PROVO — In their first full men's basketball practice of the season Friday night, the BYU Cougars looked sharp at times and ragged at times.

Most of the ragged stuff came late in the practice when the players were wearing down from the first of their many two-hour workouts.

"It's a pretty good pace that we go at, and it's a lot different than what they've been doing for the last six months," coach Dave Rose

At this point, however, the inconsistency is to be expected. Rose is confident the practices will gradually become more efficient as the players improve in conditioning and shift gears from their offseason routine to their full practice routine.

"There is no way, if the way they practiced today, if that's your finished product, then we're in trouble. You just have to realize that it's a process, and hopefully we'll get through it quick and get to it by the end of next week so we're playing at the pace we want to play at and the competitive level that we want to play at, for the length of time that we want to do it," Rose said.

One thing that was noticeable was how far ahead the returning guys are in preparation. Jackson Emery and Noah Hartsock — two players who were fresh off missions last fall — are in much better condition as camp begins this season.

"Jackson might be in the best condition of his life," Rose said. "You can see it because he can go for long periods of time. At the end of practice, when we were trying to make some plays, Jacks was in position to make the most plays because he's in the best condition."

Players like senior center Chris Miles, redshirt sophomore Michael Loyd, junior Jimmer Fredette, senior Jonathan Tavernari and sophomore Charles Abouo all worked on different things in the offseason, and the improvement are noticeable.

"There are a lot of guys who have really changed parts of their game," Rose said.

Already, freshmen Tyler Haws, Brandon Davies and transfer Logan Magnusson are showing signs of being able to contribute this season.

"They'll get better as the more experienced they get, but I was pleased with how they played. It will be interesting to see how quickly they adjust," Rose said.

A common theme already, and one that should continue throughout the season, is the depth the Cougars have this year.

"I hope that the depth of this team actually shows and that we can do things with this group, especially later in the year. Hopefully we can play a lot of guys, and guys will buy in to how we want to play and be able to do things consistently throughout the year because of our depth," Rose said.