Big-time game truly missed big-time star

PROVO — In the annals of BYU basketball — and anyone else's, for that matter — there is always a list of nice things to see that never materialized.

It would have been nice, for instance, to see what Shawn Bradley would have done, had he stayed in college. It would have been nice to see Mike Maxwell with two good knees.

And it would have been nice to see what would have happened if Jimmer Fredette hadn't been caught between nauseated and comatose at the end of New Mexico's 83-81 win over the Cougars on Saturday.

No Fredette at the end of a game with national implications?

Isn't that like wrapping up an Indiana Jones film with Indy on a bathroom break?

The fight for first place in the Mountain West Conference ended with a whump and a sigh at the Marriott Center. The whump came on the game's last shot, when BYU's Noah Hartstock went inside for the tying bucket. But Darington Hobson swatted it into different calling area.

There was a flurry of late action, including an in-bounds pass by BYU with less than a second remaining, but not another chance.

The sigh came from the sellout crowd, all 22,644 of them.

The Lobos had escaped with — seized, actually — a win. That assured at least a tie for first place in the conference.

"We had a chance to win it, but we were unable to do so," said BYU coach Dave Rose.

He, too, had to be wondering privately what might have been if Fredette had been around to run the final play.

By most accounts, it has been a great year for BYU. The Cougars climbed as high as No. 11 nationally in one poll, matched against No. 10-ranked New Mexico. They're a lock for the NCAA Tournament, with 26 wins and only four losses. All season, this has looked like the BYU team that might finally break the post-season hex. You know the one: the NCAA Tournament whammy that has kept the Cougars from winning since suspenders were in style.

This, it seemed, would finally be the year.

But along the way, there has been that one ongoing worry: Fredette's health.