It's time."

Those marketing wizards at BYU have put together a pretty cool intro to the BYU men's basketball games. The lights in the Marriott Center go down and across the video board; you see it in big, bold white letters.

"It's time."

For whatfi

Maybe it's time for BYU to take a king-sized step into the national picture.

More like, "it's about time," because it's been more than 25 years since the Cougars have been relevant in men's college basketball. The Cougars are ranked 20th in this week's polls, the earliest they've been seen since the 1981 season. A win over No. 9 Michigan State at EnergySolutions Arena on Saturday would certainly move BYU up even more, and with a favorable preseason schedule and a lot of uncertainty with the other teams in the Mountain West Conference, a spot in the Top 10 isn't out of reach.

Heady stuff.

Dave Rose has done a masterful job since taking over two seasons ago. The Cougars are unbeatable at home (35 straight after Wednesday's 72-57 win over Weber State). Two weeks ago, BYU upset No. 6 Louisville and battled step-for-step with top-ranked North Carolina in Las Vegas before losing. ESPN's Dick Vitale sounded like Trent Plaisted's agent, selling the junior center as the best-kept secret in America.

The MWC is up for grabs, what with five new head coaches still figuring out where Laramie and Fort Collins are.

The pieces are in place. Plaisted is showing the ability to dominate the game inside and is even over 70 percent from the line this year. Lee Cummard is the glue guy on this team, doing everything equally well. Sam Burgess is the 110-percent guy, hitting 3s and diving on the floor for loose balls. Jonathan Tavernari never met a shot he didn't like but makes most of them. Ben Murdock has been a pleasant surprise at the point, a position expected to be a weak spot because of graduation losses. The reserves are awfully young -- the first two guys off the bench are freshmen Jimmer Fredette and Chris Collinsworth. That area will be key, especially on the road in January and February.

What Rose has done is reload after losing MWC Player of the Year Keena Young and a host of strong seniors from last year's league title team. BYU won 25 games last season. If they can match that this year and get back to the NCAA's, look out.

Thank goodness this isn't football.

The BC$ fat cats are all smiles right about now, counting their money and congratulating themselves because college football fans can't stop talking about what just happened.

But they don't understand. We're not laughing WITH them; we're laughing AT them.

In basketball, there's no BCS to screw things up. Everybody has a chance.

Just get to the Big Dance, and anything can happen.

Then again, it's early. There's a whole lot of basketball left to play. It's easy to get excited in November and December.

But I will say this: I wouldn't turn the channel.

"Is it timefi"

• Daily Herald Sports Editor Darnell Dickson can be reached at 344-2555 or by e-mail at ddickson@heraldextra.com