Will refs let K-State guards mug Jimmer?

OKLAHOMA CITY — If BYU can outlast No. 7-ranked Kansas State in the Ford Center Saturday, they'll advance to the Sweet 16 in Salt Lake City.

But that thought will be far tougher to mentally process than to actually accomplish on the court.

The Big 12, where K-State dwells, is the best college hoops conference in the country. BYU could easily go the way of Utah State against Texas A&M, like a year ago. And the year before that.

This is a matchup of an explosive pair of Big 12 guards and the attacking No. 2 seed Wildcats' defense against No. 7 seed BYU's 3-point accuracy and Jimmer Fredette's artistry with the ball. The difference will be rebounds and how fouls are called.

If K-State defenders can put hands on BYU's guards, BYU's offense will be neutralized. If hand-checks are called, BYU will feast at the line with the clock stopped.

You hate to get into whistles, but it was an issue at Friday's press conference, especially with Kansas State, a team known for fouling and earning fouls. BYU's also known to throw a tent at the line.

"If we start putting our hands on them, we're not going to win," said Kansas State coach Frank Martin, who witnessed his team revert to that against North Texas, an issue that has put his team in foul trouble for parts of the season. North Texas scored 23 of 62 points from the line.

K-State is fully capable of guarding BYU without contact in open space. But Martin takes pride in his team's physical dominance over opponents. He's almost cocky about it. He hopes his defense will propel his squad past the attention-getting Cougars and their star dribbler.

"We do play in the Big 12," he said. "And we do play some pretty darn good basketball teams, and we're one of the top three defensive teams in our league. So, I mean, we are going to guard. That's what we do. We just have to be disciplined in our guarding assignments."

Like Martin, Rose said his philosophy is to attack on defense.

The Wildcats' guard tandem of Denis Clemente and Jacob Pullen is easily the best pair of backcourt players the Cougars have faced in some time.

Clemente can run from the free-throw line to the opposite baseline in 2.6 seconds.

"He's different from a lot of the guards you see, he is so fast with the ball," said BYU coach Dave Rose. "We're probably going to have to use a secondary defender."

Rose said you try and speed up players, to get them to make mistakes.