OCR Text |
Show Sporfstacular 5 Thursday December 20, 979 Page 7 1 Arnold answers sifaooM BVU Hbsisfaetilbsill With and the recently released ITPI AP basketball polls, added to our offensive and defensive attacks. Evaluate the following: the strengths, weaknesses, schedule, and the WAC. Brigham Young University was ranked 15th and 17th in those polls. Just how good are the Cougars who beat Baylor last weekend but lost to Illinois. Coach Frank Arnold answers the questions: Strength I believe that we will be strong at all five starting positions, and have a very capable, strong bench for sup- -' port. We will be a good rebounding team and an excellent shooting team. Our team the graduate and mission lasses or the incoming freshmen alter BYUs game plan? Very little, if any. Our graduation and mission losses included two players that saw limited action and one redshirt that saw none. If anything, our incoming freshmen Greg Kite and Mike Maxwell will give us additional strength and depth. The starting five returns this year; will they necessarily be the starters for ? On the first day of practice, they were considered as our starting five. What happens between now and our first game, however, will be based entirely upon which five players will best play together as a unit. Frankly, I feel that too much emphasis is put on who will start. There is no doubt in my mind that we have at least seven players who have the ability to start for us and two Will togetherness is exceptional. Weaknesses Speed 1979-80- tainly does not lessen our championship, because we were one of the youngest teams, if not the youngest team, in the Our young players continue to grow, and will prove to be as good as any in the country. I therefore feel that for the next two or three years we can expect the competition in the WAC to be among the finest in America. We will be one of the top three or four conferences nationwide. more who will play substantially and will contribute greatly to the success we hope to enjoy. What was it that the team .lacked last year and do we have those elements this year? We lacked three things last year that kept us from being a legitimate national power. (1) Experience at certain positions; n defensive (2) Solid play at certain positions; (3) Backup strength at the center position. This year I believe we will improve in all three areas. (1) We are a year older so obviously we have more experience, although we are still quite young in certain spots; (2) Last year some of our young players were asked to play a different position defen- You were picked to finish first in the WAC last year and accomplished that task. Explain how you intend to repeat this process. Last year is history. We are proud of our accomplishments, man-to-ma- sively than they were but ac- petent replacement for Alan absolutely will be successful. Hawaii b now in the league. Will their addition pose many new problems? Hawaii's program has been down, but; they are rebounding maa-to-m- and play both on the optone, depending position. Whichever it is I assure and you it will be M-- hard-nose- d intense. Da yea plan te Implement aay ether effeaslve ar defensive changes? were successful with what last year so I have no Intention to change things drastically. We simply hope to improve upon In some cases are in every of performance category. We will expect every coach and every player to dedicate himself to longer, harder hours of work. It is our goal to become the very best team that we are capable of becoming. If we do that and it results in another conference championship, we will obviously be pleased and proud once again. On the other hand, if we become the very best team we are capable of becoming and it does not result in a championship, we will still be pleased and proud. To do our best is our objective. If we do so, we when called upon, which will enable us to give Alan the rest he needs to perform at peak efficiency. Yea ran jk sliding sene last year, bat you favor a defease. What will H be la 1979- - We we did they meaningless as far as our future is concerned. We intend to upgrade our level customed to. Im sure we will see improvement from them this year; (3) Greg Kite will help us more this year; than most people will appreciate. His presence on the practice court will enable Alan Taylor to continue to improve even more for his final year. I do not expect Greg to set the world afire his first year, but he will prove to be a very com- -' We will and quickness in certain positions. Schedule A good schedule. We will be fortunate enough to face some of the outstanding teams in America, particularly in tournament play, providing we are successful in first round competition. WAC I have said on many occassions that I felt that the WAC was down a bit last year mainly because it was so young. Every team, with one exception, had outstanding freshmen and sophomore players. That cer- bottle lost season. The ITU's Fred Roberts puts up two ogobist Utah Stote in key 1 with two in the notion tough opponents this week. Cougars are presently in-sta- te 8th-ronk- steadily. We expect them to be a positive force in future years. The long round trip to Honolulu looks very attractive on the surface. It will be, however, a very demanding and difficult trip for Just the one game. Other than the travel, the lure of the beaches, the hula girls, and the great Polynesian food, we certainly see no problems with Hawaii's entrance into the WAC. |