BYU Basketball: Did Jimmer Fredette Peak Too Early?

If you were to only see the highlights of Saturday's BYU basketball game against TCU, you would turn off your TV and say to yourself; "Wow, Jimmer Fredette is the man!"

But if you got to see the game, or decided to look at the box score, you might think to yourself; "Wow, is Jimmer really that good?"

In a 79-56 win for the Cougars, Fredette led  the way scoring 23 points. Four other Cougars were in double figures in the rout of TCU.

Good game for Fredette right?

Well, he only shot 6-for-16 from the field, and 3-for-9 from beyond the arc. He also had six of BYU's 10 turnovers for the night.

While I still think Fredette is the Player of the Year this year, I can't help but ask myself "Did Jimmer Fredette peak too early?"

He was lights out in the early going this season. With three games scoring over 40 points, Jimmerpalooza started across the nation. ESPN made Fredette an icon and a household name, putting him almost everywhere. Even NBA players started to feel the hype as they expressed their opinions about Fredette's scoring skills.

Did the pressure get to Fredette? Has he slowed down? Or is he just trying to get teammates involved early? Whatever the case may be, one can't argue that Fredette's production has significantly decreased in the second half of the conference season.

Fredette has been held under 30 points five games in a row. (Keep in mind, he hasn't scored less than 20 points since BYU played Fresno Pacific on January 1. He played only 22 minutes that game.)

Did Fredette peak too early for the Cougars?

BYU is still winning—role players are stepping up and playing very well. Jackson Emery has broken out of his shooting woes and is putting up double figures every night. Stephen Rogers has developed into the shooter that BYU hoped he would be coming off their bench all year long. BYU is still a very, very good team.

Without Fredette however, BYU might be just that, a good team. With the exception of George Mason, the recent Cinderella teams that have made deep runs in the tournament have been powered by a superstar on their team.

Butler had Gordon Hayward.

Davidson had Steph Curry.

St. Joseph's had Jameer Nelson.

BYU needs Jimmer Fredette in order to make a deep tournament run.

Fredette is still putting up points, but he's missing a lot of shots and he's turning the ball over. He needs to get back to playing the way he played during the first half of the conference season in order for this team to live up to the hopes of the Cougar faithful.

He will get his chance to shine again this week as BYU takes on a very hungry Colorado State team looking for a signature win for their tournament resume on Wednesday, and plays No. 6 San Diego State on Saturday.