‘Jimmermania’ was only 13 years ago, but to BYU fans, it sometimes seems quite a bit farther behind them in the rear-view mirror. For example, the Cougars are changing conferences for the second time since their Naismith Award-winning super scorer moved on.
BYU has been ambitious and upwardly mobile as a program, and as they join the Big 12 Conference, they’re about to catch a whole bunch of smoke. Very possibly America’s best league, no one will be dropping off any warm, welcoming casseroles for the Big 12’s newcomers this year. It’s not ideal timing as a new situation for, say, a proud program trying to figure a few things out. Fortunately, the Cougars have started off the year playing some great basketball, and don’t figure to be pushovers once league play tips off.
One of head coach Mark Pope’s players is, most assuredly, ready for the Big 12. The most dangerous beast currently endemic to Utah is the one called Fousseyni Traoré. A junior forward from Mali, Traoré has been one of the most irresistible forces West of the Mississippi for the past two seasons, and now he’s ready for his debut on a more national stage. Traoré is relentless, powerful, and wonderfully skilled. He has great hands and generally very clean footwork, and his explosive strength near the basket wins Traoré lots of rebounds on both ends. He averaged a career-high 12.9 points per game last season, and gathered up nine double-doubles with his excellent board work. Traoré has snagged 92 offensive rebounds in each of his first two campaigns, ranking second and then third in the West Coast Conference in the process. The traits which set ‘Fouss’ apart from so many other post players offensively are his combination of muscle, agility and finesse around the hoop.
While he seems to have the brawn to do it, Traoré doesn’t just try to power his way through everything. “Pretty early on he showed that he had some patience in the post. Most young bigs get sped up, and that’s the thing that almost every young big has to fight is to slow down. Fouss hasn’t needed that,” Pope has said. “He’s got great touch, he’s super diligent…and he’s really smart.” Traoré knocked down 60.7% of his shot attempts last year – many of them coming deep in the paint and utilizing his great feel around the rim – and Traoré has made 75.2% of his career foul shots. This year, due to injury, Pope has largely used Traoré at the 5 spot – to rave reviews. While he and the rest of the Cougars are moving up to the no-holds-barred Big 12, the teams of BYU’s new conference are going to find that they’re locked in the same gym as Fouss as much as he’s stuck with them.
The Cougars’ most experienced returnee on the perimeter has grown his game quite a bit lately, and Spencer Johnson is looking to finish up his BYU career with a fourth-straight career year. Johnson originally signed with Weber State before redshirting, transferring to Junior College and then landing in Provo, and has steadily improved with experience. Last year, Johnson stepped into a key role as a secondary scorer, and he always plays great, high-effort defense on the wing. A career 42.2% shooter from deep, Johnson also began cutting hard to the rim and working his way into the paint with the ball more often last season, and averaged almost twice as many FT tries as ever before. Johnson suffered a knee injury last year, though, and missed about a month of action. While he missed most of December, Pope missed Johnson’s presence at both ends of the floor. When he’s out there, Johnson brings the energy level up, and this season he’s hoping to combine with Baker to give BYU even more. After the departure of veteran commit Ques Glover to the Portal from whence he came this summer, Pope leaned into using Johnson as a primary ballhandler and facilitator – and so far the results have been terrific. Johnson has seemed a natural getting the Cougars good shots, and his 24:6 assist to turnover ratio so far is exactly what a coach loves to see.
Johnson is one of four returning guards looking to step up into the star role this season that the Cougars just didn’t seem to fill last year after Alex Barcello graduated. Jaxson Robinson is another, and the former 4-star prospect is hoping that an offseason of continuity and consistency will lead to a true breakout year. So far, that’s exactly what’s happening. A consensus Top 100 recruit coming out of high school in 2020, Robinson had already played for Texas A&M and Arkansas before arriving in Provo. Unfortunately, he only played 300 minutes combined between the two SEC schools, but in his third season, Robinson found a home with the Cougars. The lanky wing started 30 games and scored in double figures 16 times last year, emerging as an important floor-spacer. Robinson led the Cougars with 61 makes from the land of trey last season, and now he’s started off as BYU’s leading scorer overall. After spending a whole year in the same place, practicing with the same teammates, things are coming a bit easier for Robinson. With his rangy athleticism, Robinson has thus far come off the bench to give BYU real matchup options defensively as well. And if he can keep the three’s flowing and then attack meaningfully off the bounce, there is legitimate potential for Robinson to become a big-time scorer very quickly.
Dallin Hall returns to help run the show with Johnson, and as a more natural point guard offers meaningful skill with untapped potential. Hall scored both inside and out as a freshman, and posted a solid 108 assists against 56 turnovers. While departed senior Rudi Johnson began the season as the starting point guard, Hall moved into the lineup in BYU’s tenth game. By his 11th career game, Hall hit his first game-winner, and over future Elite Eight squad Creighton, no less. He did fade a bit down the stretch, but Hall proved that he can keep the offense afloat while running it in his first year. Now, with Johnson and his 27.5% usage rate gone, the point belongs to Hall and Johnson, and the ball is going to be in their hands quite a bit. Hall’s 28.2% assist rate last season is a very good place for a freshman to begin, and his 36.7% clip from three was second on the team. Hill has developed a better rapport with his veteran teammates this summer, and should be more confident distributing to the Cougars’ quality shooters this winter.
Like Fouss and many former Cougars, Richie Saunders is a graduate of Wasatch Academy. The wing scorer acquitted himself well as a rookie, showing off some three-level bucket-getting ability and showing that he knows how to get to the charity stripe. Saunders has real defensive versatility as well, and gives an energetic effort against bigger players. “Richie is so fantastic,” Pope said after beating Morgan State, of the influence Saunders has on his team. “There were moments where we felt like we were on our heels a little bit and they were head down going at us. Then Richie is just able to cause some disruption where they feel like, ‘Oh, we have to manage it.’” Saunders turned down Creighton and Utah to play in Provo, and though he arrived with a strong reputation as a shooter, Saunders didn’t fully hit his stride from distance last season. As he starts consistently splashing triples, Saunders will play big minutes, because he showed as a freshman that he is going to be a very useful two-way player for the Cougars in the years to come.
Of course, Saunders will have to hold off a healthy and hungry Trevin Knell for the best minutes. After sitting out all of last season following surgery to repair a shoulder injury which had begun bothering him towards the end of the 2021-22 season. The fourth-year guard has good size and a sweet stroke from downtown, carrying a career 38.6% mark on triples. He looked great in BYU’s summer exhibition games in Italy and Croatia, averaging 14 points across the four games and confidently swishing treys. Now, a couple weeks into the new season, Knell looks well and truly back to form. He’s shooting 44.0% from the land of trey, ranks third on the team in scoring, and is playing smart, smooth basketball.
Pope is also looking forward to the debut of Dawson Baker. Previously a standout at UC-Irvine, he has transferred in and the Cougars are very happy to have his all-Big West game and 15-point average on campus. Baker has steadily improved in each of his three previous seasons, and last year led the Anteaters in scoring. In fact, he only failed to score in double figures three times all year, joining forces with Butler-bound guard DJ Davis to lead Irvine to a Big West Championship. For a kid who grew up in an LDS family, had a great prep career, and then didn’t receive an offer from his dream school entering college, signing in Provo is a huge step in Baker’s journey. “It was always a dream of mine to play there for a fan base that’s so big and the mecca of everything I’m looking for in my life,” he told the Desert News this summer. “I feel like I had to really earn my stripes as a player a lot of times. I’m going into that situation and going to a team where I’ve spent three years working to earn a moment like this.” While Baker is a 36.8% career shooter from downtown, he doesn’t just hang out on the wing waiting for a feed. Baker is such a balanced scorer that he attempted 128 triples, 129 shots at the rim, and 131 mid-range looks last season. To cap off his well-polished repertoire, Baker took 140 trips to the foul line, where he shoots 79.1% so far. Baker is strong and finishes through contact in the paint, and will post up a smaller defender. On a team now which features many talented jump shooters but not a lot of guys who look to drive at the rim to create their own looks, Baker’s confidence off the bounce and ability to get fouled will be valuable skills when the shots aren’t falling.
Joining Traoré in the paint are a trio of very different bigs who should combine to offer Pope plenty of potential lineup combinations. The most proven of them is Aly Khalifa, newly arrived from Cairo, Egypt, by way of the University of Charlotte. Khalifa was named Conference USA’s Rookie of the year in his first season, and was money last season down the home stretch, helping to lead the 49ers to a CBI Tournament Championship. A talented offensive player, Khalifa can score inside and out; he made 70.4% of his tries around the rim last year, per Bart Torvik, and has knocked down 68 triples at a 37.2% rate across his two seasons. The ‘Egyptian Magician’ also does a great job of getting his teammates involved, consistently surprising opponents by dropping off smart passes from the high post and darting quick setups to his buddies after forcing the defense to commit. He handed out 200 assists across 65 games in Charlotte, and dropped four or more dimes in a game 12 times last year, and Khalifa nearly kept pace with Hall from afar, posting a 28.0% assist rate last season. While he can struggle to move his feet quickly enough defensively and doesn’t get from end to end as smoothly as some bigs, Khalifa’s value to BYU’s halfcourt offense as a passer and face-up shooter should be immense. Like Traoré, Khalifa has soft hands and takes his time to get the best look in the paint, and the two big dudes with complimentary talents should develop a nice rapport playing off of one another up front. He’s been dealing with an undisclosed injury so far this year, but at full strength, Khalifa will be a smooth-operating asset to the Cougars.
Back for a third season to provide an immense amount of athleticism and defensive versatility is Atiki Ally Atiki. BYU’s longest, bounciest player, Atiki provides a defensive presence up front that neither Traoré or Khalifa can bring. Standing 6’9 with a 7’5 wingspan and videos on social media showing him slapping the tops of backboards, Atiki can simply achieve feats which other players are physically incapable of performing. He arrived in North America having played very little organized basketball, and Covid interrupted his transition from a Canadian high school’s team to Provo. While he’s been learning on the job a bit during his first two seasons, Atiki is hoping to start putting it all together as the Cougars join the Big 12. While Atiki can really go up and get lobs, he isn’t solely reliant on dunks to score; he attempted in-between shots last season, and hit a solid 47.1% of them, per Barttorvik. There has even been talk of Atiki canning triples in practice the last couple of months. If he can begin to consistently face up and draw defenders away from the paint, no rim in the country will be safe from the straight line drives Atiki will open up for himself. Using his reach and explosive leaping ability, the springy Tanzanian big gobbles up rebounds at both ends and is an intimidating shot blocker who can force an opponent to pass instead of shoot what had been a wide-open look. He’s likely BYU’s most valuable defender, and if the light comes on for Atiki offensively, he could morph into an outstanding player in very little time.
The Cougars had been looking forward to welcoming the talents of scoring forward Jake Wahlin, but he returned from his LDS Mission and chose ‘Holy War’ instead, by signing with BYU’s arch-rival Utah. Instead, Pope is hopeful that Noah Waterman can cap off his career with an impactful ‘Covid year’ in Provo. On his third program, Waterman is a talented outside shooter who can stretch the floor when his jumper is falling, and virtually disappear when it’s gone cold. Waterman knocked down 30 triples last year, and had previously hit 74 at a 44.0% rate across two seasons while playing for Detroit Mercy. Despite standing 6’11”, Waterman plays more of a guard’s game rather than operating as a true big, and often leaves Pope and fans both wanting for a bit more of a physical presence. He’s been in the starting lineup so far, and if Waterman can play assertively inside the arc as well as bombing from beyond it this year, it will provide Pope with great flexibility to mix and match his lineups at the two frontcourt spots.
| Three Chances to Grow the Resumé |
| vs Texas – January 27 |
| @ Utah – December 9 |
| N – NC State / Vanderbilt – November 24 |
BYU was picked to finish near the bottom of tbeur new league before this season tipped off. The Cougars weren’t listening. They are off to a strong start, and there are going to be lots more opportunities for the Cougars to snag impactful in-conference wins which may help their NCAA Tournament resumé this year. “We’re hungry. We’re a young team, but we’re going to be more experienced because we have a whole year under our belt playing together,” Knell told KSL Sports prior to his big performance overseas. “I think we’re really gonna surprise people.”
The step up in competition is a double-edged sword, but BYU believes that it’s a move which will pay off in the long term. Last year was the first time under Pope that BYU didn’t win 20 games, and this time, his team is looking to clear that bar early in 2024. If the Cougars’ current crew gets healthier and keeps playing the terrific basketball they have so far, things will only look better and better for the program as BYU firmly takes its seat at the high major table.
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