Welcomed TV news, when finished

Can’t blame the MWC, BYU and Utah officials if everyone was conservative or very reluctant to talk about the DirecTV deal before all the papers are signed. They’ve been burned before.

I remember commissioner Craig Thompson at the MWC football meetings two years ago, waiting, waiting and waiting in his hotel room for word on a deal so he could come out and tell reporters. He was hung out to dry by Comcast and the dish companies, who somehow were close but so far away.

If and when it is official, it will take the league significantly forward in coverage, exposure and become a major step forward in placating many fans who have been frustrated in being “closed out” from watching their favorite MWC teams, most notably BYU and Utah.

I’m sitting in the Salt Lake International Airport, waiting for a flight to San Diego this morning. I hope to run into SDSU’s athletic director and ask him how he felt being the spokesman for the league, all the school presidents, the mtn., and DirecTV.

Last night, while making a lot of phone calls, I was grateful for call backs from some key people, most notably Duff Tittle at BYU, Javan Hedlund, communications associate commissioner of the MWC and Hayne Ellis, the official spokesman for The mtn.

I found it interesting that I got a text message from Ellis about 7:17 p.m. last night. He’d been manning the phones, waiting for his bosses to give him some official word on a formal announcement of a deal. He was told to go home and not worry about it for the night.

The fact he was waiting do put the word out, shows how “almost closed” the deal apparently is.

Back to basketball, the Cougars practiced yesterday and will do so again today in the Marriott Center before leaving for San Diego.

The Cougars are very aware the next two road games are critical to a league championship. They are expected to lose both, the way things go in the league, but they could split. If they take one of these two games, they will win the title outright if they take care of business at home against Wyoming and AFA. If the lose both, they could clinch a share.

There was still some buzz about the Utah game and the disparity in free throws in that game as a reason the Cougars won. The thinking in the BYU camp was that Utah proclaimed publicly before the game they needed to play more physical, “get into” BYU players and challenge them more than the last game at the Huntsman Center. In so doing, why would anyone be surprised BYU went to the foul line so many times?

SDSU poses a myriad of problems for the Cougars. The Aztecs like to press and extend their defense and this has been a problem for the Cougars the past couple of games in Cox Arena. The athleticism of SDSU is best in the league. BYU knows it cannot afford to let down on defense while its offense may struggle to get going.

“We’ve got to continue to play hard on defense,” said Lee Cummard, “Because if we do, and get stops, we should be able to get a feel for our shots and start making some. It is a tough place to play and they always seem to get up for us.”