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THREE-DAY, FOUR-TEAM EVENT TIPS THURSDAY AND CONCLUDES SATURDAY
The BYU Cougars (7-4) of the Mountain West Conference will participate in the BYU Holiday Classic this week at the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah, along with the Liberty Flames (6-4) of the Big South Conference, the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles (5-6) of the Mid-Continent Conference and the Seton Hall Pirates (7-2) of the Big East Conference. The three-day tournament features daily double-header games Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 5 and 7:30 p.m. MT. Seton Hall and Oral Roberts open the Classic Thursday at 5 p.m. with BYU and Liberty following at 7:30 p.m. in the nightcap. Friday’s games match up Liberty and Seton Hall at 5 p.m. and BYU and Oral Roberts at 7:30 p.m. with Saturday’s contests pitting Oral Roberts and Liberty at 5 p.m. and BYU and Seton Hall in the finale at 7:30 p.m. The games are not being televised. The radio broadcast of BYU games can be heard on KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM and 1160 AM out of Salt Lake City or via the Internet at ksl.com.

I got so excited when I saw that BYU was hosting a tournament with such teams like Liberty, Seton Hall and Oral Roberts. All names that people should have heard if they’ve ever participated in march madness tournament picking. Three straight days of BYU basketball should be pretty exciting.

Well, I thought it would be exciting until I read the following on BYU’s Athletics website: TV: None The MWC finally got the mtn in Las Vegas and now they’re not showing some of BYU’s most exciting games of the season. I’m sure there’s some interesting licensing details that make broadcasting it hard, but I wish they’d figure this stuff out. At least hook us up with the rebroadcast on BYU TV.

It’s really too bad that BYU’s playing such amazing opponents during the Christmas break. I’ve been to basketball games at BYU during this time and the Marriott Center is relatively empty for these games. Not to mention the students are missing which has a serious impact on the noise that’s generated. I wonder if this might be part of the reason why the game isn’t being broadcast. BYU wants as many people at the game as possible. Too bad I live too far away or I’d be there at the games. Until then, I’ll have to stick with BYU radio online. It’s not the same, but is better than nothing.

Here’s the schedule of games:

Thursday, Dec. 28, 2006
Oral Roberts (5-6) vs. Seton Hall (7-2) — 5 p.m. MT
BYU (7-4) vs. Liberty (6-4) — 7:30 p.m. MT

Friday, Dec. 29, 2006
Seton Hall vs. Liberty — 5 p.m. MT
BYU vs. Oral Roberts — 7:30 p.m. MT

Saturday, Dec. 30, 2006
Liberty vs. Oral Roberts — 5 p.m. MT
BYU vs. Seton Hall — 7:30 p.m. MT

John Beck’s had an outstanding year and will definitely be missed at quarterback next year. Originally the next quarterback was to be the highly recruited traitor, Ben Olson. All of that aside, BYU is faced with filling the hole left by Ben’s departure.

Today, Snow College quarterback Cade Cooper said he has decided to attend BYU and has already enrolled in classes. “After talking to BYU coaches last week, I decided to do it,” he said. “I’ll pay my own way [this semester], but once a scholarship becomes available, they say it will be mine.”

He had received scholarship offers from Utah State, Utah, Arizona, Nebraska, Northern Arizona, Weber State and Troy, but says the “quarterback legacy at BYU, and the fact that it has always been my dream to play there,” caused him to stick with BYU, despite not having an immediate scholarship.

Cooper, a 6-foot-2, 205-pound left-hander who played high school football for Lehi and Timpview, completed 224 of 335 passes for 3,103 yards and 31 touchdowns in 2006, with just eight interceptions. His quarterback rating was 170.4.

It will be interesting to see how he makes the transition from junior college to BYU.

Arizona State transfer Max Hall and Idaho prep phenom Jacob Bower will be his biggest competition next year. Should be an interesting spring ball.

Thanks Jay Drew from the SLTribune for the info.