BYU NewsNet - Looking to next season

The Cougars’ season has been over for less than a week, but they are already looking forward to next year after ending their season with a 79-66 loss to Texas A&M in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

BYU won its third consecutive MWC championship, going 12-4 in the conference and 25-8 overall, but once again struggled in postseason play. BYU hasn’t won the MWC Tournament since 2001 and hasn’t won an NCAA Tournament game since 1993.

But the Cougars only lose three seniors to graduation and have one of their best recruiting classes in the past few years entering the program.

“That’s the next step for us and this group returning, to qualify for the [NCAA] Tournament and then to advance,” BYU coach Dave Rose said.

BYU welcomes four freshmen from Utah Valley to next year’s squad, including guard Tyler Haws of Lone Peak High School, who was named the Gatorade Utah Boys’ Basketball Player of the Year as a junior and senior. Forward Bryan Davies of Provo High School will join Haws at BYU. Center Nate Austin from Lone Peak High School and center Ian Harward from Orem High School are two other recruits that will join the team after they serve LDS missions.

“We have a good team returning next year,” Noah Hartsock said. “We’re looking forward to working hard this summer and getting ready for next year.”

The Cougars started the season 12-2, losing only to top 20 teams Arizona State and Wake Forest. The loss to Wake Forest in the Marriott Center snapped the Cougars’ 53-game home winning streak that had spanned the past three seasons.

BYU’s most prominent loss is Lee Cummard, who led the Cougars in scoring, averaging 16.8 points. Cummard also averaged 6.2 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game. He also became BYU’s iron man, playing in 131 consecutive games, ranks sixth in steals and ninth in scoring.

“Lee was a great player for this program,” guard Jimmer Fredette said. “He was our leader. Whenever we got into a tough spot, we could get the ball to him and he’d go make a play for us. That’s something that obviously we’re going to be missing next year, so we’re going to have to have guys come back, step up, play and lead the team.”

Fredette will be one of the leaders for the Cougars next season. He averaged 16.2 points and 4.1 assists, which led the team. He was named first team All-MWC.

Jonathan Tavernari was named third team All-MWC this season, averaging 15.7 points and a team-leading 7.2 rebounds. He improved his shooting from 39.5 percent in 2007-08 to 43 percent this season. His 3-point percentage also improved slightly this season. He’s hasn’t made up his mind on whether he’s returning yet, saying he might put his name in the NBA Draft.

Jackson Emery and Chris Miles also return next season from this year’s starting lineup, as well as BYU’s main contributors off the bench: Lamont Morgan Jr., Charles Abouo, Noah Hartsock and James Anderson. Tavernari, Miles and Morgan will be the only seniors on next year’s team.

When asked what the team needs to do to get out of their slump in the NCAA Tournament, Rose gave a simple answer.

“Well, I think that we need to play better”