Comments about ‘BYU basketball: 5 questions with BYU guard Jimmer Fredette’

Does this kid have nerves of steele, or maybe it's ice water in his veins. Jimmer's ability to calmly attack pressure is amazing. I love watching him bring the ball up against 'any' kind of pressure. Jimmer possesses a controled calm that must drive opposing players crazy. Every aspect of his game is a treat to watch. When he took SDSU's White to the hoop in the closing seconds to salt away the victory, I couldn't help but chuckle a little in amazement. Piece of cake is what I thought I seen coming from his lips (just kidding).

Jimmer's overall understanding of the game is a quality few possess and he fully understands the concept shared with me as a player years ago of being quick, but not getting in a hurry.

Nice to have Jimmer back in the fold. I hope 'this' season goes on forever.

Jimmer is one of a kind. We can be thankful for his presence on the BYU team-------I feel this is a very special team, I think they can "get her done" this year. 20 wins already-----what an awesome record.........and one that will get even better. Go Cougs.

He's easily the POY in conference and possibly the nation


GO Y

As a huge Danny Ainge back in the day I have to admit, Jimmer is THE best all around player ever at BYU and he is only going to get better with another year to play. Jimmer may not go on to be the great pro Danny was (or maybe he will be even better) but for now, as a college player he has a more diverse game than Ainge had and he is a stone cold shooter. GREAT GAME LAST NIGHT JIMMER!!!!

Great courage. Hats off to you.

To LV Coogie:

Danny Ainge actually played against some tough competition. JF is really good, but let them beat somebody first before all the accolades. If this team gets farther than Ainge's "Y" team then we'll talk about being better. For now we just don't know. They barely got by a team that can't shoot worth spit in San Diego State. What's going to happen when they play an athletic team that can actually shoot the ball. True a win is a win, but SDS really is not that good. Someone needs to get BYU a preseasaon schedule that counts. If Gonzaga can do it why not BYU. Get the right people in the program that can get it done!

Go Cooogs! Cooogs! Cooogs!

Doves until they beat the "U" or someone in the top 25 and earn the "U".

Anyone who says Ainge is second to any BYU player just either didn't watch Ainge play or has a poor knowledge of Ainge history. Fredette's more vesatile? Did you know Ainge is the only person to ever be named 1st team high school All American in football, basketball, and baseball? I saw him play as a sophomore before my mission, and he was Fredette offensively and Emery defensively all in one package. He was all over the floor, all game, every game. Ainge was college All American 2nd or 3rd team as a FRESHMAN, and every year showed up on All American lists and as a senior was selected as the top collegiate player in the entire nation.

Pretty big shoes to fill for anyone who wants the comparison.

I admit, the BYU schedule has not been one of the tougher schedules in the country. It get's pretty difficult with league play now.

I heard Andy Katz of ESPN interview Dave Rose. Coach Rose indicated that there was a plan for BYU to play Gonzaga in Seattle. Coach Rose said the Cougars were ready to go but he doesn't know why the plans for that game fell through.

It may have to do with playing a game on a neutral court. The Washington Huskies proposed a deal with Gonzaga playing at Key Arena (not the Huskies home court) in Seattle. The 'zags declined. They had a difficult enough schedule without adding the Huskies on a "neutral" court. (The Huskies home court is less than 10 miles away.)

It may be that Gonzaga doesn't want to play anyone that is not a perrenial power in their preseason. I think they are taking the same scheduling theory as BYU does in football. It does make it difficult to schedule 2nd Tier teams. Maybe BYU's basketball schedule is designed to get the 25 wins... much like SEC teams schedule football games. Play nobody until league play.

BYU went out and scheduled Arizona, a team that has a reputation of being a national power but is down this year, Arizona St who was top of the pac 10 for a while, tried to get Gonzaga but they backed out for some reason, Utah State who is usually dancing come March, beat a decent Nevada team, and a decent Nebraska team (they've gone a little downhill but at the time were a hot team). Wednesday will tell a lot about this team. New Mexico is ranked top 25 and was once ranked as high as 12th. Good luck Cougs!

like most BYU fans, I want to see BYU play a handful of really good teams, but unless the other schools agree to play BYU, the game's not gonna happen. So stop bashing BYU about the schedule. Gonzaga plays the Battle of Seattle every year. They backed out of the BYU game to play Davidson. A terrible team now that Curry is gone. So I just don't know why they would play a nobody small-school team rather than a strong team from the West. Heck, Gonzaga played Utah the past few years. There's no prestige in that matchup. And we're not talking about the good Utah teams several years ago. We're talking about Drca and Tillie.

Compare Ainge to Fredette.

Ainge was a 2 guard, Fredette is a 1.

It's like comparing Detmer to Collie.

Together, they would have been fun to watch (both groups).

All four played great in blue.

And Utah fans just don't understand why BYU fans are so content, and they are always so frustrated.

Let's face it folks. Comparing Ainge to Jimmer and vice versa is futile because they played in different eras.

Truth be told, it's much more difficult for a D1 college player to stand out these days because the talent level in D1 basketball is much higer these days for several reasons: (1) the infusion of foreign bball talent at the college level (just check out WY's roster, for example), (2) the players are quicker and more athletic these days due to scientific advances and improved training methods, and (3) competition is stiffer for the limited D1 roster spots (no new D1 programs, that I know of, have surfaced since the 80's, but the U.S. and world populations has grown a lot since then).

Does that mean that I think Jimmer is a shoe-in for the NBA? No, but by the same token Ainge's stats would have been lower had he played today.

For the above reasons it's hard not to believe that today's current top level guards like Wall, Jimmer, and others wouldn't be immediate stars in the NBA of the 1940s and 50s.

"Doves until they beat the U.." Wow, really? Why would beating the U make BYU better contenders? Beat the U this year is as good of an accomplishment as beating Wyoming or Colorado State this year.

As one relegated to Big Ten News all day every day, it is refreshing to see these comments about a truly great BYU gaurd. Luckily I get the Mountain from my TV Provider and I have seen the Cougars at work. As impressive as Jimmer is, I am most impressed with the supporting players and the depth shown in recent games. I am also impressed with Jimmer's willingness and ability to share the ball with teammates. Rather than compare Jimmer to Ainge (whom I watched in person in all of his home games)or to carp about schedules, I am content to watch a great coach and a amazing grooup of young men put my Alma Mater on the National Basketball map!

Go Cougars!

I am 49 yrs old and I've played against Jimmer and his brother T.J. They are both awsome players!Ive known Jimmer sice he was about 8 yrs old,he was shooting 3s at 10 yrs old and shooting about 40% from threes!!He has the knack for the game that a lot of players dont have. He is gonna make the NBA either this year or definately will be in the tio 20 next year. Go Jimmer!!!!!!!!!
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jimmer is better than ainge was and i hate to make comparisons because of the time factor. but, i've seen a lot of bb and did watch ainge too. jimmer is just amazing at times going into the paint. i don't remember ainge driving down low? emery and the rest are all a special team. i'm proud of the whole team. go byu!!

I watched Jimmer play in High School. In 8th grade he was asked by the varsity to sit in for his brother during a summer league game and scored 19 coming off the bench...He got better every year then and continues on the college level. C'mon, you see other D1 players this year scoring more than 30 a game? Jimmer has done it several times, once for 49 against Arizona. When he gets in his "zone" watch out. I love watching him play. New Mexico won't beat them again either...Go Jimmer and BYU, can't wait for march madness!

I enjoy watching him play. He dominates college competition, but I question whether he would be able to penetrate and make layups and shots in traffic in the NBA where defensive rotations are so much quicker and guys are so much longer and more athletic. You can see now he gets two or three shot in the paint blocked away in every game. Against NBA competition, he'd get blocked at least twice as much. He needs to learn to find an open teammate when defenses collapse on his penetrations. Although I think he can be a good NBA player, he won't find a situation where the team just gives the ball to Jimmer and lets him dribble around until he finds a shot. He's got to develop his passing skills more. As good as he is, I think he needs to play his senior year to develop his game more.

It's so nice to see everyone's support of Jimmer. He's a great kid--not just a great ball player--and that is his best accomplishment. Can't wait to see what BYU can do this year! Go Cougars!