LAS VEGAS -- They call themselves the "Fresh 4," and it's rare that all have them have ever been stale the same time.

On Thursday, in the first round of the Mountain West Conference Tournament against Colorado State, it was Chris Collinsworth's turn. He had a career-best 12 points, 10 rebounds (his first collegiate double-double) and a career-high three assists in 21 minutes.

He provided the big spark off the bench. And when it's not him, it could either be guards Jimmer Fredette or Mike Loyd. Nick Martineau, who plays sparingly, is the final member of the quartet. He even saw four minutes in an 89-62 win that advanced the Cougars to the semifinals today against San Diego State.

"They're great players and capable of doing more," senior Sam Burgess said. "But know they have to wait their turn."

This is obviously not a natural thing, Burgess points out, for many players arriving from high school. They don't reach the level of getting recruited by a Top 25 team by either riding the pine or picking their spots to shine.

Collinsworth, a power forward, started five consecutive games through December at one point (six total) as Jonathan Tavernari struggled with his game. Otherwise, the new guys have found their ways off the bench.

Loyd, who hails from Las Vegas, didn't see the floor against CSU until 11 seconds remained in the first half. Ben Murdock picked up his second foul.

"You're cold, but you've just got to forget that and go help the team right away," Loyd said.

He had five points in eight minutes against the Rams, while Fredette chipped in nine in 21.

Combined, Loyd, Collinsworth and Fredette contribute about one-seventh of BYU's nightly production: Of 74 points, the freshmen get 11.6.

But they are also adept at picking spots to change the course of a game. In 32 contests, 11 have produced a double-digit newcomer, including six of 17 against MWC opponents.

This was Collinsworth's time to shine. The former Provo High star played well his last time at the Thomas & Mack Center, but that effort went mostly unnoticed in a bad January loss at UNLV in which he went scoreless but procured 11 rebounds.

"Chris can do so much that he really doesn't do," Lee Cummard said. "He lets us older guys kind of play the way we want to play, and he does all of the dirty work. He's great at it."

• Miles leaves some gems: Well, it's over. Tim Miles, CSU's wonderfully quotable head coach, might be thrilled the season is over. But how about the rest of us? Can we go until October without some one-liners that he's quickly becoming famous for? He spoke after the BYU game, in good spirits as always, and left some gems -- "Miles of material" -- on the way out to recruiting for a team that finished 7-25:

• On BYU's style of play: "BYU reminds me of the Harlem Globetrotters. I mean, they pass, they cut, they make shots. Oddly enough, didn't the Washington Generals wear green and gold?"

• On pending doom: "When you (play fast against BYU), they're just going to break it down. And now when they're running down the floor, it's: Katie, bar the door, it's over."

• On finding the rainbow: "I told (CSU director of basketball operations, Craig Smith), as the buzzer went off, I said 'Ding-dong the witch is dead.' I just have this visual of the house coming out of the tornado and falling on the Wicked Witch of the West. Maybe that will translate into slippers next year. That's the optimist in me."

• Top that: The UNLV-TCU quarterfinal game provided one of the best 3-point shooting exhibitions you'll ever see.

TCU broke the MWC Tournament record by making 17 triples, including 10-of-14 in the first half. The two teams combined to shoot 28-of-48 (58 percent) from beyond the arc.

TCU, which made 17-of-23 (74 percent) from the 3-point line against UNLV, made only 18-of -66 (28 percent) treys in its past three games, all losses.

Speaking of 3s ... it was a 3-point play by Wink Adams with three seconds left that saved a 89-88 victory for UNLV.

• Tough decision: One of the biggest plays of the Air Force-San Diego State quarterfinal came with the Falcons down one with 20 seconds to play. Air Force broke the Aztecs' press and Anwar Johnson made a hard drive to the goal. He missed. Tim Anderson was in position but couldn't follow the shot and the Falcons knocked the ball out of bounds. San Diego State made four free throws after that to hold on for the 53-49 win.

Air Force coach Jeff Reynolds was asked if he would have preferred Johnson bring the ball out or perhaps called timeout.

"No, we encouraged him to drive the basketball," Reynolds said. "In that situation, we knew they weren't going to foul, They didn't want to foul. And unfortunately, he got all the way to the rim and hand an opportunity at a layup and it just didn't go in the hole. But we didn't want to call a time out."

The Falcons are 0-9 in MWC tournament play.

• Everybody hurts: San Diego State head coach Steve Fisher and his team have had to overcome some additional hurdles preparing for the MWC Tournament.

"Nobody wants to hear somebody else's excuses," he said, "and when you give them, they're excuses. (Ryan) Amoroso goes to the emergency room Sunday night because he thought he was ... I don't know what he thought he was having. He couldn't breathe and he was in the emergency room three hours. He didn't practice Monday or Tuesday. D.J. (Gay) didn't practice Monday or Tuesday and Billy (White) didn't practice Wednesday. But everybody has those issues. So you deal with them. And you don't use them as excuses."

• Good sportsmanship does exist: The UNLV crowd saved its longest and loudest boos for the BYU cheer squad, which performed at halftime of the San Diego-State Air Force game with cheerleaders from the other eight MWC schools. But kudos to the UNLV pep band director. When the UNLV crowd started to yell "You suck!" in time to the music when the TCU cheerleaders were performing during a timeout, he turned and told his band to stop joining in.

• An alternative to ESPN: CBS College Sports Network (formerly CSTV) officially hits the airwaves on Sunday with live broadcasts surrounding NCAA Selection Sunday, including NCAA March Madness Central (2:30 p.m. MT) and Bracket Breakdown (5 p.m. MT).

College Sports Tonight, a new one-hour, twice-nightly studio show, will debut on Monday (5 p.m. and 9 p.m. MT). Greg Amsinger and Adam Zucker host the daily news and information program.

• Tip-ins: The mtn. has a studio set up on the main concourse of the arena, and BYU assistant coach John Wardenburg dissected his team and the potential upcoming matchup during halftime of the SDSU-Air Force game. ... Injured BYU senior center Vuk Ivanovic traveled with the team, something his fractured foot hasn't allowed him to do at all since mid-January. ... BYU is 6-3 in quarterfinal games. ... The first half of BYU-CSU saw six lead changes; there were none in the two BYU regular-season wins.

By the Numbers: Day Two

7: A career-high number of steals for Air Force's Tim Anderson, as he showed why he was named the MWC's defensive player of the year.

9: Number of consecutive years Air Force has failed to get past the first round; every year since the MWC started in 2000. Six of the last seven have been decided by fewer than five points.

12: A career high in points for BYU freshman Chris Collinsworth, who added 10 rebounds and a career-high three assists. He got started early with a layup and dunk upon entering the game.

22: The number of turnovers BYU center Trent Plaisted has in the last five games, including a season-worst seven against Colorado State.

266: Number of 3-pointers BYU has made this year, breaking the record set last year by 10.

28: Number of 3-pointers UNLV and TCU combined to make.

29: Number of points scored by UNLV's Wink Adams, including the final 3-point play to win the game.

10 and 15: The number of times the UNLV-TCU was tied and saw the lead change hands, respectively.