Friday night's Varsity Preview was really nothing new for the BYU basketball team. Coach Roger Reid likened it to "a dress rehearsal" for the regular season. "They've been doing this every night in practice for the past three weeks," he said.
Instead, it was more like a coming-out party of sorts for the Cougars in front of a Marriott Center crowd of 10,014 fans willing to watch a Blue-White scrimmage. "We've got eight new faces out there," said Reid.They include three junior-college transfers: 7-foot Australian native Cory Reader, 6-8 center Jay Thompson and 6-5 guard Craig Wilcox (who comes via Utah Valley Community College); three mission returnees: 6-8 sophomore Kenneth Roberts, 6-9 sophomore Jeff Campbell and 6-8 freshman Grant Berges; and incoming freshmen such as 6-10 center Bret Jepsen and 6-1 guard Robbie Reid.
Yes, the latter is another chapter in "All in the Family" for Roger Reid, who already has 6-2 sophomore Randy Reid on the squad.
Coach Reid expects to decide by Monday which three or four players to redshirt, which will include Reader.
The Varsity Preview featured the annual Blue-White intrasquad game, allowing new faces to mesh with the returnees, who this year include of frontliners Shane Knight, Russell Larson, Mark Durrant and John Fish and guard Kurt Christensen.
Coach Reid collected his leading candidates for the starting squad - experienced returnees Kurt Christensen and Randy Reid at guard and Russell Larson, Shane Knight and John Fish along the front line - on the Blue squad, which cruised to a 31-19 halftime lead en route to a 79-61 final victory.
Larson led all scorers with 18 points, while Fish finished with 16, Randy Reid 15 and Knight 10. The White team countered with Mark Durrant's 16 points and Roberts' strong-on-the-inside 15 points. Roberts scored all his in the second half as the White squad kept the scoring margin closer at 48-42.
Robbie Reid scored eight of the White's 19 first-half points. Switching spots with Christensen, he added another four with the Blue.
The Cougars opted for showtime during halftime, with a two-round slam dunk exhibition and an abbreviated three-point shooting contest. Knight claimed the three-point title by connecting on five of the eight one-point trey shots from around the arc and both of the two-point attempts from the left baseline corner for nine contest points. The Reid brothers tied for runner-up honors.
The Cougars play an exhibition game Tuesday night at the Marriott Center at 7:30 p.m. against Dona Zagreb.