BYU men's basketball notebook: Cougars move up in AP and ESPN/USA Today polls

By Jim Rayburn, Deseret News

Published: Tuesday, Jan. 12 2010 12:00 a.m. MST

Brigham Young University guard Jackson Emery, left, looks to pass as he is covered by UTEP guard Julyan Stone.

Mark Lambie, Associated Press

Summary

The BYU Cougars, after wins last week over UNLV at home and UTEP on the road, have moved up in both new men's basketball polls to No. 17 and No. 18 in the country.

PROVO — The BYU Cougars have reached their highest men's college basketball ranking in 22 years.

In the new ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll and AP poll, the Cougars are ranked No. 17 and No. 18, respectively. The move up, from No. 23 and No. 25, comes after wins last week over UNLV at home and UTEP on the road.

"We feel similar today as we felt last week when we got in the rankings," BYU coach Dave Rose said after practice Monday. "I think it's good for our team and good for our program. But it's probably more motivation for the teams we're playing than it is for us. So we'll just to try keep on doing what we've been doing, and keep trying to win games."

The Cougars are 16-1 and have won 11 straight games. They are off to their best start since the 1987-88 team, which started the year 17-0 and climbed as high as No. 2 in the UPI poll and No. 3 in the AP poll. That team finished the year ranked No. 17 and No. 19.

Last Wednesday the Cougars came from behind at the Marriott Center to beat UNLV 77-73, with leading scorer Jimmer Fredette playing sparingly while battling illness, which was later determined to be mononucleosis. On Saturday, without Fredette on the floor, the Cougars beat UTEP in El Paso 83-77.

The Cougars are four points behind Wisconsin and eight points behind Connecticut in the coaches' poll, and 24 points ahead of Georgia Tech. In the AP poll, they are solid in the 18th spot with 456 points, 103 points behind Gonzaga at 17 and 78 points ahead of Temple in the 19th spot.

"The bullseye just got a lot bigger than it already was, but we welcome our challenges," senior forward Jonathan Tavernari said.

Under Rose, the Cougars have been ranked in the Top 25 in four-straight seasons. In 2007-08, Rose led BYU to a No. 20 ranking in the AP poll and No. 21 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches' poll.

Mountain West Conference foe New Mexico, ranked 12th last week, dropped out of the Top 25 in both polls after losses to San Diego State and UNLV. The Lobos are two spots out of the Top 25 in the coaches polls and received 59 points (30th position) in the AP poll. The Rebels are in the 28th spot in the ESPN/USA Today poll and 33rd in the AP poll.

Texas and Kentucky, ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in both polls, are the only two teams with records better than BYU's 16-1 mark. The Cougars play Wednesday at Air Force and then return home to host Colorado State on Saturday.