Scoring machine explains why he’s retuning to BYU

PROVO, Utah – The rap sequel to “Amazing” has already been written by his older brother; now it’s up to BYU preseason All-America Jimmer Fredette to live up to the hype.

“We just touched the surface of the purpose we’ve been working for.”

If those words don’t say enough, TJ Fredette explains in plain English why the star guard for the 23rd-ranked Cougars pulled his name out of the NBA draft to return to Provo.

“More than anything, he felt like there was unfinished business at BYU,” said the oldest Fredette brother, who is climbing his own ladder as a rap artist after his song “Amazing” gained attention during the NCAA tournament last season.

That means winning a Mountain West Conference championship, something BYU failed to do last year, and advancing at least to the third round of the NCAAs.

BYU made it to the second round last season, thanks in part to Fredette’s leadership and ability to create shots, including 37 points in the Cougars’ double-overtime victory over Florida.

If the effort thrust the 21-year-old into the national spotlight, TJ Fredette already knew his kid brother was headed there.

Just go back a dozen years when TJ had Jimmer dribbling in the dark, or with a work glove on his hand, or through a darkened gauntlet in the church hallway filled with friends popping out of doorways to test Jimmer’s concentration.

It makes those keys Earl Woods jingled while Tiger putted seem tame.

Granted, Jimmer Fredette wasn’t hitting 3s for a national TV audience before he hit kindergarten. But mental and physical toughness were built into the Glens Falls, N.Y., native from an early age.

His uncle, Lee Taft, aka The Speed Guy, is a renowned fitness expert who teaches classes and conducts seminars on agility training. Taft had the Fredette boys go through some of the same workouts by the time they hit middle school.

And when a neighbor’s uncle suggested the boys, once they were 18, take their game to the prisons, where the uncle ran various recreational programs for inmates on good behavior, they jumped at the chance.

“They see you walk in, ‘Oh, little white boy over here tryin’ to play against us,’ ” Jimmer Fredette recalled of that first trip to Mount McGregor, a medium-security facility in upstate New York where riding the prison bus up the hill and hearing metal doors slam shut was part of the experience.

Jimmer Fredette, with 40 points in his first game against the inmates, immediately earned the respect of the inmates on the court and in the stands.

“It only took one of those crossover moves for them to really like him,” TJ Fredette said.

Now, in his final season at BYU, Fredette is ready to step up his game again.

“He’s a pretty special player when he gets going,” BYU coach Dave Rose said. “He’s such a confident offensive player. Then there’s a variety of ways he can score. I don’t think there’s a situation 1-on-1 where he can’t handle himself and get a pretty good look at the basket.”

When he isn’t working out, he can be found at the dollar theater or watching a movie at his apartment.

“Shawshank Redemption” is his favorite, but not because of his prison hoops experience. He likes movies that make people think, with well-written plots and stories with good endings.

He’s hopeful his own will end in the frenzy that is March Madness.