After a light workout on Wednesday, the 9th ranked BYU Cougars went through a full practice Thursday afternoon at the Marriott Center, two days ahead of a huge game at Colorado State.

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The Cougars are 4-0 in the Mountain West Conference (one-half game back of 5-0 SDSU), while the Rams are 3-1 after Wednesday night's landmark win at UNLV.

It's not just that BYU is winning games, it's how the Cougars are winning games.

By the numbers, this is not yet Dave Rose's best shot-making team, or best free-throw shooting shooting team, nor is it his most dominant rebounding team or assist-making team.

In fact, of the 17 statistical categories the NCAA tracks in its team-by-team updates, this season's BYU team would be the best in the Rose era in only two categories, were the season to end today: 3pfg/game and fewest turnovers/game. Important stats, to be certain, but to this point in the season, BYU's performance has not been numerically overwhelming, by those few measures.

The BYU Cougar hoopsters won ten games in a row before suffering their only loss of the season. Impressively, the Cougars are streaking again, winning an eighth straight game with last night's 83-67 home decision over TCU.

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It's what Dave Rose teams do: they go on runs, in games, and during seasons.

Bronco Mendenhall has another hole to fill on his offensive coaching staff, with today's news that Outside Receivers coach Patrick Higgins is leaving BYU for Purdue, after six seasons coaching the Cougar wideouts.

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Expected to express interest in the opening is former Cougar receiver Ben Cahoon, who has just completed his 13th season with the Montreal Alouettes.

BYU Basketball fans will want to be in their seats a few minutes early tonight.

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The school will be honoring the Cougars' new alltime steals leader Jackson Emery in a brief ceremony right before the team is brought out for pre-game introductions ahead of tipoff with TCU.

On the eve of "Jackson Emery Night" at the Marriott Center, the Cougars were back on their home hardwoods for a Monday afternoon practice.

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After the session, head coach Dave Rose met with the media and confirmed that forward Chris Collinsworth is done for the season after Friday microfracture knee surgery to repair a crack in cartilage behind the kneecap. Rose said the surgery "actually went really well," but that Collinsworth will have no weight-bearing for a month, followed by three to four months of rehab.

For the first time in 23 years, the BYU Basketball team is ranked in the Top 10 in both major national polls.

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In the latest rankings out today, BYU is 9th in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches' Poll, and 9th in the AP Poll.

BYU head football coach Bronco Mendenhall announced an expected addition to his coaching staff Saturday, bringing in someone with a notable name in local football circles to assist the Cougar offense.

It is anticipated that Joe DuPaix will coach the inside receivers and tight ends (formerly the assignment of previous offensive coordinator Robert Anae), but no positional assignment is given in today's announcement from BYU, which reads as follows:

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During this season more than any other in the Dave Rose era, it appears that BYU's five starters may need to be Mountain West Conference "ironmen."

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We're only three games into the conference campaign (so I acknowledge that the sample size is small), but there are signs that Rose is ready and needing to lean more heavily on his starting group than ever before.

Two days later, I remain fascinated by what transpired in the final four seconds of BYU's first half of basketball at Utah, and the ensuing aftermath.

I have watched the scene unfold time and time again, and there is little doubt that "The Shot" has now joined the pantheon of BYU's altime greatest sports moments, and due to its currency, has taken a place near the top of the list.

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Those were the words of Jimmer Fredette, describing his thoughts as he released a 40-foot halftime buzzer-beater Tuesday night at the Huntsman Center (as seen above).

He could have said the same thing about any number of the 16 shots he made last night in leading BYU to a 104-79 dump-trucking of the rival Runnin' Utes. Fredette's 47 points represent his second highest single game point total, and now gives Fredette three of the top four scoring performances in BYU Basketball history (49 @ Arizona, 47 @ Utah, and 45 v. TCU at the MWC Tournament).

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BYU head coach Dave Rose ran his team through a 100-minute Marriott Center practice Monday afternoon, the day before his team heads to the hill to face instate rival Utah.

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You can hear post-practice interviews with Rose, Jimmer Fredette and Brandon Davies by clicking on the audio links in the "Cougar Cuts" box below.

BYU's Jimmer Fredette received national Player of the Week citations from espn.com's "Weekly Watch" and ESPN analyst Dick Vitale, and another weekly (co) Player of the Week honor from the Mountain West Conference today, as Fredette's team also hit the Top 10.

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BYU (16-1, 2-0) is up four spots in both the Coaches' and AP Top 25 polls, ranking 10th in the coaches' survey and 11th in the media list.

History will have to wait for Jackson Emery, but the BYU Cougars are moving full-speed ahead, busting out of the Mountain West Conference gates to start their league campaign.

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Saturday's 76-66 win over Air Force in front of a sell-out crowd of 22,700 at the Marriott Center was the 11th in a row for the Cougars over the Cadets, who are a much better outfit than the team that went 10-21 last season. BYU improves to 16-1 on the season and 2-0 in the MWC, while the Cadets fall to 10-5 and 1-1.

BYU head hoops coach Dave Rose ran his team through a Thursday afternoon Marriott Center practice, and afterward talked with the local media about the Cougars' league-opening win at UNLV last night.

Saying "we didn't have to play a perfect game, but we had to execute our game plan," Rose spoke of wins like last night's as "the best wins; when you're on the road and it's a packed house and the odds are kind of against you a little bit, and your guys come through and play. And our guys really played. I was proud of them."

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With a nod to the Las Vegas-based band, BYU's two senior guards were a deadly duo last night at the Thomas & Mack Center. Jimmer Fredette and Jackson Emery combined for 13 three-pointers and 61 points in BYU's 89-77 win at UNLV.

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Yes, Jimmer Fredette saw what Tre'von Willis said about him leading up to the game, about Jimmer "supposedly" being the best player in the Mountain West.

Almost ten years after he took his last snap as a BYU Cougar quarterback, Brandon Doman will once again be in charge of the BYU offense--this time as Cougars' new offensive coordinator.

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Doman and former BYU linebacker Kelly Poppinga were introduced in their new roles this afternoon, with Doman assuming offensive play-calling responsibilities, and Poppinga named as the permanent outside linebackers' coach, a role he filled for most of this past season.

Saying it "won't be the end of the world" if BYU doesn't win at UNLV on Wednesday night, BYU head hoops coach Dave Rose previewed his conference opener by calling the game "a great chance to get one and put pressure on the whole league to go in there and get one."

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You can hear a brief interview session with Coach Rose by clicking on his audio link in the "Cougar Cuts" box below. He begins by addressing a question about Chris Collinsworth, who was absent from Monday afternoon's practice while visiting the doctor about a knee issue. Collinsworth had the knee iced after receiving treatment following Saturday's win over Fresno Pacific. Rose said after consulting with the medical staff, "we'll have to figure out what's going to happen from there."

BYU and UNLV have met only twice previously with both squads ranked in the AP Top 25, but when the two teams get together Wednesday night in Las Vegas, the Cougars and Rebels will tip it off with numbers next to their names.

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The latest polls out today have BYU ranked 14th (Coaches) and 15th (AP), while UNLV is ranked 25th (AP) and receives votes in the coaches' survey.

Seeing as he was portrayed as an animated superhero before the season, Jimmer Fredette's performance last night in Buffalo was fitting.

In the first half of BYU's game v. the Buffalo Bulls, he was James Taft Fredette--mild-mannered college student, scoring six points on one-of-nine shooting. After the halftime break, he changed into his comic book duds, and it was "Jimmertime" at Alumni Arena: Fredette went 10/15 from the field and scored 28 points in the final 20 minutes, leading BYU to a 90-82 win over the tenacious homestanders.

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