College Hoops Top 50

Last Year: 23-11; 10-8, Fifth in the Big 12 Conference, lost in the First Round of the NCAA Tournament

Head Coach: Kevin Young (First Year)

Projected Starting Lineup

PG Dallin Hall – 6’4″, 200 Junior

G Trevin Knell – 6’5″, 205 5th-year Senior

G Richie Saunders – 6’5″, 210 Junior

F Fousseyni Traoré – 6’6″, 230 Senior

F/C Keba Keita – 6’8″, 235 Junior

Experienced Reserves

G Trey Stewart – 6’2″, 185 Senior

G Dawson Baker – 6’4″, 195 Junior

F Mawot Mag – 6’7″, 230 5th-year Senior

Freshmen

W Kanon Catchings – 6’9″, 190 /

W Egor Demín – 6’9″, 200 / Russia

F Mihailo Bosković – 6’10”, 210 / Serbia

The roster in Provo remains fairly similar to last year’s outfit in terms of composition, but there’s a different flavor at the head coach’s spot. 

It’s not often that any team can lose its coach to Kentucky but still end up feeling like they’ve come out ahead, but there’s a feeling that BYU may have managed just that this spring. As part of the maniacally-spinning 2024 coaching carousel, the Cougars were swept up when their head man, former UK player and national champion Mark Pope, lit out for Lexington, KY. For a program coming off of an at-times-surprisingly successful debut season in the Big 12 followed by a frustrating First Round exit from the NCAA Tournament, it wasn’t an ideal turn of events. 

What was more ideal was the way BYU appears to have knocked their replacement hire out of the park. Former Phoenix Suns assistant Kevin Young has been tabbed to take over, and he’s quickly re-energized the Cougars. One of the fast-rising offensive coaches in the Association, Young had been spoken of as a potential NBA boss in the near future. For BYU to swoop in and nab him was a salvo which announced that program in Provo isn’t ready to take a back seat to anybody. 

“I’m a modern thinker. I want to push the envelope analytically, I want to push the envelope with shooting 3-pointers,” Young described his philosophy and plans for the Cougars. “I’m really excited about the defensive side of the ball. I’ve been on the offensive side for so long in the NBA that I’ve been able to see how elite defenses guard certain things. So, I’ve been able to put together a pretty extensive background defensively as well. I look forward to being able to scheme and get creative defensively.”

With a solid group of veterans returning to his debut team Young should have the opportunity to push the envelope indeed. Jumping straight from an assistant role to the thick of Big 12 competition will be an immense challenge for Young, but the Cougars see success in their horizon. 

Last year, BYU featured seven different players who averaged at least nine points per contest. This year, they’ll be without the services of three of them, including leading leading scorer Jaxson Robinson, who followed Pope to Kentucky. Even so, the Cougars will have options to score the ball, and running Young’s NBA-style sets, BYU may see the best of what their guys have to offer. 

It has been said before, and remains true: the most dangerous beast endemic to the state of Utah is the one called Fousseyni Traoré. BYU ‘s burly big man has spent three seasons establishing himself as a force in the post, and is looking forward to a healthy senior season to reach star status. A hamstring injury knocked Traoré out for eight games early in the season, and hampered him well into the new year. Even so, Traoré got himself together to finish the season strong. Over the Cougars’ final 15 games last year, he returned to form, averaging 13.3 points on 62.9% shooting from the floor. 

A powerful, wide-framed forward, Traoré scores with tremendous efficiency deep in the paint. He’s cashed in 71.9% of his career shot attempts near the rim, per Bart Torvik, and Traoré also converted a career-best 49.3% of the rest of his two-point tries last year. He’s not yet a triple threat, but Traoré’s range is expanding, too. If he can consistently splash jumpers this year and become a pop threat the same as he’s able to roll hard to the rim, Traoré can become a centerpiece of Young’s lineup. 

He has never been able to average 25 minutes per game, but a healthy Traoré has the potential to become one of the Big 12’s better interior scorers and a featured option in Young’s new offense. His career rebounding percentages are very strong; Traoré has snagged 13.0% of available offensive rebounds while he’s been on the floor, with a 23.6% defensive rebounding rate to go along with. 

His partner on the pick-and-roll will again be Dallin Hall, a two-year starter who’s entering his junior year. With the growth he showed stepping into a major role last year, Hall brings the sort of continuity and potential to excite Cougars fans about where he will go next under Young’s leadership. He entered the transfer portal one day after Pope’s departure, but Hall decided to stay because of his overall fit at BYU and because he believes in Young’s vision. 

“For me, obviously BYU has been an incredible home,” Hall explained to Desert News this summer. “Coach Young came in, and we had a lot of great conversations, just how he saw me fitting into his style of play. So that combination, as well as the relationship we built over that time, is ultimately what helped me feel really good about coming back here and accomplishing all my goals on and off the court.”

Each of his first two seasons, Hall has shared some of the point duties. First Rudi Johnson and then Spencer Johnson, who grew considerably as a playmaker in Pope’s five-out sets last year, accompanied Hall as BYU found his best usage and he became familiar with the nuances of the position. Now, he’s going to be the unquestioned conductor of BYU’s attack. That means his skill in reading the action and making decisions out of ball screens will be on display more than ever. He ranked fourth in the Big 12 by averaging 5.1 assists per contest last year, and Hall’s assist to turnover ratio of 172 to 59 ranked 26th nationally. He drives to create for others more so than himself, but Hall has shown the wiggle and bursts of quickness needed to get buckets inside. He’s also smart and assertive making cuts to the goal following a pass, and Hall raised his conversion rate near the rim from 54.2% as a rookie to 64.4% last year, per Bart Torvik. Most of Hall’s scoring production has come from the land of trey, where he grew as a spot-up threat while running with slick-passing big man Aly Khalifa and Johnson last winter. If Hall can maintain his efficient play while absorbing and executing Young’s pro-style plans, he should be in line to blossom in his third year. 

There always seem to be shooters on the wing in Provo, and that hasn’t changed. The primary marksman have each endured a medical redshirt, but if Dawson Baker – who missed all but four games last fall – can come back and bomb away like Trevin Knell did a year ago, the Cougars will have plenty of firepower from downtown. 

In his fifth season as a Cougar, Knell bounced back from shoulder surgery to post career-best numbers as part of BYU’s shootin’ revue a year ago. He mostly shot it well from the everywhere. Knell made 77.1% of his shots near the rim, hit at a reliable 46.7% rate from the in-between spots, and 38.5% from the land of trey, per Bart Torvik. His 67 makes from distance were the second-most of any Cougar last year, and Knell has the feel and smooth stroke to emerge as a top option this winter. In order to take that step, Knell will need to prove that he can score a bit more effectively off the bounce. Last year, 95.5% of the three-balls Knell sank were assisted. It’s one thing to be a lethal spot-up shooter, but another altogether to shake defenders on your way into the lane and force them to give up open looks. Young’s pro experience should help to free up Knell, and he will have a chance to use that boost to become a more complete player. 

Five Stats Which Tell The Tale (with national ranks)

+11.5 – Average Score Margin (12th)

18.5 – Assists Per Game (3rd)

0.254 – Free Throw Attempts Per FG Attempt (346th)

17.7 – Personal Fouls Per Game (249th)

78.8% Defensive Rebounding Rate (7th)

Baker is well acquainted with a more varied style, and proved it at UC Irvine, where he was the Big West Rookie of the Year in 2020-21 and all-conference in 2022-23. Back then, he was also a co-difference-maker alongside Washington guard DJ Davis, and they led the Anteaters to a Big West regular season title. All of which is to say, Baker is used to sharing the spotlight, used to scoring from all three levels, and used to winning. With a good handle, innumerable fakes and dekes in his bag, and the explosiveness to get to the rim, Baker has made his reputation working inside the arc. He left Irvine as a strong 44.9% mid-range shooter over three seasons, and Baker earned more than four trips to the foul line per game (where he’s a 79.1% career shooter) as a junior. A solid 37.0% shooter from distance, Baker also has a mature approach, and has expressed his joy in transferring to play for the school which represents his LDS faith. If his surgically-repaired foot is ready to allow Baker to be the guy he’s been before, BYU will have a fired-up bookend option to pair with Knell and a proven scorer to help lead the way. 

He isn’t a shooter first and foremost, but Richie Saunders has plenty of game whether his team has the ball or not. He also took a turn in the portal before re-pledging to the Cougars this spring, and Saunders will now get his own chance to flourish in a familiar but excitingly new offense. He’s only started two games over his first two years, but Saunders has had a say in much of BYU’s success. A strong one-on-one defender who is often deployed against the other team’s top threats, Saunders grew considerably on the offensive end as a sophomore. A confident slasher who showed more consistency getting to the goal with the ball in his hands as well, Saunders shot a ridiculous 75.6% near the rim last year and has made 69.8% of his career shots there, per Bart Torvik. He may be poised for the biggest leap in minutes of any Cougar, and if Saunders keeps on converting so neatly over nearly 30 minutes per game, watch out. Trey Stewart also brings experience and playmaking skill back to help on the perimeter.

To aid Traoré inside, Young has assembled his frontcourt with some intriguing new pieces. BYU might not be able to out-size many teams this year, but Houston rarely does that, and look at how well it’s working out for them. Young has put together a physical and feisty crew to stand up against Big 12 bigs and get the job done. 

To play alongside Traoré, Young announced his arrival to the Holy War by signing a player who had spent his first two years at archival Utah. In landing Keba Keita, BYU has gained someone who isn’t completely unlike the beast they’ve already got. Undersized but effective in the paint, Keita is powerful and fierce around the basket, and he’s got experience in plenty of power-conference skirmishes already. Like Traoré, Keita is from Mali, and like Khalifa, he is a Muslim, and Keita’s addition has been hailed as another step in BYU becoming an increasingly inclusive program. Their influence was key in Keita’s decision to swap jerseys within the Beehive State, as was Young’s decision to hire former Utah assistant coach Chris Burgess to his new staff.

Five Out-of-Conference Games to Keep an Eye on

N Purdue/NC State – November 29

N Mississippi – November 28

@ Providence – December 3

N Wyoming – December 14

vs UC Riverside – November 8

With friendships already in place, the Cougars know what they’re getting in Keita. He threw down 38 dunks last year and blocked 38 shots in 35 games, and the sun went down on the original Pac-12 Conference with Keba’s name blazoned second all-time in offensive rebounding rate. He’s energetic, tough, and relentless on the glass, and last year Keita pulled down 73 offensive boards (fifth in the league) in just over 16 minutes per game. He turned those extra opportunities into 34 putback tries, per Hoop-Math, and Keita made 61.0% of his shots overall. If he’s ready to defend for closer to 25 minutes without a jump in fouls, Keita can be the rim protector and glass cleaner BYU needs beside ‘Fouss’.

Former Rutgers forward Mawot Mag is also from Africa. He was born in South Sudan, raised in Australia, and has been steadily developing over the past four years in Piscataway, NJ. He’s also a standout defender who adds more toughness to BYU’s frontcourt. In December of 2023, Mag returned from an ACL injury suffered late in the previous season. Even though he was jumping in halfway through the Scarlet Knights’ campaign, Mag posted some career-best numbers, but unfortunately was out of the lineup again by the end of February due to soreness in his other knee. If he is healthy this year, Mag has some burgeoning shooting skill to pair with a forceful style around the paint. He’s got the quickness to cover wings and forwards, and Mag should be able to help next to either Traoré or Keita. He might not be a featured offensive option in Provo, but Mag has established that he’s not a defense-only guy. 

The Cougars may have lost 4-star freshman Collin Chandler to Kentucky along with Pope, but the Cougars are welcoming a truly ballyhooed rookie class regardless. 6’8″ guard Egor Demin is a 5-star prospect who’s being touted already as a lottery pick in next year’s NBA Draft, and the options Young will have in deploying the young Russian are already exciting Cougar fans. He’s shown a vast array of skills on international competition, and Demin’s size considerably…well, heightens those abilities. He’s been playing with Real Madrid in Spain, a powerhouse which has produced other high-level prospects the last few years, and Demin has an adaptable, versatile game already for such a young player. There is occasional range on his jumper out to the three-point line, and though streaky, Demin can get cooking all over the halfcourt. He’s also growing dangerous off the bounce, and has both the presence and tremendous length to finish plays in a multitude of ways. Demin is also a creative passer who should be able to influence the Cougars’ offense early and often. 

“BYU fans are going to love it…Cougar Nation is going to be stoked when it sees these guys play and sees coach Young do his thing, and see how he brings it all together

– Trevin Knell

Also headlining the new kids will be Kanon Catchings, another wiry perimeter player with an immense amount of potential. A consensus Top 50 recruit, Catchings has easy, gliding athleticism and the beginnings of a drive game which could become downright scary. He’s dangerous in transition, and Catchings is a lob threat who can bring the folks out of their seats. He’s a capable passer but still developing as a shooter, and Catchings, like Demin, is not in any way going to out-muscle other college players upon arrival. Late in the summer, Young also added Serbian forward Mihailo Bosković. He’s a perimeter-oriented stretch guy whose shooting should be dangerous, and Bosković adds to BYU’s stable of potential pro prospects. The young wings have vast potential, but will need the help of veterans as well as increased strength themselves in order to make the biggest possible impact.

For the first time since 2010-11, the Holy War will again be a conference clash. Utah and BYU were both in the MWC back then, but now they’ll be brawling for a spot in a league that’s still fresh to both of them. And the Cougars will need to brawl. They weren’t tough enough last year. By adding a couple of tough guys, things should be better, but their perimeter people can still get pushed around. Can an explosive, streamlined offense make up the balance?

“BYU fans are going to love it,” Knell enthused this summer. “Cougar Nation is going to be stoked when it sees these guys play and sees coach Young do his thing, and see how he brings it all together…He’s an impressive leader.” The Cougars may be entering am exciting, turnt-up era of exciting, pro-style offense, but the team’s biggest question marks remain. If BYU can’t assert themselves on the glass and knock the other team back defensively every so often, their potential will be capped. There is real excitement in Provo these days, and there’s good reason for it. If the Cougars can leap the hurdles clearly laid before them, this can be a special season.