Adams, Cummard fitting choices for preseason honors

By Ryan Greene

Thursday, Oct. 16, 2008 | 2:05 a.m.

There probably couldn't be two better guys to share the Mountain West's preseason Player of the Year honors than UNLV's Wink Adams and BYU's Lee Cummard.

Aside from the whole, you know, scoring lots of points/making everyone around them better/leading winning teams thing, they both understand the true value of being given such an honor before the season's even tipped off. It's the knowledge that that notoriety and three bucks -- give or take 10 cents -- will get you a gallon of gas. Not much else.

"Just being a Player of the Year, it's always a good honor, but it's always better to win it at the end of the year," Adams said at Tuesday's Mountain West media day. "I'm up against Lee Cummard, and to me he's one of the best, most versatile players in the conference, so to take it away from him will be real tough."

The respect is mutual between Adams, who averaged 16.9 points per game a year ago, and the equally versatile Cummard, who tallied 15.8 per game.

"To be honest, I think a lot of his strength never gets talked about," Cummard said of Adams from right across the interview room. "He's a tremendous defender. He might even be one of the best perimeter defenders in the league. He gets a lot of credit for his big-game play, which he deserves.

"Every time we've played them, even our freshman year, he's played well and we've gameplanned for him, even as a freshman. I guarantee we'll gameplan for him this year. He's a big-time player, plays big in big moments and deserves any recognition that comes his way."

Both have had days to remember against one another, such as Cummard's 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting in Provo last year, or Adams' 24.3 points per game average in home games against BYU. There have also been some worth forgetting.

Still, awfully civil words from players on rival squads that have become more heated in recent years.

That is part of what's driving each of them heading into this season. Both teams have legitimate shots at a Mountain West regular season title, conference tourney hardware and decent runs in the NCAAs. But there's an added bonus along the way that both are still grasping for as they hit the home stretch of decorated college careers.

The two have squared off eight times over the past three seasons, but neither has been able to claim victory in the other's house. Adams and UNLV hold a 5-3 edge during that span, with the two added wins on the Rebels' side coming via a pair of "neutral site" wins in the MWC title game at the Thomas & Mack Center each of the last two years.

"That's something that sticks in my mind," Cummard said. "It has been fun, even though we have come up short there every year I've been in college basketball. So it makes it a lot more fun to have a milestone to come out and get."

It hasn't all been fun for Cummard when it comes to facing UNLV. What sticks out freshest in his mind from last year isn't a 60-41 victory in Provo on Feb. 16, but rather a 70-41 loss at Thomas & Mack a month earlier.

"What I remember is just being embarrassed," he said. "I remember being embarrassed on the court, on the bench, in the locker room. I just wanted to get out of the city as fast as I could. I just felt embarrassed the way we played. In the Mountain West Tournament, I thought it was a great game except for the fact that we didn't win. A great college game, great ambience. I look forward to it this year."

What's made UNLV vs. BYU a budding rivalry isn't necessarily how close the final scores have turned out, but rather the significance of each meeting. In eight games between the two during the Adams-Cummard era, the average margin of victory in those showdowns is 16.1 points, with only three of those having been decided by fewer than 10.

All three losses Adams has suffered in Provo, however, have the distinction of being part of the Cougars' NCAA-best 47-game home court winning streak.

"They've got the bullseye on their back because they've got the longest home court winning streak in the country right now, so it would be good to go up there and get a win," he said. "But to do that, you've almost got to play a perfect game.

"It's the whole week. We watch film the whole week, we put the stereo in the gym and put the speakers on, it's loud and we can't hear each other. Coach pulls out the sign and draws the play down, we've got to read it off the board it's so loud. All we're talking about this year is trying to get a win at BYU."

Whether the streak is still alive come Jan. 21, when UNLV makes its lone trip to the Marriott Center, is a great unknown.

What is known, though, is that when the Rebels and Cougars tip off twice in UNLV's final 10 games, two teams sure to be in the thick of the MWC regular season title race will be more than ready to throw down. So will the top two contenders for POY honors.

To say there's even some bad blood between the two schools' fan bases might not be too far-fetched. Now nearly of urban legend stature is the alleged story of Cummard's wife, Sarah, getting caught up in the mix with some Rebels fans during last year's MWC Tournament championship game at Thomas & Mack.

"I didn't see any of it," Cummard said with a grin. "I've heard people's take on the whole situation. I laugh about it now. I just want to move on from it and go on from there."

Fair enough.

But surely, fans of both teams in the stands will not have forgotten and moved on completely.

"I think that the fan base for BYU is probably more familiar with the BYU-Utah rivalry," said Cougar coach Dave Rose. "But the BYU-UNLV rivalry I think has really taken on a life of its own here in the last few years."

Expect it to do nothing but grow, especially now with potential individual honors as an underlying theme.