Cougars getting respect; rankings may follow

[IE]

After winning the Las Vegas Invitational by scoring 198 points in two games, the BYU Cougars are getting a decent amount of respect from computer-based college basketball rating systems.

They are 18th in the Sagarin ratings, their RPI is in the 50s, and one service produced by Ken Pomeroy has them No. 10 in the country.

Will a national ranking follow?

The Cougars will find out today if they have cracked either the Associated Press Top 25 or the USA Today /Coaches Poll (which is more likely), just hours before what is supposed to be their stiffest nonconference test.

The Cougars (12-1) will meet Arizona (6-5) at the McKale Center tonight (7 p.m. MST, FCS-TV), part of the Fiesta Bowl Classic, but claim they aren't poll-watching just yet.

"It's not something we as coaches or the players think about," said coach Dave Rose. "What is important is getting ready to play the next game because every game is important. Our league is good enough. It's a battle each year. The team that wins the league usually gets themselves in the top 25 at some point and end up in the NCAA Tournament."

Arizona is not the national powerhouse it once was, but a win would still garner some attention for BYU. Under new coach Sean Miller, Arizona has already lost to a pair of BYU's Mountain West Conference rivals -- at home to UNLV and at San Diego State.

They Wildcats also have
lost at Oklahoma, and in the Maui Invitational to Wisconsin and Vanderbilt.

While the Cougars have pointed to this game for quite some time, Arizona couldn't be blamed for looking ahead. The Wildcats open Pac-10 play at USC on Thursday and then play at UCLA on Saturday.

"Playing a game the same week you have a [4 p.m.] game on Thursday and a 10 a.m. game on Saturday, I don't know how smart it is to play a third game in that week," Miller said. "You'd probably want to come off the holidays and take an extra day off. Right now, we're preparing for our biggest nonconference game at the same time that we're preparing for our league."

BYU plays host to Eastern New Mexico (5-5) on Saturday before opening MWC play on Jan. 6 at home against UNLV.

The Cougars have won seven straight since losing at Utah State, while the Wildcats have some momentum, too. They won their last two games on last-second shots, beating Lipscomb and North Carolina State.

The Cougars are off to their best start since they opened 13-0 in 1987-88.

If they aren't ranked today, they almost surely will be next week if they can beat Arizona in Tucson. Rose isn't ready to say this is the best team he's had at BYU, however.

"Where you really get tested is the week after week grind of conference play," he said. "We haven't been through that with this group. I really like the makeup of this team. We're a little bit deeper. I wish our depth was a little more consistent."

Last week, five teams in the coaches poll were ahead of BYU in the "also receiving votes" category. In the AP poll, 13 unranked teams received more votes. With most ranked teams playing cupcakes in the week leading up to Christmas, the only ranked team in the 20-25 range to lose was No. 20 Butler, which fell to 8-4 after a loss to UAB.

"I do believe the potential of this team is really good, and over the next couple of months we'll see how it works out," Rose said.

 

[IE]

Coach Dave Rose participated in a news conference on Sunday in Tucson, part of the Fiesta Bowl Classic, and most of the questions from the local media were about his battle with pancreatic cancer.
With most of the Utah media not in town yet, BYU sports information director for basketball Kyle Chilton captured some of Rose?s comments and distributed them to us.
Here are a few of Rose?s more interesting remarks about the game and his players:

On Jimmer Fredette?s play: ?I think Jimmer?s emerged as our team leader especially on the floor. He?s extremely diverse in his game, he can shoot from the perimeter and he can drive it. He can create shots for himself and his teammates. Right now he?s playing with a lot of confidence. He?s a big key offensively to our team.?

On playing Arizona: ?It should be a really competitive game. I think both teams are pretty similar. Both teams have point guards who really score, handle the ball well and distribute the ball and make plays for themselves and their teammates. There are a couple other main scorers and a lot of guys who score points up and down the rosters. Both teams like to push the ball. We look forward to what we think will be a high-scoring game. If both teams play at the pace they want to play it should be an entertaining and high-scoring game.?

On Arizona?s strengths: ?You have to figure out a way to stop their initial transition. Wise is smart with the ball. He knows when to go on the attack and when to bring it out and get into a half court offense. That?s something we?re going to have to manage. He has some many different parts to his game. He can create transition opportunities all the time. That?s a big issue for us. Rebounding the basketball will be an issue. They have strong, athletic guys at each position. Their post scoring we?ll have to somehow control. They have guys who can really score around the basket.

On not practicing on Sunday: ?Yesterday we put the game plan in, practiced and then flew here. We take today off and then tomorrow we?ll walk through and get ready to go. We don?t play a lot of Monday games. We used to play quite a few Monday games back when our schedule was Saturday and Monday in league play. This is a unique and great opportunity for our team to come play this team and in this atmosphere.
?It puts a lot of pressure on the coaching staff to get things in a little earlier, especially with Christmas. We played the 23rd, took the 24th off and practiced Christmas night and then yesterday we put the game plan in with the guys, went out and practice and then traveled so it was a pretty busy turnaround.
seven minutes or so of that game. He kind of reminds me of the point guard Sean (Miller) has this year so hopefully we?ll do a little bit better job of guarding that ball screen if that?s what it comes down to.?

On scheduling Arizona and getting the Wildcats to play in Utah: ?We had a few discussions actually with Arizona?s AD at the time, Livengood. We discussed the possibility of them coming back to Provo but he was pretty adamant that he would bring his team to Salt Lake. He didn?t want to come to Provo. We thought this would be a good thing for us.?