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SALT LAKE CITY -- NCAA Tournament action gets underway this afternoon for BYU and later tonight for Utah State University. The Aggies are playing Kansas State in Tucson, and the Cougars take on Wofford in Denver.
BYU hopes to kick off a deep run in the tournament, which features a lot of great teams and great players. But no one is getting as much attention as senior guard Jimmer Fredette and the Cougars.
5:15 p.m. Tip off
Two young fans said they drove 8 hours to see Jimmer "because he's Jimmer."
Another fan said, "Everybody's talking about it and excited about it, so it's kind of fun to be a part of it."
Fredette leads the nation in scoring. His acrobatic layups, cross-over dribble and 3-foot 3-pointers have become legend. Wherever he goes, so do the fans.
"I'm expecting no different," Fredette said Wednesday. "I'm expecting a great crowd for us, a lot of people, and hopefully that will give us energy to pull off this win."
For those who want to watch "the Jimmer show," time is running out. Now in his fourth and final NCAA Tournament, Jimmer hopes to end his career at BYU by doing something special.
"It's our last run; it's my last time here with Jackson (Emery) and with our team. I'm just going to leave everything out on the floor and hopefully I'll be able to play and score the basketball and be aggressive like always," Fredette said.
BYU and Wofford tip off at 5:15 p.m. Mountain Time. Pregame on KSL Newsradio begins at 4 p.m.
In Tucson, USU faces Kansas State at 8 p.m. The Aggies arrived in Arizona with a chip on their shoulders. They felt disrespected after going 30 - 3 and getting a 12th seed. They are anxious to upset a very physical Kansas State team.
Sophomore forward Tai Wesley said, "We have a great opportunity before us to make some national noise and get some attention and even prove some guys wrong. So why not take advantage of this opportunity that we've been given and go prove them wrong and show the nation what Utah State basketball is all about."
Written with contributions from Rod Zundel and Jeremiah Jensen .**
