Kyle Collinsworth became the best rebounder in BYU history before February of his senior year?
Remarkable.
But you could see it coming if you looked hard enough.
Back on March 24, 2011 in New Orleans, some five years ago, Collinsworth played the final game of his freshman year. It was against Florida in the NCAA Tournament and the contest went into overtime. In the final game of Jimmer Fredette’s college career, the Cougars were trying to make a push without suspended starting center Brandon Davies.
In his final game before departing on a two-year mission to Russia for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Collinsworth had 15 rebounds on a big stage against the highest competition.
On Monday, Collinsworth was named a top-10 finalist for the Bob Cousy Award, an honor given to the nation’s top point guard each year. He ranks near the top of several point guard statistics (fourth in assists per game, first in triple-doubles, and 20th in steals per game).
This comes in a season where he’s become BYU’s career rebounds and assists leader. He currently leads the WCC in assists.
Deserving? It is an astounding effort from a guy sidelined by ACL surgery two years ago.
Back in that 2010-11 season, BYU coach Dave Rose played Collinsworth as a power forward and put him in the paint as Fredette launched from deep. Collinsworth had 11 rebounds in the Mountain West Tournament against New Mexico, a game Fredette put on a spectacular shooting display and scored more than half a hundred.
That was half a decade ago. Now Collinsworth is the Glass King.
He surpassed Michael Smith as BYU’s all-time career rebounder in an 88-77 win over Pepperdine in the Marriott Center last week. He walked off the court that night with 923 career rebounds.
“No one’s going to rebound better than me from my position. I try to do that day in and day out for my team,” Collinsworth told reporters after he set the mark.
Collinsworth has averaged almost eight rebounds a game this season and might have at least 10 games left in his BYU career. That would put him close to the 1,000-rebound mark before he finishes his senior season.
How does that stack up?
Well, Utah State’s all-time leading rebounder is Cornell Green (1960-62) with 1,067. The next best Aggie is Greg Grant (1983-86) with 1,003. Utah’s all-time leader is Billy McGill (1959-1962) with an impressive 1,106, followed by Keith Van Horn (1993-1997) with 1,074.
The Mountain West’s career rebounder is Utah’s Luke Nevill (2005-09) with 943.
Those are all impressive numbers, made by superior rebounders who had unique talents. Nevill was a 7-foot center. Collinsworth is basically a point guard and that’s what makes his achievement so admirable by basketball aficionados.
The other thing is Collinsworth is doing this in the current day and age. Green’s Aggie record and McGill’s Ute mark have stood 54 years.
Smith led BYU to a 17-0 mark and No. 2 ranking in the late '80s. He was 6-10 and All-CIF out of Hacienda Heights, California, in football, basketball and volleyball.
In one of his prolific BYU games against Colorado State, Smith had a triple-double (20 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists). Collinsworth has had 10 such triple-doubles, the NCAA record by a wide margin over Shaquille O’Neal.
Collinsworth has surpassed some impressive athletes in the Cougar record book, including Smith and Kresimir Cosic, who is in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, and Steve Trumbo, a 6-8 strongman who played in the late '70s with Danny Ainge.
Shawn Bradley only played one season in a BYU uniform, but he would've been a contender if he’d stayed around. Bradley averaged seven rebounds a game, just a fraction less than Collinsworth is doing his senior year, which says a lot about Collinsworth.
Today many BYU fans have only heard of — but never witnessed — All-American Mel Hutchins, who led the NBA in rebounding in 1952 as a rookie. Wilt Chamberlain and Hutchins are the only two NBA rookies to ever lead the league in rebounding.
In Collinsworth we just might be seeing a BYU basketball player who is rebounding like Hutchins did. He’s explosive off the floor, jumps quick, reacts fast, has a good nose for the ball coming off the rim or glass, has superior timing, and is very strong. He is also extremely competitive and believes rebounds actually belong to him.
Rebounding is somewhat of an art form — where the canvas is the hardcourt and the oil is air. It is about positioning and effort and you have to have a great desire to reign at that skill. No ordinary slacker can ever succeed at doing it. Size matters but not as much as desire. It takes extreme talent.
Collinsworth’s got it. Earned it. Good for him. He’s Hutchins incarnate.
EMAIL: dharmon@deseretnews.com.
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