alt=Jay DrewA year ago at this time, a gloomy cloud hung over the BYU men’s basketball program.
The Cougars’ final season in the West Coast Conference ended with a 76-69 loss to Saint Mary’s in the conference tournament semifinals, a so-so 19-15 overall record, a NET ranking in the mid-80s and no desired postseason opportunities.
“At some point, we will be progressing in this tournament and Jaxson and Spencer will be a big part of that because they opened the door to this first season in the Big 12.”
— BYU coach Mark Pope
Adding to the sense of impending doom in Provo: The program’s first season in the so-called toughest conference in college basketball, the Big 12, was looming.
“Clearly, BYU has to do a lot of improving, and a lot of upgrading, to meet the challenge ahead in the Big 12,” beat writer Jeff Call wrote in the Deseret News in his 2022-23 season wrap-up.
Consider it a challenge met.
Despite another early exit in the NCAA Tournament brought about by last Thursday’s 71-67 upset loss to Duquesne, BYU’s recently completed 2023-24 season has to be appraised as an overwhelming success. Sure, the loss to the 11th-seeded Dukes left a bad taste in the mouths of the Cougars, who were favored by nearly 10 points over the Atlantic-10 tournament champions. And that 81-67 loss to Texas Tech in the Big 12 tournament quarterfinals was less than inspiring.
But the program had built up enough positive capital by going 10-8 in league play, finishing tied for fifth with Kansas when it was picked to finish 13th in the 14-team league, that even its harshest critics would have to acknowledge that expectations were exceeded.
BYU finished with an 23-11 overall record.
Very few saw this coming, especially those who were around in 2022-23 when BYU went 7-9 in the WCC and lost games to the likes of South Dakota and Pepperdine, losses that kept it from even getting an NIT bid.
This season, there were no “bad” losses, as BYU went 12-0 in Quad 3/4 games and 11-10 in Quad 1/2 games before earning a No. 6 seed for the Big Dance, a seed that probably would have been a No. 5 seed given that BYU was No. 17 on the Selection Committee’s overall ranking of NCAA Tournament-bound teams.
There were plenty of exhilarating wins, however, including victories over three teams in the Sweet 16: San Diego State and North Carolina State in nonconference games, and Iowa State 87-72 in a Jan. 16 thumping in Provo that still stands as the most impressive win of the year for the Cougars, all things considered.
The 76-68 win at then-No. 7 Kansas on Feb. 27 was also noteworthy, but lost some luster when the injury-depleted Jayhawks faded in March and were bounced 89-68 by Gonzaga in the second round of the NCAAs in Salt Lake City.
BYU’s most noteworthy losses? The Cougars had No. 1 Houston on the ropes in January in their only matchup with Kelvin Sampson’s Cougars, overcoming a 13-point deficit in the second half to tie the score on Noah Waterman’s 3-pointer with just over two minutes remaining. Trevin Knell’s 3-point attempt with 45 seconds remaining would have given BYU the lead.
In another heartbreaker, BYU led Iowa State by as many as 14 points in the second half on March 6 in Ames, but went cold down the stretch, turned the ball over too many times late, and fell 68-63 at Hilton Coliseum.
In a somber BYU locker room after the stunning loss to a Duquesne team that would get pummeled 89-63 by No. 3 seed Illinois 89-63 two days later, point guard Dallin Hall summed up the season thusly:
“It was a season of resilience. Picked 13th in Big 12, finished fifth. One game out of third (place). No one would have thought we would have been where we are right now. We just kept fighting. And that is just due to the character of the guys on this team, the coaching staff. Resilience is the word I would use.
“Now we gotta get even better so we are ready for this tournament next year,” Hall concluded.
Improvement from within
As the Deseret News outlined last week, BYU didn’t rely on an influx of transfers to produce its magical first season in the Big 12, although Mark Pope’s coaching staff had designs on a minor overhaul when it brought in the likes of Charlotte center Aly Khalifa, UC Irvine guard Dawson Baker, Samford guard Ques Glover and freshman Marcus Adams Jr. by way of Kansas and Gonzaga.
Khalifa turned out to be a godsend with his passing and 3-point shooting ability, but none of the others panned out. Glover left for Kansas State during the summer, a foot injury sidelined Baker for all but four games and an ankle injury and early eligibility questions kept Adams out of action for all but one game, Bellarmine.
“We think about that stuff all the time,” assistant coach Cody Fueger said, when asked if they wonder what might have been. “With Dawson Baker, we could have used (his scoring). We know he’s going to have a heckuva career. Marcus Adams is still young and learning everything and is going to be really good, too. Our goal is to be the best team in the country. And we are competing against the best teams in the country, so you gotta have all hands on deck and ready to go. That’s our plan.”
Redshirt junior Trevin Knell missed the entire 2022-23 season with a shoulder injury, then turned out to be a key contributor this season, as expected. He started in 28 games, appeared in 33, and was the third-leading scorer with a 10.6 average. If there was a knock on the Woods Cross High product, it was that he failed to deliver knockout blows when given a chance, such as the game against Houston and the season-ender against Duquesne.
Fueger said watching Knell, Hall, Richie Saunders, Jaxson Robinson and Spencer Johnson play during their summer trip to Europe (Italy and Croatia) showed him good things were in store.
“We played real teams over there that were European, they were pros, and we beat the daylights out of some of those teams,” Fueger said. “We were like, ‘OK, we got some physicality, we got some toughness, we got some 3-point shooting.’ Jaxson took a huge step. Dallin Hall took a huge step. Trevin Knell, who has been an unbelievable leader this year, took a huge step. Like missing him last year was huge.
“And then Richie Saunders made a huge step. Down the line, we just saw all these guys grow so much. And I knew we would be good in the Big 12, and we (were) right there with every single team we (were) playing against.”
Action Jaxson jumps to forefront
It could be argued that every returning player on BYU’s roster in 2023-24 improved — from the aforementioned Knell, Johnson, Saunders, Hall and Noah Waterman to Fousseyni Traore, the Cougars’ leading scorer in 2022-23.
The catalyst through it all, however, was the 6-foot-7 Robinson. The Texas A&M and Arkansas transfer became the go-to guy the Cougars were looking for, and finished the season as the team’s leading scorer (14.2 ppg.) and most clutch 3-point shooter.
“He can shoot it with the best of them, and when he is aggressive and attacking, no one can stop him,” Hall said after Robinson scored 25 points in the NCAA Tournament game in Omaha.
As of this writing, Robinson hadn’t announced his intentions for the 2024-25 season, after having said from the podium after the Duquesne loss that he was already thinking about returning to BYU for his final season of eligibility, instead of turning pro, so he could get another chance to play in the Big Dance.
The proclamation surprised people close to Robinson, who have always believed this season was his final one in Provo. Obviously, a lot depends on where Robinson is projected to go in the NBA draft. Most mock drafts tab him as a late second-round pick at the current time. Expect Robinson to go through the NBA combine stuff and workouts with individual teams before he makes a final decision.
Before leaving the podium last week, Robinson paid tribute to Spencer Johnson, the only player who for sure won’t be back next year. He’s out of eligibility, and will explore the possibility of playing overseas, he told the Deseret News the week before the conference tournament. Johnson keyed the upset of Iowa State with a career-high 28 points, and posted a 10.3 scoring average.
He also became an outstanding rebounder for a guard, grabbing a career-high 16 caroms against the Dukes and leading the team with 6.3 rebounds per game in 2023-24.
“He’s the ultimate leader,” Robinson said of Johnson. “He’s led this team the whole season, and we wouldn’t want anybody else to do it.”
Speaking before Robinson left open the possibility of returning, Pope said that Robinson and Johnson laid the groundwork for success in the future.
“We understand what a multi-year process it is,” Pope said. “From year one last year to year two was epic growth and progression. “I think our program is hungry to continue getting better. We’ve made some massive strides in that area. At some point, we will be progressing in this tournament and Jaxson and Spencer will be a big part of that because they opened the door to this first season in the Big 12.”
A few of Pope’s final thoughts
After the Cougars were given the No. 6 seed and sent to Omaha for the school’s 31st appearance in March Madness, Pope was asked if he was surprised at the program’s success in its first season in the Big 12.
He said it wouldn’t sink in until the fog of battle had lifted, but in general it was more than even he, an admitted optimist, saw coming.
“It just takes about two seconds to get lost in the nostalgia of the moments that they have created for themselves and for Cougar Nation, for BYU, over the last five months,” Pope said. “The win over San Diego State all of a sudden made the world take notice that maybe we were more than what people expected us to be. The run at Vegas where we get Arizona State and North Carolina State in two very epic games that worked very differently with a limited roster and all the madness that was down there.”
BYU’s only nonconference loss came at Utah, which is currently 2-0 in the NIT.
“The best part is watching these guys grow as individuals and grow as men and it is really special. I think it is a huge motivation for us. … I think about it every day because you don’t want to miss these moments, and certainly these guys have provided a lot of those for us this season.”
— BYU coach Mark Pope
“And then you think about the Big 12 season, from beginning to end, kind of the incredible things these guys did from (beating) the ranked teams, from Iowa State, who has proven how good they are, from that win at home, to all the NCAA Tournament teams that we beat during the season and a huge bounce-back win after the disappointment at Oklahoma State on the road, to get Baylor here,” Pope said. “And the great comeback against TCU, and of course the historic win at Kansas, which it just doesn’t happen very often. It has been really magical.”
Pope said Robinson, Hall and Waterman made marked improvement, while the addition of Khalifa “was magical” and allowed the Cougars to reinvent themselves offensively when the Egyptian was on the court, rather than Traore.
“The best part is watching these guys grow as individuals and grow as men and it is really special. I think it is a huge motivation for us. … I think about it every day because you don’t want to miss these moments, and certainly these guys have provided a lot of those for us this season.”
Next season’s roster
Projecting BYU’s roster next year will be difficult until Robinson makes his final decision. If he leaves and is drafted, it could be a nice boost for the program in terms of recruiting. BYU hasn’t had a player drafted since Jimmer Fredette in 2011.
Pope and Fueger have said that retaining key players from last year proved to be a big building block for their 2023-24 success. That said, it will be a surprise if two scholarship players who were mostly relegated to the bench and small roles, point guard Trey Stewart and big man Atiki Ally Atiki, return to the team.
Both could be in the transfer portal as early as this week, insiders say.
Knell and Waterman will be sixth-year seniors and are planning to return. Khalifa and Traore will use the offseason to get healthy — Khalifa needs knee surgery — and gear up for their senior seasons.
Hall will begin his junior season as the unquestioned starting point guard, but he will need some help, especially if part-time point guard Robinson moves on and UC Irvine transfer Baker isn’t ready to play multiple guard positions.
Saunders will return with his usual versatility and toughness, while taking on a leadership role.
Adams, the former four-star recruit who was healthy enough to practice later in the season, entered the transfer portal on Monday.
“Obviously our goals were not met this year. So it is time to reevaluate and set bigger goals and learn from this and get better,” Hall said after the Duquesne loss. “I mean, whether we won today or lost today, Kobe Bryant said it is the same thing: The next day you get up and go back to work. That is what it is for us.”
Farmington’s Collin Chandler, the Deseret News’ 2022 Utah Mr. Basketball and the No. 37 overall prospect in the 247Sports.com composite in 2022, returns from a church mission this summer and should immediately push for playing time.
Another newcomer will be freshman Isaac Davis, the 6-foot-7 forward from Hillcrest High in Pocatello, Idaho, who signed last November. Another prep signee from the 2024 class, Brooks Bahr of Texas, will begin serving a mission in Germany this summer.
