SALT LAKE CITY -- Cougar nation is plummeting down the emotional roller coaster. Riding its highest national ranking in 23 years, with projections of a No. 1 seed in the NCAA's West Regional, starting center Brandon Davies is off the team and Brigham Young University spokeswoman Carri Jenkins says maybe out of the university, too.

"Due to a violation of the BYU Honor Code, Brandon Davies will not represent the university on the men's basketball team throughout the remainder of the 2010-2011 season. Given that the university just became aware of the situation on Monday, some decisions such as his future on the basketball team and his status at the university are yet to be determined."

Cougar Tracks:

Davies Done

On Monday, BYU Basketball began the week buoyed by excitement and promise. On Tuesday, the Cougars' dream season was hit with nightmare news: starting center Brandon Davies is out for the rest of the season after an Honor Code violation.

Just when it looked like the third ranked Cougars could do no wrong, Davies' Honor Code violation costs him at least the rest of his sophomore season and could cost the team severely as it moves closer to March Madness, the MWC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament.

"He was contributing so much to this BYU basketball team right now" says the voice of the Cougars, KSL's Greg Wrubell. "Third leading scorer, leading rebounder, and a physical and athletic player the likes of which BYU hasn't had inside in a long time, and it's momentarily devastating."

Blaine Fowler's a former BYU QB who's seen others unable to live up to the Honor Code. Now as he prepares for the upcoming MWC Tournament, the MTN's analyst understands the void left in the middle of BYU's lineup.

"This is huge. I mean it's a huge blow because they were already low on big bodies. People think about Brandon Davies offensively (11.1 ppg, shooting team-high 52.5 percent) and that's big because he really is a great inside scoring presence for them. But it's more than just that. Because Brandon Davies is also their best on-ball post defender. So when you get against some of these big guys, not only in the Mountain West Tournament (but also in the NCAA's) they are going to miss his interior presence. It makes a big difference.

"Their guards are going to have to be better than ever. They're going to have to push the ball. They're already an uptempo team but they're going to have to be a big-time transition team to get more points to make up for not having him offensively. They're also going to have to play really, really good team defense on the other end. It's a big, big blow."

Of course the third ranked Cougars have no time to lick their wounds; they must move on quickly since they host New Mexico on Wednesday. The Lobos are one of only two teams that beat BYU this season.

Wrubell said, "BYU will have to really reconfigure it's offense in the absence of Brandon Davies yet still go about the business of winning basketball games, which I know Dave Rose intends to do. He'll view this as an obstacle, as a challenge to be overcome and it won't be the first time BYU's battled odds to get the job done."

So how will Rose game-plan without his starting sophomore center?

Wrubell said, "The expectation is that Noah Hartsock would be the primary post player now and they'll use players around him in an atypical fashion relative to a center, power-forward dynamic. You might say BYU will play 'small-ball' in some ways going forward. The pieces are there and everyone they will be relying on has contributed at different times of the season. They'll be needed now more than ever."

Fowler points out this new identity isn't only on Coach Rose to create, it's on his senior backcourt.

"I don't know if there's two better leaders in this league than Jackson Emery and Jimmer Fredette. Fredette is just the kind of kid who loves a challenge. He wants to go play on the road. Somebody makes a comment about him, he just quietly says 'OK anytime that guy's on me I'll just score, don't even think about passing it back to me 'cause this guy challenged me.'

"So he's the kind of guy that will take this and put a chip right on his shoulder and say 'OK, now this is even bigger guys. We have got to go out and prove to people that this is a team that's deeper than they think. With one guy gone we can pick up the pieces and go on.'

"I wouldn't put it by Jimmer Fredette to pick up his game. If he can even do that, from the level he's been playing at, he's the guy who can do it. Then Jackson Emery's just a quiet, hard-working, lead-by-example guy. If you're going to have a problem like this, those are the two guys you want in your locker room."

You won't hear any BYU basketball reaction to the Davies situation until Coach Rose addresses the Davies' questions after the New Mexico game; same for the Cougar players.

E-mail: tkirkland@ksl.com

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