Jimmer Fredette: Why NCAA's Leading Scorer Will Find NBA Success

At 17, Jimmer Fredette knew he wanted to play in the NBA.

Five years later, it looks like he may get a chance.

Fredette is leading the nation in scoring with 27.2 points per game, for the eighth ranked BYU Cougars, and has recently become a projected lottery pick.

Questions about Fredette's defensive ability and criticisms about his speed are causing some sports media dignitaries and ESPN talking heads to doubt his NBA potential.

Fredette's former coach Tim Moseman however, does not share their concerns.

Moseman coached Fredette, along with Penn State's Talor Battle and Xavier's Mark Lyons, for the Albany City Rocks, an upstate New York AAU basketball team, and said in my interview that he first saw Fredette play when the All American was a freshman at Glens Falls High School.

Fredette scored 26 points against Moseman's Balston Spa High School team, "you could tell, the way he handled himself, he was gonna be a great player," Moseman remembers.

Later, when Moseman was coaching Fredette through an 86 game AAU season, he saw the guard consistently find a way to win against the nations top talent.

At the National Championships in Orlando, Florida, down 16 points with four minutes to play in the elite eight round, Fredette led a comeback that ended with his team wining by eight in overtime. (The City Rocks finished third at the tournament, behind the Boo Williams All Stars and the D1 Greyhounds. The Greyhounds were led by O.J. Mayo, Bill Walker, and Alex Tyus.)

"To watch Jimmer, Talor, and Mark, absolutely destroy a team and to watch how smooth they were was special," Moseman says. Despite all the talent on that team though, Moseman feels "our backbone was Jimmer."

"He could make a team gel and make everyone around him better."

As good as Fredette was, and is, on the court, Moseman says what makes him special is they way he works off the court.

"He worked so hard on his game, constant ball handling, constant shooting and strength work. He is constantly improving," says Moseman.

That work has shown itself through his career at BYU. Fredette has increased his scoring average by six points a year, and maintained a shooting percentage over 45%, despite increased attention from opposing defenses.

"He will make himself better," Moseman says, "he has done that every year. He has had doubters who he's proven wrong."

More impressive then Fredette's game though, is his kindness.

At the AAU Championship in Orlando, Moseman remembers how Fredette offered to watch his two young children so Moseman and his wife could enjoy an afternoon at Disney World alone.

"I told Al (Fredette's father) you didn't have to tell Jimmer to do that, and Al had no idea what I was talking about," says Moseman.

"Jimmer was always so polite."