BYU's NIT run delighting crowd, including football coach Kalani Sitake


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PROVO — On paper, it doesn’t look like much.

Eight thousand people gathered for an NIT first-round game against Alabama-Birmingham, and 12,379 for BYU’s second postseason home game against Virginia Tech — well below the Marriott Center’s 19,000 seating capacity.

But the type of crowd — one that included new head football coach Kalani Sitake on the second row of the student section Friday night — at times deafened the Marriott Center during BYU’s current run to the quarterfinals of the National Invitation Tournament.

And the players are noticing it.

“When we made the NIT, for (the media), the fans and even us a little bit, there was a little bit of hanging our heads,” said BYU senior Chase Fischer after averaging 25.5 points in two NIT games. “But this is a great tournament, and I want to thank our fans.

“That was honestly the loudest I’ve heard it all year. It was big, and I think a lot of teams don’t want to come in here and play. I don’t think it makes them scared, but I don’t know.”

Teammate Kyle Collinsworth piped up interrupting, adding quietly, “I think they’re scared.”

The kind of loud home support the Cougars (25-10) have received after falling to the nation’s largest “second-tier” postseason tournament has been overwhelming, said the NCAA’s all-time leader in career triple-doubles.

“It’s just a new opportunity, to be able to play in front of the home crowd, especially for Chase, Nate (Austin) and I,” said Collinsworth, who had his 12th career triple-double against UAB. “We’re making the most of it and trying our hardest to win every game we can.”

Home is more than just a chance for another homemade green smoothie, Collinsworth joked. And win or lose, BYU’s NIT quarterfinal Tuesday against Creighton will be the senior’s final home game in a BYU uniform. A win will send the Cougars to New York City’s Madison Square Garden for the NIT semifinals, while a loss will end the career of one of BYU’s all-time most prolific players.

Photo: Chris Samuels, Deseret News
Photo: Chris Samuels, Deseret News

Which makes the NIT important for Collinsworth, even if it wasn’t where his team wanted to be during the regular season.

“When we lost to Gonzaga and knew we weren’t going to make the tournament, there were two options: put your head down, feel bad for yourself and quit; or create a new opportunity,” Collinsworth said after putting in 18 points, six rebounds and 10 assists in an 80-77 win over the Hokies. “That’s something I’ve embraced the last few years after hurting my knee: I found new opportunities when things got bad, and I think that’s what our team did.”

Sitake was front and center for the Cougars’ NIT opener against UAB, sporting a BYU T-shirt, shorts and a set of "Robot" moves during timeouts. The first-year head coach, though, moved to the student section at halftime of the second-round game, jumping with college students while wearing his royal blue BYU baseball jersey alongside wide receivers coach Ben Cahoon, another BYU graduate.

Sitake, it seems, is just another BYU fan — who happens to be a Division I football coach. And at the young age of 40, he still has the youthful exuberance of college students just hours away from an American Heritage exam.

“I need to pace myself and remind myself that I’m a little older,” Sitake told KSL TV’s Brittany Copeland. “I’m trying to keep up with the ROC, but I don’t know if I can, consistently. But I’ll give it my best.”

BYU basketball coach Dave Rose didn’t notice Sitake in the student section. When told Sitake spent the entire second half in the student section Friday night, he remarked, “Was he, really?”

But the move didn’t surprise Rose, either. The two coaches talked basketball over lunch a few days prior, when the football coach professed his ardent love of hoops.

“He told me he loves basketball; he said he was a great basketball player as a younger guy, and then his body grew out of basketball,” said Rose, who attends every BYU home football game in a suite at LaVell Edwards Stadium. “He told me he’d be to all the games he could. That’s fun; Those students must have had a good time with him.”

Safe to assume.

BYU’s students weren’t the only ones having a good time.

“As much as we can support BYU athletics, I’m all for it,” Sitake said. “I just enjoy it, enjoy being around the fans, and I’ve been a fan of BYU since I was born.”

The first-year Division I head football coach in the middle of spring camp is installing a new offense, a modified defense, and several new players in various positions. But he hopes to spend a little more time with a group of college students, too.

“We want our football team to support as much as we can,” Sitake said. “Coach Detmer was at the volleyball game, I’ve got the baseball jersey on, and whatever we can do to support BYU is what we want to do.”

Contributing: Brittany Copeland

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