This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

The BYU Cougars hit Manhattan on Sunday night, walked around Times Square a little bit, then hunkered down at the Marriott Marquis Hotel and watched more film on Valparaiso, something they've been doing (the watching film part) for nearly six days now.

"We know them pretty well, by now," Kyle Collinsworth said.

Of course, the Cougars (26-10) and Crusaders (29-5) meet for the first time since 1946 (a 72-58 BYU win that evened the series at 1-1) on Tuesday in an NIT semifinal (5 p.m. MDT) at Madison Square Garden.

Coach Dave Rose, Collinsworth and fellow seniors Chase Fischer and Nate Austin participated in a noon ET luncheon and news conference on Monday, and then the Cougars headed off to a practice at the New York Athletic Center.

Monday night's only planned event is a dinner at the same hotel the Cougars are staying at.

Incidentally, that hotel was on lockdown for about two hours on Monday afternoon as New York police investigated a suspicious package that turned out to be garbage.

From the pulpit Monday at noon, both coaches spoke glowingly of the other team, with Valpo coach Bryce Drew (no relation to me, in case you're wondering) saying Collinsworth is one of the best players in the country and the Cougars one of the best offensive teams in the country.

Rose mentioned that the Cougars lost 76-70 to Baylor here three years ago in a semifinal game, a Bears team coached by Bryce Drew's brother, Scott Drew. Oddly, I also have a brother named Scott Drew. Bryce wasn't all that impressed when I told him that.

Rose described his BYU team as being more capable of playing a grind-it-out game than past BYU teams.

"We have been more up than down this season," Rose said. "We have lost 10 games, and in those 10 games we've learned a lot about our team. Hopefully, we like the pace to be quick, but this team has been successful in slow-paced games. We will see how this game goes tomorrow. I know it will be a battle of each team trying to get to where they feel comfortable. Hopefully we will be able to play well."

While the other three teams here were bonafide bubble teams for the NCAA Tournament, BYU really wasn't. The Cougars knew they needed to win the WCC Tournament, but fell short and lost to Gonzaga 88-84 in the semifinals of that loop.

"We are playing really well together as a group. I think our chemistry is good," Rose said. "I think our ability to stay in the moment and not worry about the past, or too far into the future, has helped us in this run. And then the challenge that our staff has put on this group of guys has been to advance.

We were here three years ago, made it to the semifinals. We are looking to see if we can get to the finals. We look forward to the challenge and thank everybody for our invitation."

I wrote about Collinsworth's health - much improved, but not 100 percent back - in my mainbar for Tuesday's newspaper. The shocking details are that he lost 12 pounds and couldn't hold anything food down for five days. It's amazing that he was able to play 20 minutes, and score 10 points, against Creighton last Tuesday, teammate Nate Austin said.

"When Kyle misses practice or anything, you know he's really sick," Austin said.

I will have more later on what Austin, Collinsworth and Chase Fischer had to say today in a later post, but suffice it to say that Fischer had everybody at the table cracking up with his needling of Collinsworth about being a Boy Scout.

At one point, Fischer said he was never a Boy Scout, but far more prepared than the Utahns because he grew up in rural West Virginia.

He even said he has a "bear scar" on his abdomen from one such adventure, but chose not to elaborate when he was asked for more details.

That's one of Fischer's many roles on this team — he tends to keep everybody else loose and easygoing.

"I don't necessarily think that is a title that I've taken, but I think that is just kind of how I am. I am a loose guy. I don't like to get too serious. I think I had a turning point this year after the Harvard game in Hawaii. I was taking it too serious and not having enough fun, putting too much pressure on myself.

Ever since then I have been a lot looser and I've been playing a lot better," Fischer said. "I try to keep dudes loose. If I see guys are nervous or something, I try to joke around with them, but I think that is how our team is. We are pretty carefree. We don't get too serious. I think that's how everyone on our team is. I try and just keep dudes loose. That's the best way to play the game. You can't play the game nervous or tight."

— Jay Drew