. Losing against Utah just about destroys any hope they had at playing in the NCAA tournament, but there is a pretty good posibility for the Cougars to host a first round game of the NIT in the Marriot Center.
The ladies on the other hand are just about automatically in the NCAA tournament no matter if they win or lose against Utah. Winning or losing against Utah will affect who they play, where they play, and what seed they will get in the NCAA tournament.
Although there may not be anymore baskeball games in the Marriot Center this year that doesn't mean that BYU sports is done with. There are plenty more BYU sporting events to go to during the rest of this semester.
The baseball team will have their home opener this upcoming wednesday, the women's tennis team has a game on Monday morning at 11am and the gymnastics team has a meet tonight at 7pm.
The baseball team has potential to be very good this season, but have gotten off to a slow start. They need as much support as they can get.

Photos courtesy of www.byucougars.com

Posted by Drew Dowling at 05:05 AM on March 11, 2006
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The day started off on a very good foot with the BYU mens basketball team beating Air Force, the best team in the Mountain West Conference, by a score of 65-59. The games was in front of a season high 16,541 fans. The atmosphere was amazing and it got so loud at some points in the game that it was difficult to even hear yourself think. The mens basketball team really showed that they have what it takes to possibly win the conference this year and hopefully go on to the NCAA tournament. They only have 4 more home games left and i know that we can get more than 16,541 fans at all of those. The Cougars are 14-6 and are riding a 4 game winning streak. They definitely cannot do it alone, they need their fans to be as to help them keep their momentum. They have a big game this upcoming Wednesday at the U of U. They will be trying to win at the U for the first time since 1994.
The day ended on a down note with the mens volleyball team losing to Pepperdine, the number one ranked team in the country, 3-0. They fought hard and even had leads late in the second and third games, but just couldn't hold on to sweep them in their weekend series. They won on friday night so hopefully they will be able to keep their number two ranking and get back to their winning ways next weekend when they will face USC on friday and saturday in the Smith Field House. The atmosphere at the mens volleyball games is electrifying and for the last two nights they have gotten such good fan support that they even had to turn people away from coming to the game. They only have 6 more home games left so make sure to get out there and support them as they look to take the national championship this year. Go Cougars!!!

Photos courtesy of www.byucougars.com

Posted by Drew Dowling at 05:52 AM on February 05, 2006
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At 17-1 the women’s basketball team has earned the right to be the 19th ranked team in the country. This past Saturday the Cougars dominated the Rams of CSU by a score of 70-54. With their victory over the Rams they extended their winning streak to 9 games. The Cougars have their next game tomorrow (Wednesday) night at 7pm in the Marriot Center against #16 New Mexico. This will be by far the biggest game of the season up to this point. The Cougars are in first place in the Mountain West Conference with a conference record of 7-0. New Mexico is in second place at 6-1 so winning tomorrow night could give them some breathing room and would probably put them ahead of New Mexico in the national rankings. With about an average of 700 fans at their games the Cougars’ haven’t had the best fan support, but still have been able to play very well. With their biggest game of the season tomorrow we need to show support to one of BYU’s best sports teams. With a win tomorrow the Cougars will almost clinch a spot in the NCAA tournament. This is a big game and we need to give the Cougars the support they deserve. Come wearing your Cougar Blue and anything that makes a lot of noise is more than welcome.

Posted by Drew Dowling at 08:20 PM on January 31, 2006
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The Cougars play tonight against the Broncos of Boise State. The game is in the Marriot Center at 7:05pm. Come cheer on your Cougars wearing your Cougar blue so we can create a see of blue in the stands. The Cougars are now 3-2 and they need our help to help them get their momentum back after a tough loss to the Trojans of USC. Tonight's game is the beginning of a three game home stand so make sure to get out to the Marriot Center to cheer on our Cougars!

Posted by Drew Dowling at 03:07 PM on December 07, 2005
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The Cougars won their second game in a row with an 86-6 victory over SUU. With 22 assists as a team and 11 different players scoring the Cougars showed that they know how to share the ball. They were also able to continue their hot shooting by hitting almost 59% of their shots from the field and 65% of their shots from down town. The Cougars got some quality minutes from Derek Dawes, who made his first appearance of the season after missing the first two games with an injured shoulder. The Cougars were led by Trent Plaisted’s 13 points, Austin Ainge’s 8 assists, and Keena Young’s 5 rebounds. Thirty-three of the Cougars 86 points came from beyond the arc. It was a team effort against SUU and the Cougars are looking to continue their winning ways against Lamar tonight at the Delta Center.

Pictures:
Top: from byucougars.com, Ainge scoring 2 of his 6 points
Bottom: Rose dishes to Broadus which led to 2 of Broadus' 11 points

Posted by Drew Dowling at 03:18 PM on November 30, 2005
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After losing their season opener to Loyola Marymount the Cougars bounced back strong with a 76-68 win over Washington St. The Cougars were led by their lone senior, Brock Reichner, with 18 pts., who started for only the 3rd time in a BYU uniform. The picture to the right, courtesy of the BYU website, is of Reichner scoring 2 of his 18. Fernando Malaman, a JC transfer, also contributed in a big way with a career high 14 points along with 5 boards. The Cougars shot an outstanding 55 percent from the field and 50 percent from long distance. The win over Washington St. was their first of the season making them 1-1 and also gave Dave Rose his first win as BYU’s head coach. The Cougars picked up some momentum and they hope to carry that into tomorrow’s home game against Southern Utah at 7pm. We need to go cheer on the Cougars to help them keep up their momentum. Also, check this blog each week because this upcoming week we will be starting a “get to know your Cougars” blog which will feature a different cougar athlete each week so we can know the players better. Don’t forget to cheer on the Cougars tomorrow (Saturday) night at 7pm. The women also have a game right before the Men at 4pm, their season opener.

Posted by Drew Dowling at 12:39 AM on November 26, 2005
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The cougars did not look so hot losing their opener this past Friday to Loyola Marymount 83-71. The first game of the season was an eye opener for the fans, but hopefully wont sent the trend for the rest of the season. Although the highlight of the game for some might have been the cheerleaders or maybe even the “yo-yo master” at halftime, but there were some upsides to the cougars play. The cougars had 3 players, Mike Rose, Jimmy Balderson, and Trent Plaisted, in double figures and shot about 42 percent from the field. They also shot almost 85 percent from the free throw line. With only one senior on the roster the cougars have a young team which leaves a lot of hope for improvement this season. The cougars look to bounce back tonight at 7pm when they play their first road game against Washington St.

Posted by Drew Dowling at 08:32 PM on November 22, 2005
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