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PROVO, Utah (Nov. 4, 2008) -- BYU men's basketball head coach Dave Rose announced Tuesday that senior Lee Cummard and junior Jonathan Tavernari have been selected to serve as captains on this year's team.
"Both our captains are great examples of what we want all our players to strive for," Rose said. "Lee and Jonathan are both great competitors, do well in the classroom and are good ambassadors of our program in the community. Lee did an outstanding job as a captain last year and has proven leadership ability both on and off the court. Jonathan has been a key member of our team the past two years and has earned the respect of a team leader."
Cummard is a three-year starter and the reigning Mountain West Conference Player of the Year. He earned Associated Press All-America honorable mention last year after helping the Cougars win their second straight outright MWC title and a 27-8 overall record. A 6-foot-7 swingman from Mesa, Ariz., Cummard is a do-everything player who led the Cougars in scoring (15.8), field-goal percentage (.569), three-point percentage (.472) and blocked shots (1.0) last year while ranking second in rebounds (6.3), assists (3.5), steals (0.9) and free-throw percentage (.857).
Tavernari followed his MWC Freshman of the Year season in 2006-07 with a record-setting sophomore campaign last year. The 6-foot-6 forward from Sao Bernardo, Brazil, earned All-MWC Third Team honors and set the BYU single-season and sophomore MWC three-point record with 88 treys last season. He was third on the team in scoring (13.1 ppg) and rebounding (5.3 rpg) while averaging 1.5 assists and a team-best 1.4 steals per game. This summer he was the lone nonprofessional player to make the Brazilian Senior National Team that competed at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Athens, Greece.
Cummard, Tavarnari and their Cougar teammates open exhibition play on Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Marriott Center when they host Concordia University out of Montreal, Canada. Tickets to the event can be purchased at the Marriott Center Ticket Office by calling 422-BYU1 or at BYUTickets. Com. The game will be televised live on BYUTV and broadcast by KSL Radio on its Internet X-stream at KSL.com.
