Fredette livin' it up and hoopin' it up in Vegas

OK, so it’s not really as glitzy in Las Vegas this week for BYU guard Jimmer Fredette as that headline might suggest, but this trip to Sin City does allow Fredette a little more time to enjoy the sights than when he travels here with the Cougars at least twice each season.
I just left the USA Basketball practices at the Cox Arena for both the USA Basketball Men’s National team and the USA Basketball Men’s Select team. Fredette is one of 20 collegiate players on the Select Team, and I was allowed about 15 minutes to chat with him prior to practice. I’ll have a story in Thursday’s paper about how Fredette thinks this week’s experience of playing against 20 top NBA players and 19 of the nation’s other top college players will benefit him this coming season. I’ll also have an assessment of Fredette from Select Team coaches Lorenzo Romar (Washington) and Jay Wright (Villanova)
Fredette is rooming with Kansas forward Marcus Morris at the Wynn hotel, and once practice ends each day he’s going out with his Select Team teammates for dinner, walking up and down the Strip and checking out the attractions at a few of the fancier hotels. His day with the Select Team basically ends around 4 p.m., giving him the night for fun and relaxation.
In the short time (30 minutes) that I was allowed to watch practice, I can tell the Select Team folks are taking their role serious. Even though they only scrimmage in spurts with the National Team at the end of each day, they’re practicing as if they’re going to meet those pros for the World Championship. Their role, obviously, is to test and push the pros as much as possible. They’re addressing this job with a little chip on their shoulders, and preparing as if the National Team is the only thing that stands between them and the world title.
“They’re only going to respect you as much as you respect yourself,” former Wake Forest coach Dave Odom told Fredette and his teammates prior to Wednesday’s practice about how the National Team will look at them.
The Select Team guys have been asked to practice hard, play hard, defend hard and be physical. Wednesday’s practice included some work on a zone defense that should test the National Team’s outside shooting and offensive rebounding. The team is also working on various offensive sets, offensive and defensive execution and shooting. Fredette spent much of today’s practice lined up in the backcourt with Kansas State guard Jacob Pullen. There was a lot of talk from the coaches about being “tough”, “smart”, “confident”, and I heard Wright use the team “next level” many times.
All of this preparation just to match up with the National Team for about an hour each day. Unfortunately, those sessions are closed to the media so I wasn’t able to see how Fredette held up. But, he told me did well on Tuesday when he went head-to-head with Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook, Stephen Curry and Rajon Rondo. Curry had good things to say about Fredette as well. BYU fans are hopeful this experience will make Fredette an even better player than he was last year, and it should.
After concluding his week here on Friday, Fredette will return to his hometown of Glens Falls, N. Y. for the rest of the summer. He’ll be back in Provo to begin his senior season in early September.