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Provo • Coach Dave Rose won't have two entirely healthy squads when the Cougars hold their annual Cougar Tipoff on Wednesday night at the Marriott Center, but they are closer to 100 percent than a few weeks ago.

Tipoff is at 7:05 p.m. and Rose is promising a full game, complete with officials, because his group needs all the playing experience it can get before Saturday's exhibition opener against Seattle Pacific.

"I think the development of this team is individual-[based] right now," Rose said. "I don't think we have really kind of progressed as a group together. We are missing a couple of guys in practice every day. But the combinations that we have put together have been really helpful for the development of the group down the road."

Rose is a long way from naming his starting five — he joked Tuesday that it is "probably between 12 or 13 guys" — and said this is the least experienced team he has had in 12 years in terms of guys who have played for BYU. Only returning starter Nick Emery, returned missionary Eric Mika and Utah State transfer Kyle Davis have played for BYU, and all three have played one year

"There are basically no roles defined at all with this team," Rose said. "We are all starting from scratch."

Injury update

Rose said that Houston transfer L.J. Rose (ankle) has practiced sparingly the past few sessions and should see limited time in Wednesday's scrimmage.

"He needs more time on the floor, but I think that the next three weeks or so will be really important for him to not only get all the way healthy, but to get acclimated to what we do and how we do it," Rose said of the senior. "But he's been really good to this point. He's involved in everything off the floor, and he is a really smart player with a lot of experience who can really help this team."

The other transfer, Elijah Bryant, underwent surgery for a meniscus tear last month and is still not practicing. Dave Rose said the former Elon University star will go through warmup drills on Saturday, but won't play.

"Next week will be a really big week for him, because he is close," Dave Rose said. "We will just see how it comes."

Aytes improving

Rose said the improvement of 6-6 forward Jamal Aytes has been "one of the real bright spots" in camp. Coming off his third ankle surgery, the junior from San Diego is almost 100 percent.

"Not as explosive as maybe he will yet be," Rose said. "But just the minutes he is out there, his body looks great. He's big and strong and he's got a nice touch on the ball, and can really get himself open in the post, get post touches.

Emery, Mika make watch lists

For the first time, two BYU players are on preseason watch lists for the five positional awards given out annually by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Mika is one of 20 college basketball players on the watch list for the 2017 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center of the Year Award. Mika earned all-WCC Freshman Team honors in 2013-14 before departing on an LDS Church mission to Italy. He averaged 11.8 points and 6.4 rebounds per game while shooting 52.7 percent from the field.

Emery is a candidate for the Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award. Emery, one of 20 watch list members for the honor, was a member of the All-WCC Second Team and the All-WCC Freshman Team last season. He averaged 16.3 points last season and set the freshman single-game scoring record with 37 points at San Francisco.

Twitter: @drewjay —

BYU basketball tipoff

When • Wednesday, 7 p.m.

Where • Marriott Center, Provo

What • Annual Intrasquad Blue-White Game

TV • BYUtv