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A little more than five weeks after a second surgery to remove cancerous tissue, BYU Basketball head coach Dave Rose says "I feel good...I feel better every day."
"Each week," said Rose after a late-afternoon practice at the Marriott Center on Wednesday, "I can tell that things are better."
"I'm kind of just concentrating on this team, and the team itself--you can really tell that they're young."
The 2013-14 squad features nary a senior, and only six players back from last season's 24-win group that made it to the NIT Semifinals at Madison Square Garden.
Rose said that after a week and a half of formal practices, consistency is the most pressing issue, noting that "we have a great practice, and then the next practice, maybe the effort is good, but our execution is not very good...so this will be interesting, the next couple of weeks, to see how they deal with" next Wednesday's Cougar Tipoff intra-squad game, and then two exhibition games set for Oct. 26 and Nov. 2.
BYU opens the regular season on Friday, Nov. 8, home to Weber State.
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Guard Matt Carlino missed Wednesday's practice while not feeling well, but Rose said there are no other notable health or injury concerns at present, saying that Luke Worthington has recovered well from a sprained ankle suffered a week ago Monday.
"We've got some guys who are kind of nicked up," said Rose, "but they're all playing through it, which is good."
Helping the Cougars get and stay healthy are head trainer Rob Ramos, and new staff addition Bob Medina, a Utah native who will be the Cougars' strength and conditioning coach after working for 21 years in the NBA, serving in the same role with the Portland Trail Blazers (16 seasons) and Seattle Sonics (five previous seasons). Before working in the pro ranks, Medina was on the strength and conditioning staff at UNLV.
"He's been terrific," said Rose of Medina on Wednesday. "Sometimes you feel like you just kinda got away with something...with being able to get Bob to come here, after 21 years in the NBA."
"The experience that he brings to our players, the immediate credibility that he has with our players, and then all the new and creative ways to keep your body strong and loose...ways to recover. I think our guys have really enjoyed it, and it's going to be great for the longevity of our team.
"The thing that is probably the biggest concern to our coaching staff is consistency--game after game, week after week, with a young group, and I think Bob can really help with that."
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Another new face on Rose's staff is actually an old face, as former BYU forward Noah Hartsock has joined the program as a student assistant coach, following a season-plus playing professionally overseas.
"He decided that he actually wants to coach," said Rose about Hartsock. "He's coming back to get a teaching degree and get certified, so he can pursue that career."
Rose's first-ever student assistant coach, Hartsock will start classes at BYU next week.
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Rose said "we're a long ways from trying to figure out exactly" what kind of lineups might work best for this team, adding that "we have an idea of what we think will work really well, and hopefully it does"--particularly at the power forward spot, which would appear to offer the most options.
Rose said he could play either Nate Austin or Luke Worthington alongside center Eric Mika, and "when we go to kind of a match-up situation, I think Frank (Bartley) is a guy who brings us a lot of different looks. He's not just a knock-down three-point shooter, but he's a really versatile player on the perimeter, and then physically, he's really strong." Josh Sharp (22 starts last season) is another player giving BYU depth and options at the power forward position.
"We'll try to play different lineups and then create match-up opportunities that are advantageous for us."
Rose said he doesn't foresee Kyle Collinsworth spending much time at the '4' spot, "because he rebounds so much better from the guard position. Right now, Kyle's slotted in on that perimeter spot for us."
For his part, Collinsworth says he expects to play the point, shooting guard and small forward spots on offense, and to guard the same positions, plus the '4', on defense.
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The team split into blue and white groups for two 20-minute scrimmages (with officials) on Wednesday afternoon; Collinsworth said he considered it his first real game action in two and a half years.
Tyler Haws sat for much of the second scrimmage as coaches evaluated other players.
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You can hear post-practice interviews with Rose, Collinsworth, Haws and Eric Mika in "Cougar Cuts," above left.
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