When Lee Casey Cummard first strolled onto the Marriott Center hardwood in 2005, he didn't exactly fit the bill of a hoops dynamo that would soon be ripping the rug out from under the Mountain West Conference. The mild-mannered, lanky Arizonan was known to be a sharp shot, but few imagined just how deep his bag of tricks might be.

Like a Swiss Army knife revealing a seemingly endless supply of handy gizmos, Cummard soon had everybody wondering: How do you cram all that basketball into one guy?

"A couple years ago, you would say he [Cummard] does a little bit of everything," TCU basketball coach Neil Dougherty said. "Now I'm telling you he does a lot of everything. If we all had one, we'd all be a much better team."

Cummard started 14 games in his freshman season, and all 34 the next. To say Cummard, now a 22-year-old junior, is emerging this season as the heart of his squad is an understatement; his sweeping skill set is an entire circulatory system, coursing through every facet of BYU basketball, except perhaps concessions sales and the Cougarette halftime show.

"He's a really well-rounded player, but he has a mindset where he understands, game by game, what he needs to do most or best that night to help his team," BYU basketball coach Dave Rose said.

Cummard's friends and family say his success in basketball is par for the course, a tribute in microcosm to his competitive energy and general zeal for life; the spirited, well-rounded ability on the court is a reflection of the spirited, well-rounded man behind the basketball.

Cummard's confidence naturally carried onto the basketball court, where Cummard pushed himself to hold his own among the brothers. He grew up bounding down his cousins' three-quarter size basketball court, pretending he was Charles Barkley or Shawn Kemp or Michael Jordan on the 7-foot rims.

Cummard started playing for Mesa High School during his sophomore year. By his senior year, he was voted the 2004 Arizona Player of the Year, and led his team to the 5A State Championship with 20 points per game under his belt. Shawn Lynch, his coach, said it was Cummard's sincere passion that truly defined him as a player.

"One of my favorite things with Lee is he was one of the most vocal guys on the bench," Lynch said. "When someone would hit a three, he would be jumping up and down and screaming. Even when he was a sophomore, people would notice his energy, and it was genuine."

As a rising star, Cummard worked to keep his life balanced, establishing the even keel that has allowed him to live a life larger than the laurels of basketball. He started dating his wife, Sarah, during his junior year in high school, so the two have had plenty of time to grow up with their feet on the ground, notwithstanding the attention Cummard inevitably attracts.

"I admire how well he does balance everything," his wife said, "because I know that when I have like five things going on, I feel so scatter-brained, but that's his life. I've never felt like I have got the short end, or he hasn't spent enough time with me."

They were married before most of BYU ever heard the name Cummard. To Sarah Cummard, the man Cougar fans regard as their champion is still the same guy who makes up words to songs in their car, and the same guy who would eat, if he had his druthers, nothing but Gushers, Fruit-by-the-Foots, and Fruit Jammers.

Now Cummard is marching along with his Cougar team on a 19-5 run, and he's keeping abreast with the best of the best in nearly every statistical category within the Mountain West. His league-leading .568 shooting percentage earns him 16 points per game, the third best scoring average in the MWC, and he's among the league's top 10 in rebounds, assists, free-throws and 3-point percentage.

With more tricks up his sleeve than Inspector Gadget, Cummard is bound to continue to surpass Cougar fans' expectations. He's not sure how far he will go in basketball, but he's not likely to let up on the gas anytime soon.

Copyright Brigham Young University 14 Feb 2008