BYU Basketball, in a matter of 64 days, has decided to rip our hearts out and then take us to an even higher place. With the hiring of Kevin Young as Head Coach, BYU has brought in elite assistant coaches and elite basketball players.

I am partial to basketball, I know. I love basketball and played basketball for most of my life. So most of this summer is going to be me talking about BYU basketball. Once we get into August though, its time for football.

What Has BYU Basketball Done

BYU basketball in a span of 64 days have had the following happen.

• Mark Pope leave for the head coaching position at Kentucky.
• Collin Chandler, BYU’s highest rated recruit, leave for Kentucky.
• Isaac Davis, 3 star recruit, leave for Utah St.
• Dallin Hall enter the transfer portal.
• Richie Saunders enter the transfer portal.

When the above happened, it was devastating. BYU Basketball and the fans were sad. It felt like a huge gut bunch. All of our momentum seemed to halt. How could BYU recover? Well, they have more than recovered. After these events happened above, the following has happened.

• Hired the highest paid assistant coach in the NBA as Head Coach.
• Brought back Dallin Hall and Richie Saunders.
• Brought back lead assistant coach Chris Burgess as well as hired 4 other assistant coaches with international and G League coaching experience.
• Signed 3 ESPN Top 100 recruits with 1 in the top 40 who is a projected first round pick for 2025.
• Signed Russian international star Egor Demin who is a projected lottery pick for 2025.
• Had 2 big, athletic, defensive minded transfers commit in Keiba Keita from Utah and Mawot Mag from Rutgers.
• Hosted the #1 recruit in the nation for 2025 on an unofficial visit.

Taking BYU Basketball to New Heights

Now thats how you recover and improve your basketball program. The new coaching staff is making BYU THE place to be to go to the NBA and people and recruits are starting to notice. Of course, BYU has to also show it on the court, but what they are doing right now is unprecedented. We now have 2 projected first rounders coming to BYU this year. We have NEVER had that before. This is certainly a new era for BYU basketball and I hope that it brings good results on the court because that is where it truly matters.

Kanon Catchings Commits to BYU

The latest recruit to commit to BYU is Kanon Catchings. Catching was originally committed to Purdue. But after they couldn’t guarantee a lot of playing time, he decommitted and opened up his recruitment. Opening up your recruitment this late can be hard. But BYU pounced on this guy as soon as he was free. He took visits to NC State as well but BYU was able to secure him.

Catchings is ranked by ESPN as the #35 ranked recruit for 2024. He is 6’7 and super fluid, athletic, and can really finish around the rim. He plays good defense and is also a capable shooter, shooting 36% from 3 with Overtime Elite. Speaking of Overtime Elite, that is how BYU was able to pounce on him and get him. BYU’s new assistant coach, Tim Fanning, coached at Overtime Elite for 3 years and coached Catchings.

With Catchings signed, BYU now has the 12th ranked recruiting class in the nation. That is not counting transfers, that is just counting incoming freshman. That ranking is also not counting Egor Demin, the projected 2025 lottery pick, because he is an international player and has yet to get his ranking. Once he gets his ranking, BYU could be in the top 5 in the nation for their recruiting class.

BYU’s class consists of PF Brody Kozlowski who is rated an 88, PG Elijah Crawford who is also rated 88, PG Brooks Bahr who is rated an 89, but he will go on his mission first, PF Kanon Catchings who is rated a 94, and PG/SG Egor Demin who could be a little higher than Catchings in the 95 range. That is an AMAZING class.

How Will the Rotation Look?

When Catchings committed, I thought for a LONG time about how this team will look. With so many good recruits and transfers being added to the team, who will start?

Starting 5

I think that Young will start PG Hall, SG Demin, SF Mag, PF Catchings, C Keita. This starting 5 would actually be insane. Demin is 6’9, Mag is 6’7, Catchings is 6’7, and Keita is 6’8. You would have 4 guys 6’7 and above and Hall is not short at 6’4. This starting 5 would also be very good at defense with Mag, Keita, and Catchings there. They would also be super athletic thanks to Mag, Catchings, and Keita.

My question for this starting 5 is if there is enough offense. The main scorers would be Hall, Demin, and Catchings. But will they rely on two freshman for their scoring in the starting 5 even if they are projected first rounders in the NBA?

Bench Players

I would then see the rotation during non conference play consist of about 10 players. The 5 guys coming off the bench would be Fouss, Saunders, Baker, Knell, and Crawford. That leaves us Trey Stewart and Brody Kozlowski off the rotation. I would then expect the coaches to narrow down their rotation a little more once conference play starts to 8 or 9. At that point, I think they leave out Crawford and possibly Knell off the rotation, so you have Fouss, Saunders, and Baker coming in off the bench. I would also expect, if they do need more help scoring that you would see guys like Knell and even Kozlowski come in to help with those spurts.

This rotation could also be totally changed. Maybe they need more scoring so Fouss starts over Keita a couple of games or Baker and Knell play more minutes off the bench. Things will change for sure, but these guys are going to have to fight for their minutes during the offseason because there are about 10 or 11 guys that you could argue should be getting some good minutes.

What’s Next for BYU?

BYU has one more scholarship available. How they are going to use that scholarship, I dont know. I would think that they go for some more Center depth. They dont have a ton after Keita and Fouss and if one of those guys go down, thats a rotational piece going down. So I would expect them to go after a Center. After that, BYU will have their full team and they are looking to be really good.

Some BYU Football News

BYU Footballs roster is starting to come together as well. They have received a couple of transfer commitments, one from UCLA transfer LB Bryant who was BYU basketball’s Elijah Bryant’s brother. He will be a great depth piece and could even push for some time based on how he plays. BYU knows that in the Big 12, having too much depth is not a thing, so they are pushing to sign some depth pieces.

BYU has now signed 25 players for the 2024 season with 10 transfers as well. So 35 players coming total. That is what we call depth. Those 25 recruits put BYU as the 5th best team in the Big 12 for 2024 behind Texas Tech, TCU, UCF, and Kansas. So things look good for BYU, they just have to figure out how their QB play is going to go.

Looking at 2025, BYU is pursuing some big guns for football including a trio of 4 start WRs. You can read more about those guys here.

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