Sure Jim Boylen is a passionate guy, but did you know he's also a jerk, a complete polar opposite to the classy Dave Rose? Well, if you didn't know this, look no further than Wednesday's post game spat with the Salt Lake Tribune's Gordon Monson:

Boylen: "Don't come here once every two years and ask those questions. I don't want to hear that from you."

"I can ask the questions," said Monson.

"Good," said Boylen. "I'm not answering it. Don't come here once every two years. I don't want to hear that from you."

Monson replied, "Coach, give me a break — show some class."

Said Boylen, "Yeah, nice of you to show up."

You may be wondering what the question was that angered Boylen so badly... "Coach, what was the reason for the offensive inefficiency?"

GIVE ME A BREAK BOILER BOYLEN. YOU'RE PATHETIC, AND THE REASON WHY YOUR TEAM IS PATHETIC. No wonder nobody shows up to your lousy games.

I had heard about the altercation that occurred between Steve Alford and Tavernari, but nothing solid. I think this renders some enlightenment on the altercation that occurred:

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From the FanPosts...

It has been blogged to death that the most likely contenders to enter the Pac-10 are Colorado and Utah. The most prominent reason($) being that the Pac-10 would want to incorporate the Denver and SLC TV markets.  However, those teams don't even own their own markets. Denver is "Bronco Nation," first and foremost, and Utah is over 70% LDS.

Also, for a conference that lost 3,164 Fans per game last year, it would help to pick teams that put fans in the seats (both at home and on the road).

A breakdown of attendance data after the jump...

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As I was looking at the NCAA Tournament regions and looking towards the dates and locations, I have narrowed the possible seeds that BYU could be selected in...

First things first, for what I see BYU will most likely NOT be selected into the following brackets (Midwest and South) for these reasons: Most of the games will be on the Friday-Sunday schedule of the tournament in the first round, and the second round would fall in the same. We can breathe just a little with the 8 and 9 seeds this year; there is only one chance (Midwest), but it is very slim. There could be a slight possible mix-up in the selection of Friday and Sunday for BYU, by being put in these brackets and then get switched if BYU were to advance in the first two games. This idea isn't totally out of the question as the selection committe was highly considering doing this a couple years ago. But if that's the case, these are the seeds that would be open for BYU:

The Midwest Bracket possible seeds (we would have to switch in the next round):

1, 8, 9, and 16

So we know that 1 and 16 are out of the question.

Then with the 8 and 9, which won't happen unless BYU just falls apart.

In the South (we would have to switch in the next round), these would be the possible open seeds:

3, 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, and 14

So we know that 12, 13, and 14 are out of the question and 11 if we slip up more than needed...

3, 4, 5, and 6 would be great...

So the regions that we'll most likely end up in will be the West and the East.  Not all of the seeds will be open for us to get selected in because of the Friday-Sunday set-up, but here are the openings:

West:

2-7, and 10-15

Most unlikely of these would be 2, and 12-15...

3 or 4 is likely if we win out or have no more than one more loss in the regular season and win the conference tournament.

5, 6, or 7, if we lose one, two to three games and have an early loss in the conference tournament

East:

2-3, 6-7, 10-11,14-15

Most unlikely of these would be 2, and 14-15...

Again, 3 or 4 is likely if we win out or have no more than one loss in the regular season and win the conference tournament.

6 or 7 if we lose two to three games and have an early loss in the conference tournament

The way that I look at it, the tournament isn't all about making money, but a lot of it is. The best fit for BYU--and the NCAA--would be the 3 or 4 seeds in the West region.  If the Cougars were to advance, they would be in Salt Lake for the Sweet 16 and have great fan support and sell out Energy Solutions Arena.  With the 4th seed, they would open up in San Jose and still have plenty of fans down there.

GOOD LUCK COUGARS AND WIN THE FORTH STRAIGHT REGULAR SEASON CHAMPIONSHIP!

From the FanPosts...

The Cougars have been nothing short of amazing this year, but good luck finding many people outside of Utah who realize that. BYU basketball has been flying under the radar this year. Even our #10 ranking hasn't caught the attention of many people. Frankly, I like it that way. I don't want people to be too aware that we have something special here. More importantly, I don't want our team to figure out that they're one of the best in the nation. I've seen our football team go to pieces one too many times once they realize they're pretty good.

So every time I see an article like the this one from Basketball Prospectus touting the Cougars as one of the best in the land, I cringe a little. I want to tell them, "Shh! If you tell them they're good, you'll jinx the whole thing!" Maybe I'm just paranoid. Maybe Jimmer Fredette will turn out to be completely different than Max Hall and thrive under the spotlight

Personally, I don't really want to find out. Let's keep the Cougars out of national attention so they don't realize they're great until they're holding up the trophy after they've won it all in the Dance. I think we'd all be happier that way.

If you're on the same page as I am than you would agree that the "poll"ing system to decide rankings is really quirky and a bit head scratching. Enter Ken Pomeroy. In the eyes of many his system for rankings is as close to unbiased as any ranking system can possibly be. According to his algorithmic quotients based on the rotation of the earths ambiotic components system today he has BYU ranked #4 in all the land for college hoops.

Who's in front of them you might ask? Just a couple of little programs like Kansas, Duke, and Syracuse. Then there's a bunch of little guys behind them like Kentucky, North Carolina, West Virginia, and on and on. Umm, I'm not sure what else to say? One side of me wants to jump for joy, another side of me thinks that's a little too high, another side of me is pissed because BYU isn't getting the respect it deserves (fyi, I'm happy with a #10 ranking, #4 would be sweet, I'm just not sure we're #4 worthy), and another side of me wonders "what if?". Could this be the year BYU doesn't get TKO'd in Round 1? Could this be the 29th Anniversary of the Ainge runner, played by Jimmer Fredette??? 

From the Comments following last night's win over Wyoming:

The next two games are HUGE. I know most realists are hoping to split the next two games, but I think we can pull off winning both.

AT SDSU – They haven’t lost at home yet this year, but this is the same team that lost at Wyoming, which is a bad loss. This will be a big test. UTEP is probably as good as SDSU, and we were able to squeak that one out.

AT UNM – The pit?! Pomeroy’s calculations figure this will be the 2nd hardest game of the season (behind at UNLV, of course). However, UNLV was able to beat them on their home floor. Why can’t we?

In normal cases, I would say that splitting is what we need to do here. BUT, we have a different team this year. We have so many threats of people that could just go off. Last year, our only hopes were Jimmer or JT to go off. Lee just always disappeared in big games.

This year, Haws could go off, Emery could go off, or JT could go off, and we have the post presence of Davies and Miles. This is an impressive team. They’ve sucked me in completely. I’m drinking the kool-aid and I’ve lost all sights of reality. But it feels good.

We can do this.

I would LOVE to only see only 2 conference losses this year. How spectacular would that be. We will lose at UNLV. And we will screw up one other game.

After this stretch, we can relax (somewhat) with the next two easy games, and prepare for AT UNLV. After that, we only have to worry about at Utah. (I know Utah sucks, but they beat UNLV! on their home floor! and the Utes always play up. They will be driven to upset us.)

I know it’s completely unrealistic to hope for a running of the table, so I’ll settle with 2 conference losses, and if we can win that MWC, we’d be entering the Big Dance with a big ’ol (32-3) next to our name. Holy Moly. You have to give us a 4 seed with that.

Then we can do some damage in the Tourney. Sweet Sixteen?! We need to make a case to Jabari Parker that we’re the place he should come to.

Alright, sorry for the rant, but my hopes are just too inflated to not share them. This happens every year. But this year is different. I think.

According to ESPN, BYU football is slow racking up a powerful recruiting class currently ranked 24th. If we land Heimuli out of Brighton we can jump to a top 20 real fast! 

Todd McShay gave a Max some props. I didn't really think many thought much of Max.

Wow....I have never seen a performance like Jimmer's, and on the road no less.  I know Arizona isn't the team they usually are but regardless, he was going up against a senior guard who should have been able to do a better job on him.  

Now, I'm starting to worry about him staying for his Senior season.  49 Points in the college game is a greater performance than Karl Malone's 63 for the Jazz back in the day.  Congratulations Jimmer.  Thanks for giving us the pleasure of seeing you perform such an amazing feat.  Additionally, I love the freshman dynamic duo and can't wait to see how great Brandon will become.  Its a great time to be a Cougar fan.