PROVO — Gavin MacGregor doesn't demand much from playing basketball.

He does, however, demand a lot from himself. As long he's working hard and doing everything he can to strengthen his game and become a more solid player, he's satisfied with whatever fate basketball throws his way.

"It's a really cool thing for me just to be able to come out and play. I love being a part of a team and I love being a part of a program," said MacGregor, a 6-foot-9 senior back-up center for BYU.

When looking at MacGregor's path to a spot on the Cougars' roster, it's easy to see why MacGregor cherishes so much the opportunity he has to play for BYU and coach Dave Rose's staff — even if it's only getting him about 10 minutes on the court per game as he shares duties with freshman James Anderson in spelling starting center Chris Miles. MacGregor's minutes, rebounds per game (1.7) and points (2.1) are still double his previous college-career numbers.

"I feel like I have a good fit and I feel really good about where I stand right now," he said.

Fans might forget, but MacGregor never does, that he joined the Cougars after sitting out nearly four seasons. After a stellar career at Burroughs High School in Ridgecrest, Calif., where he had career game-highs of 25 points and 26 rebounds, MacGregor had junior college and smaller college offers, but he wasn't interested.

"If I was going to chase that basketball dream, it was only going to be at a Division I school," MacGregor said.

Since that opportunity wasn't immediately there, he decided to become a regular student where his parents, siblings and most of his relatives attended college.

"I really wanted to go to BYU so I decided just to go to school and not really pursue the basketball thing."

Following his freshman year at BYU, MacGregor served a two-year LDS Church mission to the Netherlands. But when he returned in October 2005, he started to get the basketball itch again.

"When I left I wasn't really planning on playing basketball again, but when I got back I thought it would be fun to do. I really missed being on the court and being around the guys," he said.

In the fall of 2005 and spring of 2006, MacGregor played every chance he could get, hit the weight room regularly and did everything he could to get in great physical condition.

"I worked really, really hard. I hadn't played basketball for such a long time, so it took a lot for me to get back into shape and it took a lot of perseverance."