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Obviously both of these teams are formidable competition and have reason to consider us rivals. Over the last decade of having BYU in the WCC they haven't had their best seasons ever, but they have effectively done 2 things. The first, they have beaten some of our best teams in school history. The Second, they have gotten under our skin to the point where we loathe them. When you make 3rd party excuses like the refs after losses, its because you are too emotionally agonized by the opponent to see clearly.
Right after BYU was announced to be joining the WCC they had their most talented team in history. They faced us as an 11 seed to their 3 seed. I'm sure we can all remember the spanking Jimmer gave us. It was impressive, and put the conference through a wake up call that BYU was good. Well, once they entered they had struggles. They still however beat us in our first ever conference matchup in 2012 when we were ranked #24th. They didn't beat us again until 2014 when we were ranked 25th. That sparked 3 straight Kennel victories for BYU, and these games are when the rivalry really started.
The first Kennel Victory was when we were #3 in the country. It ended our 41 Game Home winning Streak. In 2016 they beat us again. We didn't have our greatest team, we were #25 when we played, and if you guys remember that game it was when one of their big men blocked Wiltjer in the lane to seal the win. The year after, 2017, I'm sure everyone remembers that game vividly. 29-0, 18-2 lead to start the game. They outscored us 10-0 in the final 2 minutes to kill what would have been a perfect season. This game was the final blow to seal BYU as our rival. 3 straight losses at home, which is one of the greatest basketball atmospheres in the country.
We responded with 6 straight wins, including the win this season in the Kennel, but we were under prepared for the environment and moment of that game in Provo. Their fans were anticipating that game, it was their senior night, and they played out of their minds in a 13 point win. After this win we had all sorts of ref blaming, religion slander, 'dirty playing' excuses. I honestly don't think we would see that if we didn't care as much as we do about the BYU games. Were they physical and aggressive? Yes. Were they more physical and aggressive than any other team would be when playing a top 3 team in the country? No. Go watch Big Ten games if you don't believe me. The Kafusi brothers both weren't natural basketball players, they are both NFL players today, and it showed on the court. They made some overly agressive plays, but BYU doesn't have any like that on their roster at this time.
Obviously SMC has beaten us in some big games too, including the WCC Championship game last year. I still however consider BYU the bigger rival over SMC. They have the bigger fanbase, they have beaten our best teams (They beat us when we were #1, #2, and #3), and they have gotten under our skin. I think the only thing keeping this from being a common thought here is BYU's lack of success in the WCC tournament.
Right after BYU was announced to be joining the WCC they had their most talented team in history. They faced us as an 11 seed to their 3 seed. I'm sure we can all remember the spanking Jimmer gave us. It was impressive, and put the conference through a wake up call that BYU was good. Well, once they entered they had struggles. They still however beat us in our first ever conference matchup in 2012 when we were ranked #24th. They didn't beat us again until 2014 when we were ranked 25th. That sparked 3 straight Kennel victories for BYU, and these games are when the rivalry really started.
The first Kennel Victory was when we were #3 in the country. It ended our 41 Game Home winning Streak. In 2016 they beat us again. We didn't have our greatest team, we were #25 when we played, and if you guys remember that game it was when one of their big men blocked Wiltjer in the lane to seal the win. The year after, 2017, I'm sure everyone remembers that game vividly. 29-0, 18-2 lead to start the game. They outscored us 10-0 in the final 2 minutes to kill what would have been a perfect season. This game was the final blow to seal BYU as our rival. 3 straight losses at home, which is one of the greatest basketball atmospheres in the country.
We responded with 6 straight wins, including the win this season in the Kennel, but we were under prepared for the environment and moment of that game in Provo. Their fans were anticipating that game, it was their senior night, and they played out of their minds in a 13 point win. After this win we had all sorts of ref blaming, religion slander, 'dirty playing' excuses. I honestly don't think we would see that if we didn't care as much as we do about the BYU games. Were they physical and aggressive? Yes. Were they more physical and aggressive than any other team would be when playing a top 3 team in the country? No. Go watch Big Ten games if you don't believe me. The Kafusi brothers both weren't natural basketball players, they are both NFL players today, and it showed on the court. They made some overly agressive plays, but BYU doesn't have any like that on their roster at this time.
Obviously SMC has beaten us in some big games too, including the WCC Championship game last year. I still however consider BYU the bigger rival over SMC. They have the bigger fanbase, they have beaten our best teams (They beat us when we were #1, #2, and #3), and they have gotten under our skin. I think the only thing keeping this from being a common thought here is BYU's lack of success in the WCC tournament.
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