If national conversation is any indicator, BYU senior basketball star Kyle Collinsworth could be in for a special season.
The do-it-all guard is garnering an increasingly good amount of preseason hype from pundits with the latest coming Wednesday from Sports Illustrated's Luke Winn, who wrote that Collinsworth is a "wild card" national player of the year candidate.
Placing Collinsworth in the "wild card" category with Providence guard Kris Dunn, Winn wrote, "Collinsworth had a nation-high six triple-doubles (points, rebounds, assists) last season; and in a year without a runaway preseason POY favorite, there's room for a stat-stuffing BYU guard to get in the race."
On the downside for the Cougars, Winn also wrote that Dave Rose's team is projected to be outside SI's top 50 teams and miss the NCAA Tournament, which would "hurt Collinsworth's candidacy."
Kyle Wiltjer of BYU's West Coast Conference foe Gonzaga is SI's pick to win the award.
Kalani Sitake frustrated at Oregon State
In a move that made University of Utah football fans angry last year, longtime defensive coordinator Kalani Sitake left the Utes to take the same position at Oregon State.
Now it appears Sitake is the unhappy one. In a story by Gina Mizell of The Oregonian, Sitake vented frustration after the Beavers gave up 644 yards and 44 points against Arizona last Saturday. It was the second week in a row OSU had surrendered 42 points or more.
"It can't get any worse," Sitake said. "It was a complete shock to me how we played on Saturday."
Utes not a lock to win Pac-12 South?
The Utes have gotten as much, if not more, national attention than any team in the Pac-12, with many saying they're the No. 1 team in the country.
But one writer questions whether Utah can make it to a New Year's Six Bowl, or even win the Pac-12 South.
Answering fans' questions Wednesday, Associated Press national football writer Ralph Russo wrote that the strength of the Pac-12 means the conference crown is up for grabs, particularly with teams beating up on one another.
"Utah is looking great in the South, but I wouldn't discount Arizona State or UCLA," Russo wrote. "Even USC is talented enough to make a run if the team becomes galvanized by the (Steve) Sarkisian situation...Utah and Stanford are best positioned in the strictest sense because they are in first and don't play each other. I've thought since the preseason that Pac-12 teams would knock each other around, and the conference would end up on the outside looking in at the playoff. I think that is even more likely now."
Ryan McDonald is a sports reporter at DeseretNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @ryanwmcdonald.