Battle of the boards could decide BYU-KSU

By Ryan Greene

Saturday, March 20, 2010 | 2:10 a.m.

NCAA Tournament - BYU vs. Florida

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NCAA Tournament - BYU Practice

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OKLAHOMA CITY — It's pretty simple.

No. 2-seed Kansas State enters today's clash with 7-seed BYU as one of the nation's finest offensive-rebounding teams.

Meanwhile, the Cougars masked the 20 offensive boards they allowed to Florida in a 99-92 double-overtime victory Thursday at the Ford Center thanks to a combined 63 points between guards Jimmer Fredette and Michael Loyd Jr.

Against a high seed in K-State on Saturday — as opposed to a 10-seed in Florida that was lucky to get into the tournament at all — a repeat performance in the rebounding department more than likely spells the end of the Cougars' season.

"If you have momentum, I think it brings it down a notch when they keep getting offensive boards," said BYU freshman forward Brandon Davies. "Especially how we play, we have to get those defensive boards to be able to push like we do."

Those 20 offensive caroms turned into 16 second-chance points for Florida.

Kansas State, who averages 15.2 rebounds on that end per game this season, took notice.

The Wildcats employ one of the nation's most physical and active frontcourts with sophomore Jamar Samuels, junior Curtis Kelly — a one-time UNLV recruiting target following his transfer from UConn — and a host of lengthy reserves. They were up to their usual antics with 17 offensive boards in an 82-62 blowout of North Texas on Thursday in what was, essentially, a home game, with Oklahoma City being just a few hours from Manhattan, Kan.

"Hopefully we'll use that into our effect," Samuels said. "They're a good team, and if we get a lot of offensive rebounds, we have a nice chance of winning."

The wild card in the whole equation is BYU junior guard Jimmer Fredette, who has become one of the early candidates to be the darling of this year's tournament.

After being overlooked by much of the nation for the better part of three seasons, his 37-point explosion against the Gators — including two NBA-range 3-pointers in the second overtime that helped clinch the victory — have caught everyone's attention.

"The Fredette kid, he's amazing," said Samuels, who added that he'd hardly heard of the first team All-Mountain West performer before this weekend. "I haven't seen anyone like that so far this year. The way that he scores seems so effortless."

Now it's a matter of whose motivation for this game carries more weight.

BYU relieved some stress of its own by simply winning Thursday, the program's first NCAA tourney victory since 1993, and snapping an eight-game losing skid in that department.

Kansas State's program, meanwhile, is in the midst of a renaissance, returning to relevance in the past few years after almost two full decades of mediocrity.

Its last taste of the tournament came two years ago in Omaha, when the two players largely responsible for turning the Wildcats around — Michael Beasley and Bill Walker — fell to Wisconsin in the second round.

While the current team is building off of that foundation, its goals are bigger.

"We're not here to tie with the past," freshman forward Wally Judge said. "We're not complacent being the same team that goes to the same round. Our focus is winning this hole thing."