BYU guard Jimmer Fredette has unfinished business

PROVO — The rap sequel to "Amazing" has already been written by his older brother; now it's up to BYU preseason All-America Jimmer Fredette to live up to the hype.

"We just touched the surface

of the purpose

we've been working for"

If those words don't say enough, TJ Fredette explains in plain English why the star guard for the 23rd-ranked Cougars pulled his name out of the NBA draft to return to Provo.

"More than anything, he felt like there was unfinished business at BYU," said the oldest Fredette brother, who is climbing his own ladder as a rap artist after his song "Amazing" gained attention during the NCAA tournament last season.

That means winning a Mountain West Conference championship, something BYU failed to do last year, and advancing at least to the third round of the NCAAs.

BYU made it to the second round last season, thanks in part to Jimmer Fredette's leadership and ability to create shots, including 37 points in the Cougars' double-overtime victory over Florida.

If the effort thrust the 21-year-old into the national spotlight, TJ Fredette already knew his kid brother was headed there.

Just go back a dozen years when TJ had Jimmer dribbling in the dark, or with a work glove on his hand, or through a darkened gauntlet in the church hallway filled with friends popping out of doorways to test Jimmer's concentration.

It makes those keys Earl Woods jingled while Tiger putted seem tame.

Granted, Jimmer Fredette wasn't hitting 3s for a national TV audience before he hit kindergarten. But mental and physical toughness were built into the Glens Falls, N.Y., native from an early age.

His uncle, Lee Taft, aka The Speed Guy, is a renowned fitness expert who teaches classes and conducts seminars on agility training. Taft had the Fredette boys go through some of the same workouts by the time they hit middle school.

And when a neighbor's uncle suggested the boys, once they were 18, take their game to the prisons, where the uncle ran various recreational programs for inmates on good behavior, they jumped at the chance.