Ainge is earning his share of credit

Perhaps it's time Austin Ainge got credit for his role in getting the Cougars on top of the Mountain West Conference heading down the final stretch.

Ainge wasn't supposed to handle all the pressure he'd face when Rashaun Broadus got suspended.

Well, he certainly has.

He's a senior. He leads; people follow. His team is on top.

Since Broadus left the team, the Cougars have lost two games, both on the road, at UNLV and Colorado State. It's a run nobody else in the league can match. And only for a portion of one of those games, the one against the Rebels, did Ainge and the rest of the Cougars look a little mystified.

Once in 13. I'll take those numbers.

Heading into tonight's game at TCU, Ainge leads the league in assist-to-turnover ratio — a sign of a point guard handling his duties just fine. Ainge has played more games than any other guard in the MWC in this category. Ainge has 99 assists (4.1 per game) and 49 turnovers (2.0 per game) for a 2.02 ratio.

I've watched this Ainge model for five years. He's had his ups and downs. He's been injured. He's taken a seat on the bench. He's shared starting duties. Then he's gone back to the bench before receiving the call to be the team's quarterback as a senior. He's gone to arenas all over the country and taken all kinds of guff for being his father's son. Sometimes, it's been ugly. Most of the time, it has been personal.

Few BYU basketball players have taken the abuse Ainge has found routine.

Still, Ainge puts on an unflappable attitude. He has court savvy beyond his years. He is an outspoken leader on and off the court. When he talks, he's got clout behind what he says, and those on his squad listen.

The kid has come a long way. The Cougars are 18-6 overall, 8-2 in the MWC. While holding on to first place in the league, BYU has a five-game win streak. Ainge is in the center of it all.

Without carbon dating myself, I remember writing the news story of his father, Danny, committing to BYU out of North Eugene High School in Oregon. I still have the newspaper clipping I wrote for the Eugene Register Guard as a freelance writer a few years later, a feature on Toronto Blue Jay Danny Ainge and his wife, Michelle Toolson, including a photo showing Michelle holding their firstborn, Austin.