Wrote an article for the paper in the morning about coach Jim Boylen's unusual efforts to connect with the fans -- socializing on the concourse before games, performing his post-game speeches -- and noted how he has even won admirers among his opponents in the Mountain West Conference (except maybe KSL's Greg Wrubell, who has really made some enemies among Ute fans with his blog about Boylen).

One guy I didn't have room to mention, though, was Brigham Young's Lee Cummard.

You might have noticed during the game at the Marriott Center the other night, the two enjoyed a little back and forth that included Boylen swatting Cummard on the backside in admiration a couple of times. Later, Cummard returned the compliment.

"I was giving him a hard time about working the officials -- just working him a little bit," Cummard said. "But he is going to make a great coach. He gets those players to play hard and he runs great stuff and I got a lot of respect for him. He came in and changed the whole attitude of that program, and he's got them fired up."

Boylen said he hears from Cougar fans like Cummard "every day" who compliment him on the job he's doing with the Utes.

"Now, they want to beat our ass," he said. "But they also like the guy who's passionate about the game."