Kevin Young has been reasonably transparent and open about his roster and the makeup of his team since becoming BYU’s 16th men’s basketball coach back in April.
But with the 2024-25 Cougars’ exhibition opener against Colorado Christian (Oct. 30) less than a month away and the for-real opener against Central Arkansas (Nov. 5) exactly five weeks away, Young isn’t saying much about what his rotation will look like, let alone his starting five.
“Not that close” to identifying a starting five, Young said Tuesday on the second floor of Marriott Center Annex before the Cougars’ practiced on the first floor.
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Later, Young provided absolutely zero clues on which players have the inside track to playing a lot, saying “every guy we have out there could contribute, to be honest with you.”
BYU’s second Big 12 men’s basketball schedule, the first with Young at the helm, was released last week, with the Cougars opening conference play on Dec. 31 at home against Arizona State. Young acknowledged that his rotation will “definitely be more than seven or eight” when the nonconference slate begins, but cannot say yet what it will look like when play begins in the so-called best basketball league in America.
“I don’t know how far that (rotation number) reaches,” he said. “We are still learning about this group a lot. We are trying to strike a balance of teaching and drilling (concepts), but also still need to see who is good with who. I don’t think we are even close to making any decisions at the moment as it relates to who is in, who is out.”
What is apparent is that Young has a loaded roster, at least on paper. Returning regulars Dallin Hall, Trevin Knell, Fouss Traore, Richie Saunders, Dawson Baker (injured for most of last season) and Trey Stewart could form a great nucleus among themselves. They’ve been joined by Utah transfer Keba Keita, Rutgers transfer Mawot Mag and arguably the most talented freshman class in program history: Egor Demin, Kanon Catchings, Elijah Crawford and Brody Kozlowski.
Recent signee Mihailo Boskovic, a 6-foot-10 player from Serbia who is 22 years old, has yet to be classified with a particular class.
“To be determined,” Young said, when asked if Boskovic is a freshman. “I am learning (about NCAA eligibility rules, etc.) on the fly, brother, trust me. It is definitely (complicated). All jokes aside, I am learning on the fly with all this stuff.”
Of course, Young has spent the majority of his coaching career at the NBA and NBA G League level. He said he’s been relying on his assistants with more experience at the college level for a lot of instruction on details such as men’s college basketball having two 20-minute halves, and how that works.
“Still working through different things. I think one of the big differences, it sounds super obvious, but in the NBA world, there are four 12-minute quarters. So you can get into a pretty clear substitution pattern. That was something I was heavily involved with in the NBA world,” he said. “So I felt really comfortable there. Obviously this is a totally different thing in terms of when are the timeouts, halves, and so forth. So we are trying to map out what are substitution patterns will look like. Because for me it is not just about the starting five, but it is what combinations of guys are playing, who pairs well with who, the combinations and things like that.”
Young said “a couple of guys are banged up,” but declined to name them and said it is nothing serious and they will be ready for the opener. Having guys out, however, has been “a challenge to navigate through.”
Regarding Boskovic, Young said the latest, and 16th, addition to the roster is a “great guy” who “fits in extremely well from a personality standpoint.”
“Plays extremely hard, knows how to play, versatile,” Young said. “We see him as a guy who can play multiple positions, can give us a different look as a stretch five. He is athletic, protects the rim.
He is a little bit older, which is good. He has fit in well. To really summarize him, I just think he is a guy who knows how to play.”
Young said the “older guys” such as Trevin Knell, Richie Saunders and Dallin Hall are “farther along” in picking up the offense, “but that was something I expected.”
Knell also spoke with reporters before practice and described the first half-dozen or so practices as extremely competitive.
“We have been going really, really hard. The competitiveness is already at a high, high level. So I think that is something that we are going to hang our hats on this year, is just how hard we can compete,” Knell said. “And then we are just trying to jell at this point. I feel like we have the skill level. Now we just need to get the chemistry down and figure out the scheme of everything.
But it is super fun. It is super competitive, and who doesn’t love to play basketball?”
BYU fans also love to watch it; the school announced Tuesday that season tickets are sold out.
