This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
It is going to be another big news day for BYU basketball, with the new rankings set to come out later this morning, the MWC announcing its Player of the Week (wonder who it will be) and the regular Monday morning MWC coaches teleconference. By the way, BYU (19-1) has moved into the No. 1 spot in Jerry Palm's RPI figures, while San Diego State (20-0) is No. 4.In this survey, the Cougars' RPI is No. 2, behind Kansas. Also today, Jimmer Fredette will participate in his weekly national teleconference at 10:30 a.m., just a few minutes after coach Dave Rose concludes his portion of the MWC teleconference. Until then, here are a few leftover comments from Fredette after he scored 42 points in the Cougars' 94-85 win over Colorado State: On how the Cougars executed offensively when things got tight:"Yeah, definitely. We want to rebound the ball and get out in transition and go every single time. But they did a great job of making shots, and getting offensive rebounds and all that stuff. We couldn't [run], so we had to execute in the half court. So we got both sides, and we did a great job of that tonight." On whether he notices when the crowd boos him: "It doesn't really effect me. It is just fun. It is just fun to do that and make a shot, or whatever, and hopefully they will quiet down a little bit. But I don't really notice it. It comes with the territory, and I am expecting it every single game. You can't worry about it. You can't let it get to your head." On how the Cougars held on in the second half: "They got the lead under double digits, and we did a pretty good job in that second half. We did a good job of staying poised, staying calm, knowing that if we can get a bucket, things will calm down. Then get another stop, get another bucket, things will level out. So that's what we try to do." On whether they could even hear in the huddle, with the amount of crowd noise: "Yeah, sometimes you can when you are that close. But when you are out on the floor, sometimes you can't hear if a screen is being called, or stuff like that. You have to be aware of everybody on the floor. So it got really loud tonight, and that was good. It was a great crowd." On what the atmosphere was like at Moby compared to other years: "Much different. It was a sellout. First time I have played in front of a sellout [crowd] here. So it was a great atmosphere, a lot of fun. We were able to have a great game tonight. I hope that their fans keep coming to their games, because they are a very good team and they deserve a lot of support." On getting to the free-throw line a lot and whether he was getting fouled much: "It is the refs' decision, but teams will do that. They try to grab and hold and do as much as they possibly can without trying to get a foul. But they were calling some fouls tonight and I think they did a good job. You can't really worry about it. Both teams have to play through whatever happens." Early thoughts on SDSU game Wednesday: "We are ready to go. It's a huge game, big hype. They are a great team, we know that. So it is going to be a great game — a lot of fun."————————— Readers, I am trying to put together a list of the most memorable BYU-New Mexico basketball games played at The Pit in Albuquerque over the years. We will publish five or six of the best ones in Saturday's newspaper as the Cougars make their final trip to The Pit. I just read up on the 2004 game in which Mark Bigelow was hit with a technical foul for going out onto the court with 3.8 seconds remaining when official Lonnie Dixon blew his whistle. But if you know of others, send me a short email with the year the game was played, and why it was memorable. Send to drew@sltrib.com. Thanks.