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A fun time was had by all — far as I could tell — at the WCC Basketball Tip-off event today at the Time Warner Cable Sports studios in El Segundo, Calif. The studios are just a couple miles away from LAX.

BYU was represented by coaches Dave Rose and Jeff Judkins and players Tyler Haws and Morgan Bailey.

Both BYU teams were picked to finish second in the league this season, behind Gonzaga. Both had two players make the all-WCC preseason teams: Haws and Kyle Collinsworth for the men and Bailey and Lexi Eaton for the women.

I hope to have more on the women's team after having talked to Judkins and Bailey later.

Here's a piece I wrote after interviewing Haws and Rose — a look at how Haws has lost some weight this offseason, and why he chose to do it.

He weighed as much as 208 pounds last season; Now he's around 190. The reigning WCC Player of the Year was a popular figure at the event, giving interview after interview to members of the media who cover the WCC.

Perhaps it is because I also cover BYU football — Steve Luhm filled in for me today and filed this report — but I couldn't resist asking Rose and Haws about the travails of coach Bronco Mendenhall's group today in Los Angeles.

"He's fine. He knows what he is doing," Rose said when I asked what advice he'd give his counterpart.

Said Haws, when I asked him what he would tell football players after their four-game losing streak. The Cougar hoopsters suffered through one last winter.

"It is a tough spot to be in," Haws said. "Cougar Nation can be brutal sometimes and start pointing fingers. I would say the thing that we did when we lost four in a row last year is we just started playing for each other. In team meetings, we talked about why we started playing basketball in the first place, which was to have fun. It was because you liked the guys and the teammates you were playing with. But having fun and playing for the guy next to you was a big emphasis for us for awhile. It helped us turn things around. Obviously football is a different situation, a different sport. But not paying attention to the outside stuff is big, too, because people start pointing fingers and say it is this guy's fault, or it is this, or this. They are the only ones that really know what is going on on the inside. So just playing for the guy next to you is big."

Rose said he wasn't surprised the Cougars were picked second behind Gonzaga. Been that way for awhile now.

"I think that the challenge we knew coming in this year was going to be Gonzaga," Rose said. "Saint Mary's has done a great job over the years, too. It is great to have a team in our league that is on the national scene all the time. It seems like when we were in the Mountain West, it was different teams, but we always had one in the rankings.

I would like to see that happen here. We would like to be in that spot, and have everyone chasing us."

Rose said "consistency" is what BYU needs to develop to get over the hump.

Rose smiles when he's asked whether Haws can improve. "Wait and see," he said.

As for 3-point shooting, Rose said Haws took that upon himself to work on this summer.

"It was something he really wanted to improve on, and so he made that a real focus on in his offseason training. He also spent a lot of time with the ball in his hands, from dribble-drive and taking it to the rim to pull-up stuff.

He's always been really good with one or two dribbles and then pulling up and hitting a nice midrange shot. I think he wants to extend that a little bit. It will help him, and help us.

Then I think he had some real defensive goals he set for himself, too, and I am really pleased. I think he's had a terrific offseason.

It has been different from last offseason, because he went and played with the USA team last year."

Rose said "we have had a really good summer" when I asked him if plans for a new basketball practice facility are progressing.

"Hopefully we will be able to make an announcement soon, and if it gets approved, we can move forward from there," he said. "I think everyone in the university is pretty much on board that that is what needs to happen. I hope it happens soon. "

Haws has 1,944 career points, which puts him fifth on BYU's all-time scoring list. He needs 655 points to catch Jimmer Fredette this season for No. 1 on the list.

"It would definitely be an honor to do that, but I think when you win, those things will just take care of themselves," Haws said. "If I do it, great, if I don't, that's OK, too. Just to be up there with those guys would be an honor."

What does BYU have to do to make it back to the NCAA Tournament?

"We have to hit the ground running. We have to pick up wherever we left off last year. We can't have those ups and downs we went through last season. We gotta start strong. I feel like we have lots of experience, but we also have guys with no experience whatsoever who need to play a big role for us. We got to start fast," he said. —