Sometimes he stares up at the sparkling light system, fixed just above the rafters. Sometimes his gaze falls to the floor, finding tiny grooves in the hardwood. And sometimes his look – that look – might even drift off into the distance, surveying the crowd like it’s merely a stereogram, trying to decipher some hidden image within the congestion of bodies, souvenirs, and popcorn.
Yet, wherever it may be transfixed, it is within these seemingly random pre-game glances that you start to recognize the greatness. While everyone else is looking at him, Brigham Young’s Jimmer Fredette never knows where to look. The truly dominant ones never do. They are far too busy waiting for the game to start.
So rare is the player who easily disassembles his competition on a nightly basis that Connecticut’s Kemba Walker is the only other player in college basketball this season who even has any semblance of what it actually feels like. Fredette has treated his foes like his own personal chew toys, gnawing on them viciously before tossing them aside. And now he’ll have the NCAA Tournament’s second weekend to break out those fangs again.
Fredette is easily the most polarizing player in the college game. Blame the relentless television coverage – how many times can one man be on SportsCenter? – and internet coverage – is there really a youtube clip teaching people “how to Jimmer”? – or even that tuft of curly brown hair atop his pasty face, but whatever the reason, naysayers are quick to dismiss him as a present-day J.J. Redick. Yet those who pass off Fredette as simply a great white flash in the pan are mistaken. He led the nation in scoring and he did so in the face of zealous double-teams and gimmicky defensive schemes in every game he played. The 6-foot-2 combo guard scored over 40 points in four games, including a 52-point explosion in the Mountain West Conference semifinals. And, when he wasn’t shooting from laughably long distances or crossing over and spinning around defenders, he somehow found time to lead the Cougars in assists.
When the doubters compare you to a man who finished his career as the ACC’s all-time leading scorer as an insult, you must be doing something right. However, the Redick comparisons are apt only in their similar shade of white. Unlike the former Duke star who set his feet perfectly on every shot, Fredette’s jumper is like a cruise missile, accurate regardless of the angle it is launched from. And while J.J. used his outside shot to set up the drive, Fredette excels supremely off the bounce, utilizing a range of speeds on his drives that could only be categorized as hypnotic. They both carry on with confidence, yet Jimmer’s is cool and subtle. Never before has a player shown so much flash and bravado without saying a word.
Those looking for a brown-haired white guard with a game similar to Fredette’s would be better served cueing up a tape of “Pistol” Pete Maravich. Pistol’s father, Press, was the Hall of Famer’s coach at LSU and would let him take every creative shot he could concoct. BYU coach Dave Rose gushes about Fredette as though he is a son and has offered Jimmer those same offensive freedoms.
While Fredette might not be next year’s NBA Rookie of the Year, he’ll have a chance to compete for the award. Fredette’s stock continues to soar with each 30-point performance in the NCAA Tournament (three in his last four tourney games) and he will likely be selected somewhere in the top half of the first round of June’s draft.
But it isn’t his pro potential or his high-scoring games or even his off-balance, 35-foot range which best illustrates his greatness. No, the brilliance of Jimmer Fredette is best observed just a few minutes prior to tip-off. When he is warming up and appears to be searching for somewhere to look, he is privately envisioning yet another awe-inspiring performance to come.
He may even smirk at the thought, knowing wholeheartedly that the rest of us will soon be seeing something we can’t believe.
Two words…..Nolan Smith.