BYU Basketball’s Starting Five Remains Work In Progress For Kevin Young
Oct 3, 2024, 11:12 AM
BYU basketball head coach Kevin Young continues to work on piecing together the starting five in official practices. (Laura Seitz, Deseret News)
(Laura Seitz, Deseret News)
PROVO, Utah – BYU basketball is one week into official practices.
However, for head coach Kevin Young, previously with the NBA’s Phoenix Suns, practices have felt longer than a week.
“It feels like practice 36 because we’ve been going all summer to now,” Young said.
#BYU basketball coach Kevin Young spoke with the media.
On how close he is to establishing the starting five:#BYUHoops pic.twitter.com/DpDxp6aEJG
— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) October 1, 2024
The first-year headman is installing the on-court product he wants his first BYU team to look like this season. However, it’s a different buildup to a season than what Young was used to in the NBA.
BYU basketball official practices
“In the NBA, early on in the season, you’re just trying to get everything in because you’ve got a game in a week. You know what I mean? Everyone talks about the NBA Training Camp; it’s like four days,” said Young. “Then you start playing preseason games. And once you start playing preseason games, it’s basically the season. So this is not that. Obviously, it’s a lot more time to practice.”
One of the tasks in front of Young, who had a headline-grabbing offseason with his roster construction, is piecing together the rotation and starting five.
Young admits that they still have some work to do on establishing who the starting five is when BYU tips off the 2024-25 season on November 5 against Central Arkansas.
“Not that close, still working through different things,” Young said when asked how close he is to identifying his starting five through one week of official practice.
The good thing for Young is that he has a lot of players who make a compelling case to be in the starting lineup.
BYU brings back Honorable Mention All-Big 12 guard Dallin Hall and guard/forward Richie Saunders, who turned down Kentucky to play for Young. One of the nation’s top shooters Trevin Knell returns along with Honorable Mention All-Big 12 big man Fousseyni Traore.
On the newcomer front, it’s well-documented who Young and his staff added. Five-star guard Egor Demin and former Purdue signee forward Kanon Catchings are the most notable additions. But it’s a new-look roster that includes 6-foot-10 Mihailo Boskovic from Serbia and transfers Keba Keita (Utah) and Mawot Mag (Rutgers).
Establishing the entire rotation
Even more important than the starting lineup is establishing the entire rotation for Young.
“I think one of the big differences –it sounds super obvious– but in the NBA world, there are four 12-minute quarters. So you get in a pretty clear subbing pattern. That was something I was heavily involved with in the NBA world. I felt really comfortable there. Obviously, this is a totally different thing in terms of when the time outs are, halves, and so forth. So, we’re trying to map out what our substitution patterns will look like.
“For me, it’s not just about the starting five, but it’s what combinations of guys are playing, who pairs well with who, lineup combinations, and things like that.”
To help piece together the rotation and use analytics behind the strategy, Young hired Akash Sebastian as BYU’s Director of Analytics and Strategy. Sebastian was a coaching analyst the previous two seasons in Phoenix with Young.
“A lot of continuity with him and I [in Phoenix], and it’s a project that he and I are spending a lot of time on at the moment.”
Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and hosts the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow Mitch’s coverage of BYU in the Big 12 Conference on X: @Mitch_Harper.
