Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
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BYU Basketball Media Day is one week from today, and the annual Cougar Tipoff intra-squad affair is three weeks from tonight. Officially sanctioned practices start in nine days. The MWC deadline for preseason all-conference award ballots is tomorrow.
Sounds like time for a little bit of hoops on "Cougar Tracks."
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I submitted my ballot for all-MWC honors yesterday, and here's what it looks like.
Order of Finish
1. BYU: Three starters return, including a 2010 First Team Preseason All-American.
2. SDSU: Starting five are back for Steve Fisher's best team yet.
3. New Mexico: Lost Hobson, but Alford has a good thing going in Albuquerque.
4. UNLV: Should be better inside; Tre'von Willis' return soothes nerves on the Strip.
5. CSU: After the "big four," probably most ready to make the jump.
6. Utah: Professor Boylen is teaching chemistry class on the hill.
7. TCU: Four straight years of 13-14 wins. Yawn.
8. Wyoming: Hard luck in Laramie for Heath Schroyer; could move up if key guys get healthy.
9. Air Force: Cadets have lost 31 of their last 32 MWC games.
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All-Conference Team
Jimmer Fredette, BYU: Only sickness stopped Jimmer last year.
Dairese Gary, New Mexico: Great floor leader, solid defender.
Kawhi Leonard, SDSU: MWC Freshman of the Year is back, and on the Preseason Wooden Award list.
Tre'von Willis, UNLV: Best player on a very good team.
Jackson Emery, BYU: All-MWC Second Team pick last season is also league's best defender.
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Preseason Player of the Year
Jimmer Fredette, BYU: Everybody's All-American.
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Preseason Newcomer of the Year
Drew Gordon, New Mexico: UCLA transfer eligible for second semester/conference play.
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Preseason Freshman of the Year
Kyle Collinsworth, BYU: like Tyler Haws before him, could start as a freshman for a very deep team.
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Hoops notes--
Former BYU assistant coach John Wardenburg has landed a bench gig as an assistant alongside Ken Wagner at BYU-Hawaii. Wardenburg and the Seasiders will play at BYU on November 5th, in the Cougars' exhibition finale.
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There is an opening on Steve Cleveland's staff at Fresno State, which opens the season at BYU on November 12th. Assistant coach and recruiting coordinator Senque Carey (who played at New Mexico before a serious injury) is leaving the Bulldogs due to family considerations. Cleveland says he will hold off on replacing Carey until spring.
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Football notes--
The last time BYU lost five straight games was in 1970. The only longer streaks:
7 (1968)
10 (1953-54 and 1955-56)
11 (1949)
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BYU has played three consecutive games with under 100 yards rushing AND under 300 yards passing for the first time since the first three games of the 2004 season.
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Run harder, block better, or bigger back? J.J. DiLuigi has run the ball five times on 3rd or 4th down w/ 3 or fewer yards to go; 1/5 on conversions.
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BYU has already failed to convert as many downs of 3rd-and-3 or shorter as it failed to convert all of last season.
2009: 23/28 on 3rd-and-3 or shorter
2010: 6/11
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Tune in to tonight's broadcast of "BYU Football with Head Coach Bronco Mendenhall," from 7:00-8:00 pm on KSL Newsradio.
Marc Lyons and I will be joined by the head coach and a current BYU player. Tonight's guest ex-player is scheduled to be Max Hall, on the line from Arizona.
As it turns out, Hall is expected to be officially named the starting QB for the Arizona Cardinals' Sunday game v. the New Orleans Saints.
If you have a question you would like to submit for the coach in tonight's "BYU Q and A" segment, send it in from this link.
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