BYU basketball is on fire right now. I feel like there is new news coming out every single day, and especially this last week. We have a TON of information to dive into today.
Mawot Mag commits to BYU
First, we had a big tranfer commitment for BYU. Mawot Mag, one of the top remaining transfers for college basektball committed to BYU. I talked about Mag in my last blog so I wont go too much into depth on him, but he is a very good defensive player. He is one of the best defenders in college basketball. Mag averaged 9 points last year and is great at shooting off the dribble in the mid range game. He is 6’7 but long, so I expect him to be our 4/PF.
BYU Basketball Rotation
Right now, with the commitment, BYU has a pretty good starting 5. According to some people who are close to the program, like Robby McCombs, the starting 5 would be Hall, Demin, Saunders, Mag, and Keita. I personally really like that starting 5. This starting 5 may not have great shooting numbers, but they are physical and would impose their will defensively.
The next rotation players would be Crawford, Baker, Knell, Kozlowski, and Fouss. I would expect Fouss, Baker, Knell, and Crawford to lead the bench minutes with Kozlowski sprinkled in there every now and then. The second unit is much more of a scoring/shooting unit. So I could see Young mixing in some guys here and there.
This is a great team so far for BYU basketball and they still have 2 more scholarships. I would bet that BYU uses these 2 scholarships to bring in a younger guard recruit and a ready to go transfer big.
Will BYU Basketball Continue This Trend?
BYU Basketball seems to be on the uptick. They are getting great coaches, bringing in some great players, and building a lot of momentum. I saw a post from former BYU basketball player Kyle Collinsworth that was pretty interesting. He said that BYU basketball will be able to do more and be a place for recruits to come and go to the NBA more than BYU football and their success and helping recruits go to the NFL.
He said that because, you only have to play 1 year in college and then you can go to the NBA. For the NFL, you have to play 3 years in college and then you can go to the NFL. So while the honor code could be challenging, basketball recruits may look at it and say, okay, I will get myself straight and ready and focus for 6-8 months with a coaching staff who can really prepare me and then I can go pro.
Will BYU be able to create the environment for basketball? I sure hope so and I agree with Collinsworth. I think its easier for BYU basketball to be better and create a place for people to go pro. It is only one season that recruits have to go to college. But that does make it challenging because BYU basketball has to hit on a lot of these recruits coming out of high school and committing. We will see how it goes, but so far, in Kevin Young’s first offseason, he seems to be doing really well.
BYU Basketball Fills Out Assistant Coaches
As of this morning, BYU has filled out their 3 remaining assistant coaches. They have now hired Will Voigt, Tim Fanning, and John Linehan to be the last assistant coaches. Lets dive into each one.
Coach Roundup
Will Voigt is LDS and was the Spurs G League head coach this last season. He has extensive experience as the former coach of the Nigeria and Angola national teams as well as assisting at Texas, Metro State, and being named the head man of pro teams in Norway, China, Germany, and Egypt. Voigt is known for his defensive strategy, Peel Switch. He will be the “defensive coordinator” coach and will help BYU become better defensively.
Tim Fanning is LDS and he has been the Overtime Elite head coach for the last 3 years. Overtime Elite is an Atlanta based league who have 16-20 year olds come and develop. Fanning has coached numerous lottery picks over his 3 years as a coach there. He has previous experience coaching in Turkey, New Zealand, and in the G League. Fanning is known for his player development and will be a huge asset in helping players come and develop for the NBA.
John Linehan is not LDS, he is the second assistant coach to not be LDS along with Brandon Dunson from Stanford. Linehan comes from St Josephs where he was an assistant coach there. Linehan was one of the best defensive players when he played at Providence and is known for his defensive strategy and toughness. He has decades of D1 college coaching experience having coached at Temple, Drexel, Brown, Hartford, Georgia, and St Josephs. Linehan has connections in the Northeast so he will help BYU expand their radius a little bit in terms of recruiting.
Summary
BYU has put together a GREAT coaching staff. Burgess, Dunson, Voigt, Fanning, and Linehan are all guys who are great in their respective areas, young, and like to hit the ground running in the recruiting trail. Its going to be amazing to see who they bring into the program and how they develop them.
BYU Basketball Recruiting Update
BYU has been very active in the recruiting trail. Last week I talked about how we were in the running for some guys still. It became official yesterday that the transfer from UCLA, Berke Buyuktuncel, has committed to Nebraska. They seemed to be the case after BYU seemed to recruit harder and want Mawot Mag.
#1 2025 Recruit Update
BYU did host the #1 ranked recruit for 2025, AJ Dybantsa, on an unofficial visit on Monday. He said that it went well and wanted to visit since he is playing in Utah for his senior year. According to Robby McCombs from Vanquish the Foe, he is planning on trimming his list to 6 or 8 schools after his Peach Jam tournament which ends on July 21st. AJ would be an incredible get for BYU. There is still some time for him, but it is exciting to hear that he could be cutting down his list in the next two months.
Update on 2024 Class
Lastly, BYU is set to host the #10 ranked recruit and top SG in the country for 2024, Jamari Phillips, in the next two weeks. He is the top remaining 2024 recruit. Phillips was originally committed to Arizona. But in my last post, I talked about how there was someone that BYU was looking at who was currently committed to a school but was most likely going to be released from his NLI. That guy was Jamari Phillips.
Since his decommittment from Arizona, Phillips has heard from Arizona St, Louisville, Kansas, Florida, San Diego St, USC, Georgia Tech, and Oregon along with BYU. That is quite the list. Phillips has only scheduled 3 visits so far with BYU, Georgia Tech, and Oregon. He is going to visit those 3 schools in the next two weeks. Here is some more information on Jamari Phillips.
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