Roger Reid objects to people who refer to his basketball team as "deep."
"I don't really think we're deep," the BYU coach said. "We utilize our guys. We play nine guys or so, but that doesn't necessarily mean we're deep."Sure, it could just mean that the coaches are so nice they can't say no to a guy who wants to play.
Actually, Reid has nine players who are averaging double-figure minutes on the season, but only eight in conference games, since John Fish has had injury and other problems. Is that deep?
Not especially. A quick check of other WAC teams shows that to be about average. What people may mean when they say BYU is "deep," though, is that there isn't as big a dropoff from the starters - with the obvious exception of Russell Larson, usually - to the other guys. On most other teams, the difference is more marked.
LIKES THE WAC: Reid, for one, is not excited about the prospect of departing the WAC to join a combined Big Eight-Southwest Conference, as has been rumored.
"We're in a good league now," he said. "We have a chance to win a championship. We have a chance to go to the NCAA Tournament."
The coach doesn't buy the argument that membership in such a conference would improve his recruiting, and he thinks the novelty would quickly wear off for Cougar fans.
"If you're .500 in football and not going to the Holiday Bowl every year, and Oklahoma and Nebraska are coming in here and beating you by 30 or 35, people might start saying, `Boy, that old WAC looks pretty good.' "
RUSS MOVES UP: If he continues his current 19.5 points per game pace through next season, Larson should end up among BYU's top five all-time scorers. He has scored 1,104 points so far in his career, which ranks him 21st, right behind John Fairchild, 1,106; Gary Earnest 1,108; Joe Richey, 1,117; and Steve Schreiner, 1,128 - all of whom he should pass on this week's road trip.
Assuming the Cougars play at least seven more games this season (five WAC, at least one in WAC tourney, at least one in NCAA tourney), and about 30 next season, Larson should end up in the neighborhood of Fred Roberts, currently fourth on the list, at 1,841. After Roberts it's a pretty big jump, though, to Devin Durrant, at 2,285. To reach him, Larson would have to average about 30 points per game.
SHORT STUFF: Shane Knight wrote "FISH" on his socks for last week's game against Hawaii, in honor of his teammate who was suspended for a scuffle two nights earlier . . . Speaking of depth, when Craig Wilcox led the Cougs in scoring against Hawaii last Saturday, he became the sixth Cougar to do that this season.
BYU was 18th in the nation in team free-throw percentage (73.4) as of last week. Larson was 19th, at 87.5 . . . Ken Roberts is second in the WAC in field-goal percentage (WAC games only), at .539 . . . BYU's leading assist-maker in WAC games, Robbie Reid, is only tied for 16th in the conference, at 2.3 per game.