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BYU point guard Kyle Collinsworth deservedly received a lot of praise over the weekend after recording his third triple-double of the season in Saturday night's 99-68 thrashing of San Francisco at War Memorial Gymnasium. Here's more on the historic aspects of what Collinsworth is doing this season — he can tie the record for triple-doubles in a season, four, with another trifecta on Thursday when the Cougars play host to Pepperdine at 9 p.m. at the Marriott Center.

Another reason why the Cougars, 13-4, are playing as well as they have all season and are starting to regain a smidgen of national respect (more on that in a bit) has been coach Dave Rose's move to a four-guard starting lineup. Anson Winder has started the last three games, and has been sensational in getting the Cougars off to a fast start — something that was lacking a bit before.

After Saturday's win improved BYU to 3-1 in WCC play, I asked Rose if he will stay with the four-guard lineup the rest of the season, even when injured post player Nate Austin (hamstring) returns.

"We will see what happens when we get against a big, physical front line, see if we can get them to play the way we want them to play or if we have to adjust," Rose said. "Right now, I think the guys are excited about it. Anson [Winder] is really diverse. Kyle is a big reason because he can rebound as well as any guard in the country. So when you have him on the floor you still have your center and a guard who is a great rebounder. Anson is just so diverse. He can really guard bigger guys, and shoot the three, and stretch people so well. He is driving it well, so it is a personnel [group] that has been on a roll."

Winder had 17 points in the first half against USF, and finished with 17 to go with four assists, three rebounds and a steal. Rose took him out of the game for good in the second half after he picked up his third personal foul, which was a technical foul when he was basically standing up for Corbin Kaufusi, who suffered a hard foul at the hands of USF's Derrell Robertson.

If it had been a closer game, I'm sure Winder would have been in there at the end. As it were, it provided Rose with a good opportunity to rest Winder, who had played 20 minutes.

What is obvious right now is that the Cougars are a confident bunch.

"I told you guys on Thursday that I was really excited to see our guys find that confidence," Rose said. "Now to do it back to back, consistently on the same trip, in tough places [is impressive]. This [USF] has always been difficult place to win. We have been successful, but our games have been right down to the wire.

I hope it gives our guys confidence. I think there are a couple things different about this trip. It is a road trip, but we are not in school. So they have no other real worries.

But last year, when we had that road trip, we weren't in school, we got beat both times. So that's a credit to our guys, handling it that way."

Winter semester classes at BYU began Monday.

Joe Lunardi came out Monday with a new iteration of bracketology, saying the Cougars would be in the Big Dance if the season ended today.

Lunardi has BYU as a 10 seed, Gonzaga as a 2 seed and Saint Mary's as a 12 seed. The WCC is one of nine leagues with at least three bids, as of today.

In the newest AP Top 25 college basketball poll, which came out Monday, BYU is among the schools receiving votes. The Cougars got three points — which could have been three voters placing the Cougars at No. 25, or one at No. 24 and one at No. 25, or one at No. 23.

In the interest of full disclosure, I am an AP voter this year (taking the reins for this media market from former Provo Daily Herald writer Jason Franchuk, who is now living in the Albany, N.Y., area). I've yet to vote for BYU; If the Cougars win their next four games, including Jan. 17 at Saint Mary's, I'll probably consider it.

Certainly, BYU's defense has improved — holding Santa Clara to 31 percent shooting and San Francisco to 42 percent was a step in the right direction. Collinsworth said after the USF win that defense, getting stops and triggering fast breaks with defensive rebounds, is a big reason why the Cougars are leading the country in scoring at 88.3 points per game.

The wins over Santa Clara and USF "shows we can win on the road," Collinsworth said. "I think it is huge, getting that road mindset, and to win this conference, you have to win road games, so hopefully we will get the momentum to win a few more road games."