BYU Basketball

BYU basketball legend Jimmer Fredette played a hilarious prank on the BYU men's basketball team this week at walk-on tryouts.

In a video posted by ESPN, Fredette wore a wig, a fake mustache, heavy makeup and extra padding in his abdominal area before taking part in the BYU tryout:

Fredette introduced himself as Tim Schloss from Cincinnati, and told players and coaches that he went by the nickname "Slick Nick."

While the players were not aware of Fredette's identity until he shed his disguise after the tryout, his dominant performance may have clued them in to the idea that Slick Nick wasn't who he said he was.

Fredette knocked down shot after shot during the tryout, making it reminiscent of his run with the Cougars from 2007 to 2011.

During his time at BYU, Fredette was one of the best scorers in the nation, particularly in 2010-11 when he averaged 28.9 points, 4.3 assists, 3.4 rebounds, 3.4 three-pointers made and 1.3 steals per game.

The Cougars went 32-5 and reached the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament that year, and Fredette was named the national college player of the year.

Fredette was selected 10th overall in the 2011 NBA draft, and went on to spend six years in the league with the Sacramento Kings, Chicago Bulls, New Orleans Pelicans, New York Knicks and Phoenix Suns.

He currently plays for the Chinese Basketball Association's Shanghai Sharks and was named CBA International MVP in 2017.

The 2021 Phil Knight Invitational did not go according to plan for the Oregon Ducks.

The No. 12 Ducks welcomed BYU to the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon, for this year's event but were promptly handed a blowout 81-49 loss. Alex Barcello continued his red-hot start to the season with 25 points on 9-of-11 shooting from the field and 4-of-6 shooting from deep to stake the Cougars to an early lead they never relented.

Unranked BYU was dominant in the first half and built a 19-point lead at intermission.

It set the tone on the defensive side while holding the Ducks to just 18 points in the first half and 32.1 percent shooting from the field overall. The Cougars swarmed to outside shooters and cut off driving lanes while the game was still hanging in the balance and never allowed the Ducks to build any sustained momentum in the second half.

Eric Williams Jr. led the way in the losing effort for Oregon and finished with 12 points and three rebounds.

Yet it was Barcello who stole the show against a Pac-12 opponent, which isn't exactly a surprise from BYU's perspective.

After all, the senior guard was the only player on the team who entered Tuesday's game averaging double-figure scoring totals after leading the Cougars to victories over San Diego State and Cleveland State to start the 2021-22 campaign.

He also continued his scorching start from beyond the arc and is now 8-of-13 (61.5 percent) from deep on the season.

It wasn't a one-man effort, as Te'Jon Lucas (12 points, three assists and two rebounds), Fousseyni Traore (10 points, six rebounds and two blocks) and Spencer Johnson (10 points, three assists and three rebounds) scored in double figures for the victors.

BYU is now 3-0 and has a marquee win on its resume that will surely resonate to Selection Sunday. It will look to build on this effort when it takes on Central Methodist in Saturday's matchup.

The Cougars also have notable nonconference games remaining against Utah and Creighton and look capable of amassing an impressive resume long before they face the top-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs in WCC play.

As for the 2-1 Ducks, they will look to bounce back on Monday against Chaminade.         

The NCAA will accommodate BYU's school policy of not competing in athletic events on Sundays should the Cougars reach the Sweet 16. 

The organization announced Monday the East's regional semifinals and final would move to Saturday, March 27 and Monday, March 29 if the Cougars win their first two games. The Midwest region, which is currently slated to compete on those days, would move its last two rounds to March 28 and 30.

"That contingency will only be utilized in the event that BYU were to advance to the Sweet 16," Dan Gavitt, the NCAA's senior vice president of basketball, said of the situation. "If they do not, then there would be no change to dates for any teams for regionals."

The situation may resolve itself, considering BYU has made just one Sweet 16 appearance (2011) since 1981.

The Cougars earned a No. 6 seed after finishing 20-6 in the regular season, and they sit 29th in ESPN.com's College Basketball Power Index.

The selection committee did BYU few favors since a first-round matchup with either Michigan State or UCLA awaits Saturday. The Spartans in particular could be a tough out, having registered upsets of Illinois, Ohio State and Michigan within the last month.

Should BYU move on, a date with third-seeded Texas could beckon in the second round.

Former Purdue center Matt Haarms is transferring to BYU, he announced on Thursday, via 247 Sports' Evan Daniels. 

As a graduate transfer, the 7'3" big man will be eligible to play for the Cougars in 2020-21.

Haarms spent his first three years at Purdue, making 102 appearances for the Boilermakers. He averaged 8.6 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.0 blocks as a junior in 2019-20.

He told ESPN's Jeff Borzello his decision to leave West Lafayette, Indiana, was made with an eye toward a possible pro career: "Just believe I needed a change of scenery to take my game to the next level; [I] don't have anything but positive things to say about Purdue, but I just felt like it was time to move on."

Between his imposing height and NCAA tournament experience (one Sweet 16 appearance and a trip to the Elite Eight), Haarms will have had plenty of options as he weighed his next step.

Evan Daniels of 247Sports reported he had narrowed his list of finalists to three programs: BYU, Kentucky and Texas Tech.

The Athletic's Dustin Dopirak explained some of what Haarms would bring to a new team:

"His shot-blocking can play at any level, and he could be especially valuable to a team that is just missing that piece. And wherever he goes, his new team will be able to trust that he’ll bring energy. In his early years at Purdue, he sometimes got overly excited and wore himself out early in games, but he found a rhythm and has mostly stuck to it since the latter half of his sophomore season, including during the Boilermakers' Elite Eight run. He won't expect to join a team and be its captain, but he'll most likely be a good locker room presence with the experience of two Sweet 16 runs."

The COVID-19 pandemic hit particularly hard for the Cougars because they were having their most successful season in years.

ESPN's Seth Walder ran a simulation that combined Joe Lunardi's projected bracket with the Basketball Power Index. In the exercise, BYU advanced to the national title game, where it lost to Wisconsin.

There's no guarantee the team will even get to the tournament in 2021. Seven players from this year's roster, including the top three scorers, were seniors.

Jeff Call of Deseret News wrote Wednesday that head coach Mark Pope and his assistants "have been aggressively pursuing graduate transfers" to ensure the team is once again a contender in the West Coast Conference.

Landing Haarms gives Pope a big piece in the paint.

A man who has tested positive for the coronavirus attended BYU's home game against Gonzaga last month, the school said in a statement Tuesday.

"BYU was contacted by the Utah County Health Department to notify the university that an individual diagnosed with COVID-19 attended a basketball game in the Marriott Center on Feb. 22, 2020," BYU said in a statement.

"According to the health department, the individual had mild symptoms on Feb. 22 and the risk of transmission to others at the game is low. As a precaution, those who were sitting within six feet of the individual are being contacted to let them know of the possible exposure."

Utah County Health Department spokeswoman Aislynn Tolman-Hill told the The Salt Lake Tribune that the man likely contracted the coronavirus on a cruise. He is currently under an isolation order and in recovery.

Tolman-Hill estimated about 10 individuals were in close enough proximity to the man, and they have been informed they could be at risk. Those who were not contacted are not believed to be at risk.

BYU said all "high-touch surfaces" at the Marriott Center are regularly disinfected, and there's no belief that there is an ongoing risk.

There have been 849 cases of the coronavirus in the United States and 28 deaths. 

The NCAA has suspended BYU forward Yoeli Childs for nine games after he "did not submit appropriate paperwork and received impermissible expenses when he worked with an agent while testing his NBA draft prospects," according to ESPN.

Childs made the decision in May to return to BYU for his senior season.

"Amid the confusion of the NCAA allowing student athletes to sign with agents and still return to school, Yoeli was caught in the transition of a changing landscape," BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe said in a statement.

BYU appealed the suspension but was unable to get Childs' suspension overturned. 

"There was some confusion with this new process, and I made decisions that have caused an outcome that none of us like," Childs said Friday. "I just want everyone to know that my intent was never to do something wrong."

Childs was BYU's best player in the 2018-19 season, leading the team in points (21.2 PPG) and rebounds (9.7). He also averaged a block and a steal per game and shot 70.8 from the charity stripe, 50.7 percent from the field and 32.3 percent from three.

His suspension was stiff for what appears to have essentially been a clerical error; Childs signed with an agent before filing the required paperwork with the NCAA, and the severity of the punishment was met with surprise:

"Nine games wasn't a number any of us were expecting, but that's life,” Childs said, per Jay Drew of the Salt Lake Tribune. "I am not going to say this hasn't been an extremely emotional process, because it has been. For the past day or so I have wrestled between being so mad and being accepting of what is happening."