The Jimmer Bandwagon is Picking up Speed
Jimmer Fredette (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
BYU Basketball is poised to receive the most national attention it has garnered since Danny Ainge made his mad dash between all five Notre Dame defenders to knock off the Irish in the NCAA Tournament nearly 30 years ago.
During the upcoming 2010-11 season, the Cougars are likely to be on ESPN SportsCenter on regular basis. The reason? People just can’t seem to get enough of Jimmer Fredette.
Fredette is currently in Las Vegas working out with many of the top college players as a member of the USA Select team, which scrimmages against the USA National team made up of NBA players who are preparing for the FIBA World Championships.
Earlier this week, Jimmer’s national bandwagon received a big boost by his being named a first team All-American by none other than ESPN analyst Dick Vitale. Who knew Dicky V. even knew we played basketball here in the wilds of the Rocky Mountains?
Rivals.com has also contributed to the buzz for Fredette, naming him to their All-Senior team and recognizing him at the top of their list of the “most explosive players in the country”.
Many other preseason accolades are sure to come his way as the basketball season draws closer. In fact his name is already being bantered about in many circles as a preseason player of the year candidate.
Jimmer’s eight 30-plus point outings last year, including a record 49 points at Arizona and 37 verses Florida in the NCAA Tournament, were the launching pad for this year’s preseason hype for the senior from Upstate New York.
Fredette’s decision this summer to opt out of this year’s NBA draft means that the national spotlight will now shine brightly on the entire BYU program. Assuming that the Cougars perform as expected, this season may represent the most national attention BYU hoops has ever received from start to finish.
The Cougars do lose Tyler Haws, Jonathan Tavernari, Micheal Lloyd Jr. and Chris Miles from last years team that set a school record with 30 wins. However, under head coach Dave Rose, BYU has been able to reload each year, and this year should be no different.
The Cougars could be even better this year as they welcome Chris Collinsworth from a mission, his highly recruited brother Kyle from Provo High School, Las Vegas freshman standout Anson Winder and sharp shooting junior college transfer Stephen Rodgers to the mix.
Those four talents will join veterans Brandon Davies, Jackson Emery, Charles Abouo, Noah Hartsock, James Anderson and Fredette to form the core of a talented and deep BYU team.
Among their non-conference games this coming season, the Cougars have a chance to get noticed as they face UCLA in the 17th annual John Wooden Classic, welcome Arizona at Energy Solutions Arena, travel to Jimmer’s hometown of Glens Falls, NY to battle Vermont and participate with Texas Tech, St. Mary’s and South Florida in the South Padre Island Invitational.
BYU will also once again be one of the favorites to win the Mountain West Conference. The Cougars will be gunning for their fourth conference title in the past five years. And you can bet that Fredette and company believe they have unfinished business after failing to win either the regular season or conference tournament titles last year.
All of this adds up to one of the most anticipated and hyped basketball seasons in a long time. Let the bandwagon, and the good times, roll. It should be fun to watch.
I’ve been watching NBAtv and team USA Select. I gotta say Jimmer looks more in shape than I’ve ever seen him before. He looks seasoned and ready for a big year.
Keep up the good work Jimmer and help BYU achieve MORE than 30 victories!!
Go Cougs!
Looking forward to it! We should be great and hopefully the injury/sickness bug won’t strike. I’d like to see a deep run in the NCAA Tourney next March!
Can’t wait to see the team when they come down to Texas.
Jimmer’s the man, can’t wait to see him in action again, but I gotta be honest Brett…I’m in full on football mode.
How about an article on the kid from Boaz, Alabama, Drew Phillips? Would love to learn more about that kid….
Nah ben doesn’t matter if its almost football season their is always time for jimmer time.
The Cougs should be set for a great run this next year. I’ve been a big fan of Fredette since his Freshman season. I am concerned, however, that the glare of the spotlight might make it challenging for Jimmer to take advantage of the talent on the court around him. There will be mounting pressure for him to score like a top NBA prospect. That could sub-optimize the team’s potential and performance. Just hope he has the poise, vision and leadership to put the personal accolades and attention in perspective and realize that it’s first and foremost about the team.
re: Taylor
like i said, love Jimmer….but my mind can’t get off football season. Just over a month!
I definitely am looking forward to Jimmer tearing up the court for basketball season, but one season at a time would be good. Any tidbits or information for football would be great also.
Nice article on Jimmer. Gotta love the Wrubell’s phrase, “Jimmer shoots, Jimmer scores.”
On another note, what are your thoughts on the retirement of Barry Lamb and the hiring of Nick Howell? I’m sure Markell, Quinn, and Ben all have thoughts on this and have worked with Coach Lamb in the past. I’m sure you could provide some great insight into Coach Lamb and even Coach Howell…did any of you work with him?
Thanks….40 days 7 hours until kick off!!
Have to agree with Rob.
Jimmer is a great scorer and ball handler, but the real test will be whether or not he can include the rest of the team in scoring opportunities.
I really like this basketball team. I think Collinsworth the younger could be a game changer. I think Rodgers will also surprise people by how skilled and talented he is.
Kyle Collinsworth will be a game changer. My son played with him at Provo HS this past year and Kyle can do it all.
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