No. 4 San Diego State Vs. No. 9 BYU: The Media Is Fawning Over Jimmer Fredette

While yes Jimmer Fredette is a very special college basketball player, lets not forget that they did lose a game to a mediocre UCLA team who is 13-6. While San Diego State is undefeated and ranked higher, but all the praise is going to BYU, specifically JImmer Fredette and there is a certain Aztec fan who wants to put an end to the Jimmer talk tonight.

Before we get onto what people are saying about the game, it is at 10 p.m. ET on CBS College Sports (find it!) and it is being played at BYU where the Cougars are a four-point favorite. Oh and everyone is talking about this game. One last thing does Jimmer like fry sauce? I don't care, but the answer is yes.

Yahoo's Ryan Greene talks with an unnamed Mountain West coach about tonight's big matchup:

Coach: "Well, what he (Fredette) does to anybody is extend their defense much further than they're probably usually comfortable defending. His range makes you pick him up so much earlier, so once you've done that, you've become a little more vulnerable to some other things..."

RG: Switching to the other side, given BYU's personnel, how do you plan to defend San Diego State?

Coach: "Inside-out, because whether it's Kawhi or Billy (White) or Malcolm (Thomas), you're talking about them operating within, primarily, 15 feet of the basket and what that creates is offensive rebound opportunities. I'd say BYU's biggest focus will probably be limiting second shots, and knowing that at the end of the shot clock, (D.J.) Gay just has a knack for hitting big shots as the clock's running down."

Steve Fisher talks about San Diego State's success on ESPN:

Jimmer talks to ESPN's Brian Kenny about how he got his name and about tonight's game against San Diego State.

Fredette talks about how San Diego State changes up their defense on nearly every possession and that will make it difficult on BYU:

"They'll usually have a couple different things back to back to back, different defenses," Fredette said, "and we kind of have to read what they do and go score the ball ... Hopefully, San Diego State doesn't have anything that we can't dissect.

"But you never know. They're a very good team and Coach (Steve) Fisher is a great coach, and I'm sure they have something to try."

ESPN's Fran Fraschilla breaks down the X's and O's in tonight's game and look's at an underrated matchup on the court that could be the difference:

X-factors: San Diego State's Kawhi Leonard and BYU's Jackson Emery: 

Leonard was an underrated high school player who has been a revelation for the Aztecs in his first two seasons. The 6-7 sophomore, who has a Ron Artest build and the largest hands in college basketball, is a relentless offensive rebounder. In fact, when combined with seniors Billy White and Malcolm Thomas, he gives Fisher one of the country's best offensive-rebounding teams.

At Brigham Young, Emery is Robin to Fredette's Batman. The 6-3 senior is one of the most efficient offensive players in college basketball, according to kenpom.com. He is shooting 41 percent behind the 3-point line and better than 60 percent from inside the line. And, fittingly on the night that Fredette scored 47 at Utah two weeks ago, Emery scored 20 points himself and broke Ainge's all-time steals record at BYU.

 

If you only check out one link make it this one. Sports Illustrated's Luke Winn breaks down on how to at least slow down Fredette. He includes screen grabs and a lot of cool stuff, so definitely check that one out.

Here are some tweets about Jimmer that are amusing: