A little BYU hoops news
The most memorable shot I’ve witnessed, personally, while covering basketball for the Deseret News came in the quarterfinals of the 2005 Utah High School prep basketball tournament when Orem High’s Tanner Lamb grabbed a rebound with one second on the clock, stumbled out of traffic, and in one motion twirled toward his own basket on the other end of the court and let fly with a 60-foot toss that amazingly banked in to give the Tigers a thrilling double-overtime win over American Fork.
“That last shot was lucky, I just chucked it up,” Lamb said back then. “It was awesome. It was indescribable.”
Cougar assistant Tim Lacomb was on American Fork’s bench at the time, and I know he can describe it, probably in vivid detail.
The 6-foot-5 Lamb, son of BYU assistant football coach Barry Lamb, is an exciting player to watch. He has great leaping skills, is very good at getting to the rim, and in high school often thrilled the crowd with powerful dunks. I’ve been told the former All-Stater, who played one season at Snow College before serving an LDS mission to Wisconsin, will begin school next week at BYU where he’s hoping to walk-on to the Cougar basketball team. I’m not sure Lamb is in coach Dave Rose’s plans right now, but I’m sure Rose will give him a good look. Assistant John Wardenburg, who had a son play for Orem, has seen Lamb play plenty and is very familiar with his skills. It will be interesting to see if Lamb ends up on the Cougar squad this season.
A Kyle Collinsworth update: Since so many people ask me about the recruiting status of Provo High’s Kyle Collinsworth, and since he’s on top of BYU’s recruiting wish list, here’s the latest.
Collinsworth, a 6-foot-6 guard, has trimmed his list of schools to four – and yes, BYU is one of the four. He’ll go on an official visit to the University of Southern California the first weekend of September. He also plans to visit Virginia and Stanford, and then end his visits with an official trip across the street to BYU. Basically, Collinsworth is only interested in programs that really want him. Even though UNLV and Arizona State both fall into that category, he’s already scratched both off his list. Offers from the big-name schools – like Kansas and UCLA – were dependent on what other recruits decide to do, so Collinsworth has decided to get way from that game as well. He’s also telling any newcomers that he’s not interested. In a nutshell, he’ll be either a Trojan, a Cavalier, a Cardinal or a Cougar. We should know for sure by October or earlier.