I had only heard stories and seen brief highlights of Jimmer Fredette before seeing him up close and personal.
Billy Donovan said he affected a college basketball game more than Kentucky phenom John Wall. I had heard Florida players talk about how well he shot and how effortlessly he drove the lane.
Before the NCAA Tournament’s opening round in Oklahoma City last year, I wandered into BYU’s open locker room, feeling like I had to interview the Cougars’ scoring machine of whom the Gators had spoken so highly.
What I found standing in front of one of the lockers, behind a throng of recorders and TV cameras, was a cross between Tim Tebow and Frodo Baggins — a polite, unassuming, bright-eyed kid my age answering questions about his adventures shooting hoops with inmates.
This guy was the one lighting up the scoreboard? This guy?
But what Florida found running wild the next day was a cross between Lee Humphrey and Allen Iverson, one of college basketball’s most dynamic scorers and a star in the making.
Jimmer scored 37 points on 50 percent shooting from the field, forcing UF defenders to chase him all over the court for 46 minutes. Kenny Boynton, who led Florida with 27 points, was given the tall order of stopping Jimmer — or at least slowing him down.
Bum ankle or not, Boynton will once again have to defend the nation’s leading scorer.
But, unlike last year, when he was reduced to leaning over and clutching his knees on the court, Boynton won’t be alone.
It’s no secret Florida lacked backcourt depth last year. UF coach Billy Donovan said his team was “six-and-a-half” players deep, and Boynton was the best matchup for Jimmer.
Now, Donovan can turn to Casey Prather and, more likely, Scottie Wilbekin, who will find himself face-to-face with the country’s most prolific scorer early and often Thursday night.
“There’s going to be a lot of guys on him,” Donovan said. “I hope that Kenny would not be on him as many minutes as he was a year ago because we have a little more added depth.”
But the truth, as Donovan admitted, is that it doesn’t really matter who guards Jimmer.
He is going to keep his dribble, create his own looks and make absurd shots from a few feet behind the three-point line.
He is going to leave his defenders tired, out of breath and wishing Gonzaga had upset BYU in the Round of 32.
And he is going to score. A lot.
“There are a lot of times that you’re at his mercy,” Donovan said. “For us to sit there and say, ‘We’re going to eliminate him even getting a shot off,’ that’s just totally inaccurate on our part to even think that.”
Opponents have thrown every imaginable defense at BYU, and Jimmer has been unstoppable. He’s not scoring 28.8 points per game, shooting 45.5 percent from the field or making 40.6 percent of his threes by accident.
And he has only gotten better lately, averaging 34.7 points per game in March.
“I don’t know if anybody has just shut that guy down,” Donovan said. “I just don’t think that’s going to happen.”
But Jimmer can’t beat Florida alone. The Gators have more athleticism, more depth and more reliable scoring options than the Cougars. And UF will need to capitalize on its advantages.
Because that unassuming guy I saw in the locker room — that guy — will light up the scoreboard against Florida. Again.
