BYU basketball: Cougs already looking to next year
Y. will return loaded roster in pursuit of better tourney seed
On Thursday, Texas A&M delivered a 67-62 win over the Cougars, and that started the thought process to next season.
The Cougars began this season with just 16 of the 77 points in the Xavier game that ended the 2007 season. Next year, BYU will return 54 of the points represented in the 62 manufactured against the Aggies on Thursday.
That's a starting point this spring and summer as the Cougars say good-bye to seniors Ben Murdock and Sam Burgess and freshman forward Chris Collinsworth, who is headed for an LDS mission to Australia.
Trent Plaisted, who some folks connected to the NBA have discussed as a possible early entry in the draft, has not publicly discussed his decision, or lack thereof.
On Thursday, he had all he could handle with A&M's front line.
"They're really big bodies, and they use their physicality to their advantage, and they're hard to guard," said Plaisted. "You know, they had that cross-screen going, and it was hard to keep good position on them when they get that cross screen. But credit those guys, they had great efforts to the ball and they were able to pull down some big rebounds."
Jonathan Tavernari added to his school and MWC sophomore record for threes in a season with three against the Aggies, bringing his total to 88. Tavernari has hit at least three treys in 14 games this season. Tavernari and Lee Cummard have each made at least one three-pointer in 32 of 35 games. ... With a putback dunk at the 13:55 mark, Cummard surpassed 1,000 career points, becoming the 38th member of BYU's 1,000-point club and just the 11th Cougar of four-year players to reach the milestone as a junior. Fellow junior Trent Plaisted reached 1,000 career points earlier this season. ... Cummard has now scored in double figures in 32 of 35 games this season. ... After missing their first eight shots and 12 of their first 14 from the field, the Cougars made 10 of their last 13 shots in the first half while climbing back from an 11-point deficit to take a three-point lead. BYU made six straight shots at one point during the comeback, capped by a 3-pointer from Tavernari to knot the score at 26-26.
E-mail: dharmon@desnews.com
Recent comments
"Is it possible to lose 26 times in 23 tournaments?" RE: 26 in 23 | March 25, 2008 at 3:43 p.m.
Here's what they have to look forward to:
The Rebels (27-...
UNLV | March 23, 2008 at 1:43 a.m.
My biggest question tonight about the 26 losses in 23 appearences...
Coug44 | March 22, 2008 at 1:43 a.m.
