PROVO — In high school, Kyle Collinsworth was recruited from sea to shining sea and everywhere in-between.

As a state basketball champion from Provo High School, Collinsworth was named Deseret News Mr. Basketball when he averaged 23.7 points, 10 rebounds, 7.8 assists and 3.4 steals as a senior.

That brought some of the big boys calling: Kansas, USC, Stanford, Oklahoma State, Arizona State, Marquette, Virginia, Stanford and Utah. But his older brother Chris and his best friend Brandon Davies had already crossed the street from Provo High School to BYU's campus. The fact that Kyle followed, was a surprise to no one.

Head coach Dave Rose received one of the most-rounded players in the nation, and he used Collinsworth in nearly every conceivable role. As a freshman at BYU, Collinsworth played as a point guard, shooting guard, small forward and sometimes in the power forward position.

His career-high in scoring — 16 points — was barely above his career high in rebounding — 15. He dished out six assists against Colorado State, stole three balls from Weber State and blocked four shots against Wofford in the NCAA tournament.

The 6-foot-6 Collinsworth weighs 215 pounds and many view him as a point guard because of his skills in distributing the basketball. Therein lays the problem. Junior Matt Carlino has been a two-year starter at the point and has logged over 1,700 minutes. At times, Carlino has been dynamic as both a scorer and a passer.

In Carlino's final four games, against some pretty good competition in the NIT, he averaged 18 points and eight assists per game. Other times, Carlino has caused both fans and coaches to tear out chunks of their hair because of his inconsistency, turnovers and poor shot selection.

"I want to play with the ball in my hands, whatever that means," Collinsworth said. "I can play multiple positions, with the ball in my hands and without it."

Averaging a near triple-double in high school, Collinsworth played every position on the court. He doesn't envision stepping on toes with his return. He and Carlino have already begun their integration.

"We played on the same team in pickup and we won four straight games, no problem," Collinsworth said. "Just found each other open, used each other off the pick-and-roll, spotted up and looked for each other and we won four straight, so I don't think we'll have a problem. We're both players and we're going to run and get a lot of baskets."

Collinsworth singled out super-athletic big man Eric Mika from Lone Peak as a player that he expects to contribute as a true freshman. "I've never seen a big man that can run and jump like he can."

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Collinsworth calls this year's team the most athletic team ever at BYU.

"I think, for our team, we push a lot. It's really not going to matter, whoever gets the rebound, me, Ty (Haws), Matt (Carlino) we're going to go. The key is, I just want to have the ball in my hands. This year we'll be doing a lot of pick-and-roll stuff so I think that will be very possible."

BYU will not have a single senior on their roster, which means Collinsworth and Carlino will have a ton of time to figure out how to play together.

What works in their favor is that their skill sets are different and complimentary. Collinsworth has the edge as the better rebounder and penetrator, "I've proven on any level that I can get to the hoop and finish on anybody."

Collinsworth is not a great shooter, "I'm just trying to get a consistent shot. There would be games where I shot decent and games that I shot awful, so I'm just trying to get consistent with it."

Collinsworth shot just 57% from the free-throw line as a freshman and 26% from 3.

Carlino is the better jump-shooter, hitting 34% of his 3-pointers last year, but his good-not-great shooting percentage can be attributed to poor shot selection rather than ability.

Both players are very good passers, Carlino averaged nearly five assists-per-game, but at time has been plagued by turnovers, averaging nearly three turnovers-per-game.

Collinsworth averaged two assists-per-game as a freshman, but nearly as many turnovers (1.5), although his high school numbers would indicate a brighter passing future.

Collinsworth has the edge defensively. His length and strength allow him guard much bigger players, but he's shown the quickness to defend quicker point guards.

How quickly these two players can gel on the court will likely determine how successful BYU's season will be.

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