BYU's Cummard goes undrafted

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Lee Cummard did not hear his name, but he couldn't have been intimidated by most of the players picked during Thursday's 60-selection NBA draft.

In the first round alone, the former BYU standout faced nine of 30 at some point during his college career.

That includes a couple from Louisville (Earl Clark, Terrence Williams) along with a handful of North Carolina members (Tyler Hansbrough, Wayne Ellington, Ty Lawson) from a Thanksgiving weekend game during his junior year.

There were also two players selected from Wake Forest, James Johnson and Jeff Teague, who Cummard saw in person the last two seasons (both Cougar losses).

There was also James Harden, the Arizona State star who was taken third overall.

Cummard, in his home state of Arizona, did not return phone calls late Thursday night after the draft. Neither did Chris Emens, his agent from Octagon Sports who told the Daily Herald on Wednesday that he was "very optimistic" his client would get taken.

The Mountain West Conference did not have a player taken.

It was the third time since 2001 that's happened. Last year, Cummard's teammate, Trent Plaisted, was taken in the second round.

J.R. Giddens of New Mexico, who shared the MWC's Player of the Year award with Cummard, was picked by Boston right at the end of the first round last June.

BYU was trying to have players selected in back-to-back years for the first time since Travis Hansen was picked by Atlanta in the second round of the 2003 draft, while center Rafael Araujo was a lottery pick by Toronto in 2004.

Before that, BYU hadn't had a player taken since Shawn Bradley in 1993.

Plaisted was a second-round pick last year who was quickly traded to Detroit, which asked him to gain experience in Europe.

It remains to be seen if overseas is also in Cummard's future, though his agent has also felt confident in getting the 6-foot-7 shooting guard on an NBA summer league roster.

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