BYU basketball, today vs. a year ago

Basketball
1

2023 Starters backups
Hall Stewart
Johnson Saunders
Knell Robinson
Foos Khalifa, Atiki
Waterman Robinson

2024 Starters Backups
Hall Stewart, Baker
Baker Saunders
Knell Saunders
Foos Keba,
Waterman Saunders

Clearly, We lost our best defender, Johnson and our best scorer, Robinson

Baker will do a lot to fill in for Robinson plus a caveat, Baker is a better driver and defender (although, when Robinson chose to, he could lock down). Johnson will be missed as the team leader, glue guy and all the little things. Johnson will be very hard to replace.

The growth of Saunders will do a LOT to fill in for Johnson as our glue guy and the reason why I have him as a sixth man but he IS certainly a starter. The same can be said for Baker. Both of these guys can play 1-4 in the rotation.

Knell…isn’t he a grandpa by now? He was a team captain last season, no reason why he won’t be again. when he is hot, he is lethal but can’t defend a lick so he will do about what he did last year. Starter with 10 minutes.

Foos will reign inside, a healthy Foos is unstoppable. I do not see both Foos and Keba as starting together. They don’t pass worth a darn. turnover machines but they will finish inside and clean boards, cover bigs. Keba could run a Pic and roll, Foos is a disaster. If Young could find another TRUE center, BYU could hang with anyone except for top 10 teams.

We desperately need another Point to help Hall. preferably a unstoppable driving point. They are out there and Young will get one.

Many polls have BYU has high as #13
I do NOT believe BYU is anywhere near that good, we have too many holes to feel. But I do believe BYU can hang with the middle of the Big 12 and is dancing and ranked in and out of the top 25 all day long.

So who plays the final 5 minutes of a close game?
Hall
Saunders
Baker
Foos-Keba
Waterman.

Sure feels like we need help at the 1 and 5.

2

Don’t forget Ƙozlowski. He can play 2,3,4. And we have a near seven footer coming off a mission. Baker has some drive and dish in him when healthy. We’ll miss Khalifa more than we think, especially if he’s healthy this year and blows up at Louisville like i think he might. At Charlotte HE was the drive and dish guy.

3

Koslowski may end up starting. See how much Waterman improves.

4

Khalifa is sitting out a year to heal the knee.
We will miss his early work but he was busted down from about mid year on.

5

two more 4 star targets
BYU Sets Visits with UCLA’s Berke Buyuktuncel & France’s Maxim Logue - Vanquish The Foe

6

Looks like the UCLA guy could be an immediate rotation player. He appears to be another Waterman, Kozlowski type. It would be nice to add another post player who could make an immediate impact. The guy from France sounds like a project. Need a good backup point guard.

7

Well, Waterman won’t be part of the program…

BYU basketball: Noah Waterman enters the transfer portal – Deseret News

8

He can still come back. But, there are some other transfer players looking at BYU with his hight and play style. But, he can come back.

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The thing is, he’s a drifter in the water. Get it. Great name. Noah Waterman. See, in order for him to get a lot of minutes, he would need to put in another 30-40 pounds and maybe he doesn’t want to work that hard. Young is going to require more out of his players in the off season. And if that player from UCLA comes in, there goes playing time.

10

Drop Knell’s minutes from 28 a game to 8-9 and move some playing rotation around and voila! We got some minutes to share.
And yes, Hopper, we all know - ad nauseum - that Waterman and Knell play different positions. But guess what? they pretty much take all their hots from the same locations on the floor. Waterman and others that may come in will be significant upgrades on defense no matter if they have to guard whomever Knell was (not) guarding.

2 Likes
11

Whoa Knelly, here we go again!

12

Where are we going? Camping?

13

Nice play on Keith Jackson’s famous line Jcoug

1 Like
14

Knell should be doing less of what he was doing more of last year and more of that tomorrow but not as much less as he should have done in the past. This will make for a brighter future than we have had in the past and a happier today than yesterday.

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15

Well played Mamala!

16

PMac, I know you and I have been banging this drum for a long time: Knell just didn’t look competitive in B12 play. After the first B12 game v Cincy, Knell shot 29% from deep in conference play. A guy who can’t play D, can’t create his own shot off the dribble, plays below the rim, and who shoots under 30% from deep should probably not even be on the floor. I was hoping he would graduate and move on but I guess he’s back for the 8th or 9th or what seems like his 10th year in the program.

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Good for him! Glad he’s back. He understands commitment and being true to his school. Hope he has a break out year. With 5 scholarships available, he may not see as much time on the floor. But great to have in practice and the locker room.

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How many chances should he get?

That ship sailed a long time ago, when he jumped ship in the junior leagues and lost to an eventual NBA player in Merrill. First hand information here, no disputing it.

19

Coach Young was faced with a dilemma: BYU was plagued with slow 3 point shooting specialists, a BYU trait the goes back generations. Every year I look at the team from one specific lens…Who can drive , get fouled/dish??? Another way to look at it, how do we close out a tight game.

Last year, BYU simply won games by scoring more with high 3 pt. output but that also comes back to bite you when BYU had an off night or road games where 3s become tougher to make.

I believe that Coach Young encouraged some players to look elsewhere. Waterman may have been one of those…loved BYU, family loved BYU but that 6’11-200lb frame was just not going to hold up to Big 12 wars.

…and the reason why Young worked soooo hard to get Saunders back.

So who are the end of game starters today?
Hall
Baker
Saunders
Foos/Keba
? can’t be Knell, has to be a new face, perhaps Robinson comes back.

Young will get some great talent with the 5 schoolies his has left,

20

Kowlsousky starts at this point. Unless they can get an experienced 4 from somewhere that can play defense.