Another week, another impressive win for this BYU basketball team.
This win wasn't impressive in the same way that beating San Diego State was impressive. The Cougars' 105-48 beatdown of Southeastern Louisiana was impressive for entirely different reasons. Here are some numbers that show that this wasn't just another win over nobody.
First: The final standing Southeastern Louisiana was picked to finish in their conference
Were there times tonight when the Lions looked like my middle school basketball team coached by my humanities teacher? Sure. However, Southeastern Louisiana was picked to win their conference in preseason polls and this loss to BYU isn't going to hurt their chances.
Add that with the fact that they played Auburn last week and lost by just 15, and you have a pretty good argument that this team isn't horrible. Maybe BYU was just that good tonight.
0: The amount of fast break points Southeastern Louisiana had tonight
One of the best parts of this dominating Cougar win was the defense. On top of zero fast break points given up, BYU held the Lions to 11.1% from three and 28.6% from the field. The analytics nerds are going to love these numbers.
'I thought it was a really special effort for us defensively,' said head coach Mark Pope.
57: BYU's biggest margin of victory in the Pope era
Apparently the Cougars decided to walk into this season looking to be all the best-of's for Pope's tenure at BYU because they've been hitting those marks left and right. Any time you win by that much it's worth noting.
If anything, it speaks on the vast improvement from last year to now. At this point last season, BYU was 2-1 with their two wins coming against Idaho State and Morgan State by a combined total of just six points. This year: 3-0 with a combined win total of 113 points.
101: Fousseyni Traore's true shooting percentage
Though it's not the most significant, you can't help but love this whacky little number. Traore was perfect from the line and two for two from three to help put up a team-high 18 points. The best part is that the beloved bruising big man typically does his work three feet from the basket, but tonight he stretched the defense and made them pay.
'He always has the green light,' said Pope.
16: BYU's KenPom rating
I told you the analytics nerds would love those numbers. As of the writing of this article, the Cougars are ranked two sports ahead of North Carolina and one spot ahead of Texas for the 16th best KenPom rating. That would also put BYU as the fourth highest rated team in the Big 12.
What more can be said? In all of the ways this BYU team could have started this season, it really couldn't be better that this. Ratings and rankings will fluctuate throughout the year but Cougar nation can at least celebrate a dream start. the only question now is if the Cougars can keep it up.