DENVER — When you dismantle a Big East team like St. John’s the way Big, Bad Gonzaga did, you do not fear BYU gunslinger Jimmer Fredette. You do not think about getting Jimmered on national television with a Sweet 16 berth on the line tonight and Jimmermania raging through March Madness.
Steve Lavin will be the first to tell you now that the Zags are a Final Four-caliber team, and if they play anywhere close to the way they played against the Johnnies, Jimmer will need a 40-point explosion, maybe even another 52-point night, for the Cougars to survive.
“I’m just sick of people doubting us all year,” Gonzaga center Robert Sacre said last night. “We showed them [Thursday] how we can really play.
“And there’s more to come.”
Getting Jimmered is every team’s worst nightmare, especially now.
Getting Jimmered is falling victim to a 40-foot bomb. Or a deceptively quick drive to the hoop past an unsuspecting defender. Or crafty passing that makes all his teammates better.
“I just think it’s whenever you do something good,” Fredette said, “the team does something good, you get excited — maybe hit a long-range shot, make a nice move, make a shot, whatever it is.
“I think it has to be good, though,” he said with a laugh.
Gonzaga isn’t laughing as they prepare for the Southeast Region showdown.
“He’s gonna get a ton of points, he’s gonna make some really amazing shots, and you just gotta try to make ’em tough,” senior guard Steven Gray said.
If the St. John’s game was any barometer, you can bet the Zags will. Ask Dwight Hardy about his suffocation.
“We’re just gonna help try to be in the gaps like we did [vs. St. John’s], and just try to make it really, really hard for him, make him see a lot of eyes, and see how he does with that,” Marquise Carter said.
Everyone is talking about the baby-faced assassin from Glens Falls, N.Y, with the catchy name.
“He reminds me of Scott Skiles from a while back, and he reminds me a little bit of Pistol [Pete Maravich],” said former Vermont coach Tom Brennan, who is working the games here for Westwood One radio. “I had the good fortune/bad fortune of guarding Maravich — now this is 40 years ago, but . . . He just does what he wants when he wants to. He’s more athletic than people think. He’s absolutely great going from his right to his left, crossing over. He’s just equally adept going either way . . . got tremendous range.
“I’m just concerned, because of them losing [forward Brandon] Davies, how much pressure it puts on him. I saw them [Thursday], and if you were to say to me, ‘Who was the 3 seed and who was the 11?’ I’d say Gonzaga was the 3, and they were the 11. So [today] and beyond, it’s just gonna be incumbent upon him to really do it.
“I think he’s the best player in the country because of the way he’s carried his team, the efficiency he’s done it with and.. . . . He’s just so gracious. We live in such a graceless age, and he is so gracious. He really understands how you’re supposed to act if you’re a superstar.
“He’s Bieber with a jumpshot.”
The comparisons between Jimmer and former Zags star Adam Morrison are obvious.
“I mean, this guy plays to win,” BYU coach Dave Rose said. “I think a lot of people think he plays to score. But he plays to win.”
Zags coach Mark Few will rotate defenders on Jimmer.
“I’ve never met a better competitor than Adam Morrison,” Few said. “I think Jimmer’s out of that same mold.”
Fredette leads the nation in scoring (28.5 ppg). And expectations.
“I think the stuff off the court is what puts pressure on you on the court,” Fredette said. “I try not to think about it. I know that the expectations are there, but I also have high expectations for myself and high expectations for our team. If you have that mentality, you don’t think about the pressures of all the people, you think about it yourself.”
Welcome to Jimmer Land.
“I always like the phrase, ‘Fredette about it,’” Jimmer said. “That’s funny, me being from New York, knowing a lot of Italian people.”
No amore tonight from Gonzaga.
steve.serby@nypost.com