PROVO — BYU tinkered with its lineup a bit during Thursday's win over visiting San Diego, and largely to positive results.
Early in the first half coaches inserted Dastrup into the lineup, along with Elijah Bryant, in favor of starting big men Erik Mika and Yoeli Childs. The result was largely positive, as the Cougars extended their lead from 17-11 to 26-16, playing Dastrup with a 4-guard lineup.
While Dastrup didn't show much on the stat sheet for his first half play, his improvements in play on both sides have become apparent to Cougar coaches.
In an interview on the "Cougar Sports with Ben Criddle" radio program earlier in the week, BYU assistant coach was asked which player had seen the biggest improvements as of late. Lewis was quick to point out Dastrup, `who is in his first season after serving a two-year LDS Church mission to Panama.
“He’s a guy that we really had to build (good) habits with,” Lewis said of the 6-foot-10 product from Mesa, Arizona. “I think from a defensive standpoint he had an excellent game against San Francisco…He’s a very talented guy.”
Dastrup was ticketed almost entirely for mop-up duty early in the year, but has steadily seen his playing time increase, and could see even more time should he continue his upswing in practice and game performances.
“So recently I’ve really liked what he’s done,” Lewis said. “You have a guy that’s just getting back into the groove. I mean, the guy hasn’t played really for two years and I like where he’s going.”
ALL-AMERICANS HONORED: Not all of BYU's all-americans were in town to be honored at the half of Thursday's men's basketball game versus San Diego, but around half of them were.
Among those honored were Amy Boswell and McKenna Miller of the BYU women's volleyball team, along with Jake Langlois and Brendan Sander, of the men's. Boswell was named a second-team All-American, and the CoSIDA Player of the Year, for her final season while Miller was named as a freshman All-American. Sander was named a first-team All-American, while Langlois received second-team honors. Ben Patch and Leo Durkin also received All-American status, for the men's team last season.
Others recognized were freshman football All-American Thomas Shoaf, along with basketball players Kyle Collinsworth and Lexi Rydalch, who were both named as honorable mention All-Americans.
All-American soccer players included Ashley Hatch (first team) and Taylor Isom (second), although both weren't in attendance on Thursday.
Altogether the Cougar athletic programs had 36 players named as All-American performers in the 2016 year.
Coaches receiving honors on Thursday were men's volleyball coach Shawn Olmstead (MPSF coach of the year) and women's coach Heather Olmstead (South Region coach of the year.)