Tyler Haws is in the thick of it now.
Nursing a sprained ankle or not, he’s passing BYU scoring legends like they were signposts and he’s on cruise control moseying down the freeway. He’s zipping past legends, pillars of the game at BYU.
Folks knew it would happen. You take his scoring rate, his productivity, his consistency, his increased range, the fact he’s featured and targeted and this was a mathematical formula on a spreadsheet ready to execute.
On Thursday, Haws needed only 11 points to pass BYU’s No. 4 all-time scorerer Devin Durrant, perhaps one of the classiest basketball players this state has ever produced. Haws did so with a part-time appearance and 14 points in a win at Santa Clara. He did so with four minutes left in the first half on a turn-around fade-away jumper he’s made famous.
Now, with 2,289 points, Haws now has another All-American in his sights, Michael Smith. He needs 31 points to run down Smith’s No. 3 spot (2,319 points). He’ll take a stab at it Saturday at San Francisco.
These targets are historic. Danny Ainge and Jimmer Fredette are on down the line.
Before Haws gives a last look at Durrant and Smith in his rearview mirror, it may be a good time to pay some respect to these legends. Who were those guys?
Durrant’s talent exploded as a star at Provo High School where he earned McDonald’s All-American honors. He was a baseline artist with deft shooting from either side. He had a silky jump shot, which he could nail from 20 feet in. He was at his best with a two or three dribble drive to the basket where, at 6-7, he was automatic at the finish.
Durrant, like Ainge, played in an era where there was no 3-point shot line in college. He got his points the hard way, in the trenches. He was an outstanding free-throw shooter, but he was most dangerous on the wing, plowing toward the basket with finesse and power. In 1979, he played on a 24-5 team that featured four future NBA players: Danny Ainge, Durrant, Fred Roberts and Greg Kite.
Durrant, like Haws, was so consistent, he set a school record for scoring average in a season his senior year (27.9 ppg). A Deseret News poll in 2000 voted Durrant as one of the top 10 college basketball players in Utah over the previous 100 years, and Sports Illustrated named him one of Utah’s greatest sports figures.
Smith made a huge splash on the sports scene in Orange County, California, as a superstar at Los Altos High School in Hacienda Heights. He was all-state in three sports (basketball, football and volleyball). He was named the Orange County Athlete of the Year, and as a quarterback standing 6-10, he was a unique figure in California sports.
But it was in basketball that he excelled. Smith had remarkable range for a player his size. He had a silky jump shot with picture-perfect form. He developed a one-hand floater, a form of a hook shot, and he had 3-point range. Deadly at the line, Smith could get on remarkable runs. He led BYU in scoring all four seasons he played. Targeted like Haws, he was a scoring machine for Ladell Andersen, playing with Brian Taylor, Jeff Chatman and Jim Usevitch. His 1987-88 team won more games (26-6) than any BYU team in its 70-year history (1951-52 was the exception) and was 17-0 and ranked No. 2 before losing at Alabama-Birmingham.
Like Durrant, Smith earned multiple All-American honors.
Both Durrant and Smith were among a group of major stars in the ’70s and ’80s who elected to take time off from their basketball careers to serve LDS missions. Durrant’s mission took him to Madrid, Spain; Smith’s service was in Argentina.
Smith was a first-round draft pick of the Boston Celtics in 1989, 13th overall. The Indiana Pacers drafted Durrant No. 25 in the 1984 draft. Both played professionally in Europe.
While Smith has worked as a color TV analyst for the L.A. Clippers, Durrant worked as marketing director for WordPerfect. He was an LDS mission president in Texas, and was called in April 2014 to the LDS Church’s general presidency of the Sunday School.
These are the milepost sign guys Haws has passed and will pass within the course of a week.
This historic shift in the scoring list shouldn’t pass by without some kind of salute to those who went before.
Dick Harmon, Deseret News sports columnist, can be found on Twitter as Harmonwrites and can be contacted at dharmon@desnews.com.