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Golden opportunity for Cougars tonight at No. 6 UCLA |
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JaredCowley | Tuesday, November 14, 2006, 11:44 pm
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Jason Franchuk
DAILY HERALD
It is two distinct situations, based on varying needs of the men’s basketball programs from BYU and Utah Valley State College, yet the common thread is the same dream.
The big upset.
Both teams are in Pac-10 Conference territory today in what could become the most remembered day ever in Utah County sports lore. UVSC is at California-Berkeley for an 8:30 p.m. Utah tipoff, and simultaneously the Cougars get started against No. 6 UCLA.
Is it possible, can the UC achieve a historically unified one-two punch of the college hoops hierarchy?
UVSC’s Dick Hunsaker, upon being asked about the common points of the two teams’ opportunities, repeatedly shakes his head like apessimistic bobblehead doll.
“I’ll go with your theme here,” he said Monday night after the Wolverines improved their record to 2-0 with an impressive dismantling of 2006 NCAA tournament team Montana. “But there’s no comparison.”
Oh, we beg to differ, coach.
The two programs had to jump through essentially the same hurdles to get these games.
The power conference got its way each time.
UCLA originally wanted this game to be last Sunday. That, of course, is a no-no for BYU sports. So the Bruins demanded Wednesday, then said take it or leave it.
UVSC wasn’t thrilled about having to play the Golden Bears with only one day in between its last game. This will be the Wolverines’ third game since last Friday, while it’s Cal’s opener.
The message again: now or never.
“For what they were paying us,” Hunsaker said, “they wanted everything on their terms.”
Oh, by the way — don’t expect to see Cal or UCLA roaming around the Marriott Center or McKay Events Center anytime soon.
“We asked,” BYU head coach Dave Rose said of the Bruins, “but…”
He then gives a quick hand chop, the universal sign for talks being cut off.
Now, we’ll delve into where the teams’ motives really differ.
BYU at UCLA, 8:30 p.m. (KSL 1160 AM)
After going 20-9, the main complaint about the Cougars – one Rose and his staff recognized – was that the schedule did not set the team up for a marquee win that could help the team gain benefit of the doubt and an invitation to the NCAA tournament.
But a few months before last season, who would’ve imagined the program would rebound so dramatically and warrant such a challenge?
This year, with the core of its players as seniors, Rose took two gambles. The team plays UCLA in Pauley Pavilion, and Dec. 9 will play Michigan State on a neutral court in Detroit.
Rose said his intention is to schedule aggressively, although he would prefer to have return games, or at the very least a pair of neutral-court games where BYU would play host at the Delta Center.
“Hopefully the team’s ready for this,” Rose said. “We’ll have to go down and see.”
Austin Ainge, one of six seniors, was a sophomore the last time BYU started off with a chance like this — 2004, against North Carolina, in the Maui Invitational.
Senior forward Keena Young remembered the eventual national champions working out with medicine balls prior to tipoff. The looks on the Cougar faces that night — filled with fear and uncertainty — said everything as the team was intimidated by a roster that had four future NBA first-round draft picks.
The Tar Heels, angry after losing at Santa Clara on the way to the islands, trounced BYU by 36 points. The Cougars, who went on to finish 9-21, can laugh about that now.
The experience may pay off at Pauley Pavilion, which isn’t known by college arena experts as the most tantalizing venue, but it still has a history and aura. Think Wooden, Walton and Alcindor, among others.
“First of all, we were the complete opposite then of what we are now,” Ainge said. “We didn’t really have any experience then. I don’t think we knew what we had gotten ourselves into.
“Now, we do.”
UCLA lost in the NCAA championship game to Florida last April. A program that prides itself on unrelenting defense, Ben Howland’s crew is young but still extremely talented. It lost Jordan Farmar early to the NBA draft but returns junior guard Aaron Afflalo, who gave the NBA a look after last season and will likely be joined by four sophomores heading into the season opener.
Can experience play much of a factor? If so, give BYU the edge. Rose will probably counter with three seniors (Young, along with guards Rashaun Broadus and Jimmy Balderson) and sophomores Lee Cummard (guard-forward) and Trent Plaisted (center).
“We wanted to play someone who could really challenge us,” Rose said. “A team that could let us find out where we really are.”
For the sake of postseason consideration, Rose believes he may need to play two or three of these games a year. He wants his players to enjoy the environment and relish the challenge, and believes last year’s turnaround will do his team good if it hits a rough patch against the Bruins.
He approached his team near the end of May, when the contract was officially signed. Rose is confident this start will be a good building block, if nothing else.
“This group had pretty good success last year, and it can relate to that when it needs to,” Rose said.
UVSC at Cal (8:30 p.m., 1400 KSTAR AM)
The Wolverines are no strangers to big upsets against Pac-10 teams. It happened just last season, when they stunned Arizona State, 75-71, on Dec. 10 in Tempe.
Hunsaker called the outcome “The grandest of the grand” in his career, which has included successful head coaching stints at Utah and Ball State, where he once made the NCAA’s Sweet 16. “We fought so hard the whole 40 minutes, and at the end we continued to play to win.”
Athletic director Mike Jacobsen smiles at the day for the provisional Division I program, which has this season plus two more before it can become of service to a conference — the school’s everlasting goal.
The independent team hunts around for a game like this type of “money game,” against an opponent from a major conference, every year so that it can pay the bills.
UVSC waited until the last minute, Jacobsen said. In July, about 15 teams pleaded for games by fax and phone call. Cal offered about double the going rate for what UVSC had received in the past, meaning the Wolverines could risk one loss, not two, to meet its budget demands.
Hunsaker, no stranger to how those negotiations worked, understood the value of his team after beating ASU. So did Jacobsen, who must find ways to balance competitive scheduling with the unabashed concept that it needs to significantly raise its department budget of about $4 million, which ranks near the bottom of Division I schools.
“We had instant credibility after that,” Jacobsen said of why teams have continued to covet a game with the Wolverines after their unexpected coup. “But no one thinks we’ll do it again.”
Cal was picked fifth in the Pac-10 preseason poll, four spots below the Bruins.
Somewhere tucked away in his office, Jacobsen has newspaper clippings from Arizona the day after the upset. He refuses to hang them up; “rest on our laurels,” he calls it. But he vividly recalls the whole game, and the taunting his school took all day.
“Their students had been chanting ‘community college, community college,” Jacobsen said. “The last minute and a half, they weren’t doing that anymore.”
Can UVSC do it again at Haas Pavilion? No doubt the Wolverines look tougher than they have in the past this early in the season. Hunsaker has an experienced group that understands how he wants to play — tough and relentless, with a keen focus of the defensive aspect.
Hunsaker’s biggest regret is that his team couldn’t have an extra day of rest. He has a large contingency of return missionaries, who are bound to hit a wall sooner or later.
Ryan Toolson was in Guatemala five months ago, now he’s averaging 18.5 points a game (he had 26 against Montana). How long can his legs last, among others?
After two highly emotional games, including Monday night’s home victory against Montana, Hunsaker doesn’t spend much time fretting whether lightning can strike twice.
“We’re going to lace ‘em up and do the best we can,” Hunsaker said. “We certainly don’t have any delusions. But you want the kids to go out, play their best and most importantly, not have any fear.”
Jason Franchuk is the BYU basketball beat writer for the Daily Herald. He can be reached at
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