BYU Basketball’s 7 Most Impactful Transfers Over Last 30 Years

PROVO, Utah – With the news of BYU basketball landing a huge commitment from 7-foot-3 Purdue transfer Matt Haarms, it’s time to jump in the archives and look back at BYU’s best transfers over the last 30 years.

One year from now, Haarms has a great chance of ending up on this list.

Here are the seven most impactful transfers since 1990.

Jake Toolson, Utah Valley

One year ago at this time, Toolson turned down offers from Duke and Virginia to follow Mark Pope and Cody Fueger down University Parkway to BYU. In his final season at BYU this past year, Toolson was one of the nation’s top shooters knocking down 47 percent of his field-goal attempts and three-pointers which earned him WCC Newcomer of the Year honors. Toolson was the leader of a BYU team that finished 24-8 and ranked No. 18 in the final AP Top 25 poll.

#BYU's Jake Toolson named WCC Newcomer of the Year.#BYUhoops @kslsports

— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) March 3, 2020

Elijah Bryant, Elon

Back in 2015, BYU landed a commitment from the CAA Rookie of the Year in Elijah Bryant. Bryant picked BYU over offers from Miami and Butler. In Bryant’s junior season in 2018, the efficient scorer was hovering around the coveted 50-40-90 mark for field goals, three-pointers, and free throw percentage. Bryant was an All-WCC selection scoring 18.2 points per game that season. Since his career at BYU, Bryant has played professionally overseas.

Trent Whiting, Utah

Whiting left rival Utah ready for a change of scenery and he transferred to BYU as a walk-on despite numerous opportunities to play on scholarship elsewhere. Instantly, Whiting was an impact player for BYU and in his one season, Whiting helped lead BYU to a conference tournament championship and their first NCAA Tournament bid in seven years.

Kevin Nixon, Northwestern

After one year playing in the Big Ten, Nixon transferred to BYU after a brief stop at Utah Valley. Nixon was one of the best shooters off the bench for BYU and he delivered one of the most iconic moments in BYU Basketball history with the game-winner against UTEP in the 1992 WAC Tournament Championship game.

Chase Fischer, Wake Forest

Fischer is one of the top three-point shooters in BYU history. In only two seasons with the Cougars, Fischer is fifth all-time for three-point field goals made with 215 in his BYU career. While an assistant under Dave Rose, Mark Pope was instrumental in helping land Fischer to BYU. Averaged 18.2 his senior season in 2016.

Reminder that Chase Fischer was a big-time bomber; he made 215 threes in only two seasons at BYU.

He is the only BYU player ever with 100+ made threes in multiple seasons.

He is the only BYU player ever to average 3.00+ made threes per game over his Cougar career.

— Greg Wrubell (@gregwrubell) February 11, 2020

Matt Carlino, UCLA

After a short tenure at UCLA, Carlino transferred to BYU after taking an official visit during the Cougars win against Arizona in Salt Lake City. Carlino was a polarizing figure to BYU fans but when he was on, he was darn near unstoppable for teams to defend. In three seasons, Carlino averaged 12.5 points per game before transferring to Marquette for his graduate season.

BYU's Matt Carlino provides spark off bench in win over Gonzaga: http://t.co/vDgUECuWXf via @youtube

— Dave Noriega (@davenoriega) February 21, 2014

Alex Barcello, Arizona

The other senior that will be on BYU’s roster this next season along with Matt Haarms is the Bulldog, Alex Barcello. Last season, after Nick Emery retired, BYU coaches pounced on the opportunity to land Barcello the moment he entered the transfer portal. When the NCAA gave Barcello a waiver to play last year, it “changed the outlook of the season” according to BYU head coach Mark Pope. Barcello averaged 9.3 points and 3.1 rebounds but was also an ace for BYU on the defensive end this past season.

Back in September #BYU head coach Mark Pope had high praise for Alex Barcello. “He gives us something in the backcourt we don’t have, in terms of his physicality. He’s gonna be really good. He’s a pass first guy and he’s a bulldog of a player.” @kslsports pic.twitter.com/flJrCVcx8I

— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) October 25, 2019

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12-3 pm) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.