NEW ORLEANS — The name alone inspires creativity.
Jimmer Time. Jimmer Mania. During a BYU practice at the Pepsi Center last week, one sign read: “I’m Going to Disney Jimmer World!” with an X through Disney.
“It’s kind of flattering just to have people say that. I mean, I saw something that said, ‘Jimmer and Romney 2012,’ ” said Jimmer Fredette, college basketball’s biggest star and BYU’s primary hope in its NCAA Southeast Regional game here tonight against Florida. “It’s great to have people really like you and your teammates and your whole team. You’d rather have that than have them hate you.”
There was a point this season, though, that BYU coach Dave Rose knew he had to confront the elephant in the room. Namely, the nation was no longer talking about how good the BYU Cougars were. Instead, all the talk was Jimmer and the Fredettes.
“We had the issue sometime in the middle of late December, first of January, where it really started to become so much attention toward Jimmer,” Rose said. “And the rest of our team became a group of guys that were just focused on winning games. And since then, it hasn’t been much of an issue.
“I think that as much as it seems like the attention to Jimmer continues to grow and grow and grow, I think it seems pretty normal for our team because it’s been this way for quite a long time.”
Oddly, the Jimmer frenzy seems to have quieted some heading into the Sweet 16. There were upward of 1,000 BYU fans last Wednesday at the Pepsi Center to watch the Cougars practice before their first NCAA Tournament game. When the Cougars entered the New Orleans Arena for practice here Wednesday, not one fan was in the stands.
Eventually, about 50 to 100 fans trickled in.
One man held up this sign: “I’m not from America. I’m from Jimmerica!”
Mike Klis, The Denver Post
