BYU assistant coach Dave Rose hasn't been back to The Pit for 15 years - since he was playing for Houston in the NCAA Tournament. That year Houston was upset by North Carolina State in the championship game.
Rose returns Thursday night as BYU meets New Mexico. And, as was the case in 1983, there's a heavy favorite. But this time Rose is on the side of the underdog."That was a long time ago, but it doesn't seem that long ago when you think about it," said Rose. "I remember it like it was yesterday."
From that experience, Rose says he learned one thing: never assume victory. "If everyone assigned to this game were to pick who would win, we wouldn't play it," he said. "I've been on the other side, where we were picked to win, and you go in with a whole different preparation to get them ready to go."
So what are the odds of BYU beating New Mexico Thursday? Slimmer than North Carolina State's were against Houston 15 years ago. Still, said Rose, "you never know what can happen."
HIGH STANDARDS: Anyone attending a BYU game in recent years has to admit, it isn't like it used to be. Rarely do the Cougars pack the Marriott Center to capacity, as they once routinely did.
There are numerous theories about today's students, the aging of the season ticket holders, the quality of play, etc. But another factor that has changed the picture is the Utah Jazz.
"The Jazz have changed college basketball in Utah, attendance-wise," said BYU marketing director Dave Champlin. "The Uni-ver-si-ty of Utah is one of the best teams in the country and they're not even sold out every game."
He continued, "The Jazz split the pie. Their ability to entertain people came along and suddenly now people are judging us by what the Jazz do."
Consequently, the Cougars have added sound effects, halftime entertainment and a number of other things to enhance the product. However, college basketball has shorter timeouts and more restrictions on what they can do with their sound systems.
"People can see we're doing things. If the music is too loud, there are ear plugs if people need it. We can try to get people to an event, but the one thing we can't guarantee is a victory," Champlin said. "Maybe in pro sports you can pay them enough money to get the best athletes and win. But on the college level you can't say, `Hey, we're going to win every single game.' But we can say our players will give 100 percent."
ODDS AND ENDS: Forward Mekeli Wesley struggled from the free-throw line early in the year, but that isn't a problem any more. He made 18 straight and 56 of 60 in WAC play before finally missing one of two against UNLV. He is the league's No. 1 free throw shooter in WAC games with a 92-percent success rate . . . BYU's Jarkko Ahlbom isn't alone when it comes to Finnish players in the United States. In fact, there are five. The closest, in terms of proximity, is Utah's Hanno Mottola . . . Forward Justin Weidauer, BYU's only senior, played his final game in the Marriott Center last weekend.