In early November 2012, Brigham Young Cougars football player Bronson Kaufusi openly talked about joining the BYU basketball team after the football season ended. By the end of December, Kaufusi was officially a Cougar cager. During his freshman season in 2012, it was evident that Kaufusi was a good, and one day could be great, football player. Can the same be said about Kaufusi as a basketball player?
With no game film to study, BLUE COUGAR FOOTBALL was curious what BYU fans thought and asked site visitors: How good will Bronson Kaufusi be as a basketball player? Over half of poll respondents (53%) thought Kaufusi would be "average." A full 20 percent thought he would be "good," while just 15 percent voted for "bad." The rest of the votes were split 9 percent "undecided," 2 percent "very good," and 1 percent "very bad."
Kaufusi, 6-foot-7, 260 pounds, played basketball in high school. The Deseret News reports that he averaged 15 points per game in 2008, and 16.5 in 2007. He has some skills, but he hasn't played competitively in four years.
Joining the team late and after such a long break from competitive play puts Kaufusi at a major disadvantage. West Coast Conference play is starting, so head basketball coach David Rose probably isn't willing to give Kaufusi a lot of minutes unless he is substantially contributing. The time for giving players minutes to help them develop is over.
Personally, I am still undecided. It seem to me that "average" is the de facto answer. You don't want to write him off because of the disadvantage described above or for another reason, but it is hard to justify expecting him to walk on the court and take over. He isn't a 7-footer that few teams have the right personnel to shut him down.
It will be curious to watch. He saw his first action last night in a 92-51 win over Loyola Marymount. In two minutes of play, Kaufusi scored 2 points on 1 of 1 shooting and had one steal.
Thank you to everyone who voted. Don't forget to vote in this week's poll: "Which game was the BYU defense's best game in 2012?"
The Editor appreciates all feedback. He can be reached via email at bluecougarfootball@gmail.com
With no game film to study, BLUE COUGAR FOOTBALL was curious what BYU fans thought and asked site visitors: How good will Bronson Kaufusi be as a basketball player? Over half of poll respondents (53%) thought Kaufusi would be "average." A full 20 percent thought he would be "good," while just 15 percent voted for "bad." The rest of the votes were split 9 percent "undecided," 2 percent "very good," and 1 percent "very bad."
Kaufusi, 6-foot-7, 260 pounds, played basketball in high school. The Deseret News reports that he averaged 15 points per game in 2008, and 16.5 in 2007. He has some skills, but he hasn't played competitively in four years.
Joining the team late and after such a long break from competitive play puts Kaufusi at a major disadvantage. West Coast Conference play is starting, so head basketball coach David Rose probably isn't willing to give Kaufusi a lot of minutes unless he is substantially contributing. The time for giving players minutes to help them develop is over.
Personally, I am still undecided. It seem to me that "average" is the de facto answer. You don't want to write him off because of the disadvantage described above or for another reason, but it is hard to justify expecting him to walk on the court and take over. He isn't a 7-footer that few teams have the right personnel to shut him down.
It will be curious to watch. He saw his first action last night in a 92-51 win over Loyola Marymount. In two minutes of play, Kaufusi scored 2 points on 1 of 1 shooting and had one steal.
Thank you to everyone who voted. Don't forget to vote in this week's poll: "Which game was the BYU defense's best game in 2012?"
The Editor appreciates all feedback. He can be reached via email at bluecougarfootball@gmail.com
Kaufusi's biggest contributions: Size, Fouls, and Defense.
ReplyDeleteMy high school basketball program was competitive, but rarely had size or hight. It was not uncommon for the coach to convince a SR on the football team who had good size to join the basketball team for a year.
They weren't the highest skilled guys and didn't see a lot of touches, but you could see opposing post players' dismay when an overly enthusiastic 6'4 295lb DE or 6'2" 245lb FB jumped off the bench to spell the starter and inflict a few bruises.
While the competition is a lot better, the situation at BYU isn't to different. Davies is to valuable on the offensive end to risk getting into foul trouble (and he still sometimes have a tendency to pick up stupid fouls)for him to play very agressive defense or get into shoving matches.
Nate Austin and Ian Howard have hight but are really skinny. Sometimes you need a guy who can attack and wear down your opponents star post player. Davies can't do it because of the fouls. Howard and Austin are to slight. Kaufusi is the man for the job.
Of course in the 2 minutes he played he did have a steal and a lay up, so there may be more to him than some think, but at the very least he is a big body you can use to bang on opposing post players without worrying about the fouls he picks up.
Those are some good comments.
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