PROVO — When Mark Pope and his staff took the reins of the BYU basketball program a year ago, they knew they had inherited a bunch of talented guards that could shoot the ball, like TJ Haws, Zac Seljaas, Connor Harding and Trevin Knell.
Later, the Cougars added transfers Jake Toolson and Alex Barcello.
Then they all went to work — on the court, in the weight room, in the film room, on the computer.
Pope and his staff, including Cody Fueger, who coordinates BYU’s offense, specialize in maximizing players’ performance. A big piece of that is done through advanced analytics and metrics.
“We attribute that to having the best locker room in America, where everyone shares the ball.” — BYU assistant coach Cody Fueger
“Player development is the key to this program,” Fueger said. “We spend a lot of time with our players, not only watching film but also talking through their analytics and watching NBA players and all different ways that we can develop their game so they have their best chance to be pros someday and also win every game for us at BYU.”
That approach produced remarkable results for the Cougars last season — even better than expected. BYU became one of the most efficient offensive teams in the country. And it didn’t happen by chance.
The Cougars finished No. 1 in the country in 3-point field goal percentage (42.2%), No. 2 in assist/turnover ratio, No. 3 in field goal percentage, No. 4 in 3-point field goals per game and No. 5 in assists per game.
“I did not expect to finish No. 1 in 3-point shooting. I promise you that,” Fueger said. “But I’ll take it every day of the week.”
Pope is quick to point out the players deserve the credit for being the country’s best 3-point shooting team.
“You know, 99% of that was that we had great shooters. That 1% is really a credit to our assistant coaches for the work that they do,” he said. “Not only forcing us to focus on shooting every single day but also being relentless enough every game to demand that our guys shoot the way that we believe in shooting.”
Seven Cougars improved their 3-point shooting from the previous season. BYU also jumped from No. 46 in 2018-19 to No. 7 last season in offensive efficiency.
According to KenPom.com, BYU finished No. 2 in effective field goal percentage, No. 3 in non-steal turnovers and No. 7 in adjusted efficiency.
“We attribute that to having the best locker room in America, where everyone shares the ball. We care about that. We have special passers,” Fueger said. “Also, coach Pope and the staff talk every day about players owning their shots. We don’t care if the ball goes in or not. We just care that they finish and own their shot every time. Coach Pope will take you out if you’re not going to take an open shot. Also, we spend a lot of time shooting. Every day, we have a routine shooting with the guards. We go through the same shooting drills every day as guards and the same kind of finishes that they’d see in games. It’s game-speed and we do it every day. It’s the same shots they got in games.”
One of the tools that BYU’s coaches use is a statistical software program, and website, called Synergy. According to Synergy, BYU finished in the top 99% in the country in offense at 1.039 points per possession. The Cougars also rely on KenPom.com, managed by Salt Lake City resident Ken Pomeroy. KenPom provides advanced analytics available for college basketball teams and fans.
“We’re pretty heavy into those things in terms of what we’re shooting for,” Pope said. “It’s so rewarding for us that, until that Saint Mary’s game (in the West Coast Conference Tournament), where we laid a complete offensive egg, we were the No. 1 points-per-possession team in America. For a staff that’s been honing their understanding of what that means for five years, it was really cool to spend six weeks there.”
For Pope and his staff, this is not a case of being a one-hit wonder. They have a proven track record. Pope’s teams achieved similar improvement and success when he was coaching at Utah Valley University.
Before Pope and Fueger arrived at UVU, the Wolverines were ranked No. 333 in Kenpom offensive efficiency. In 2017-18, UVU was No. 73 in that category and No. 96 in 2018-19.
Though the Cougars have lost 3-point sharpshooters like Haws, Toolson and Seljaas to graduation, the BYU coaching staff is working to mold another team next season that is among the best in the nation in offensive efficiency.
“Hopefully we’ll live in the top 5, top 10 or top 20 as long as we’re coaches,” Pope said.
The key to that kind of improvement is helping players buy into what the coaches are teaching them about how to be more efficient, Fueger said.
“We have conversations every day. For some guys, it’s hard for them because it’s mind-numbing stuff,” he added. “We want the guys that really want to get to know their games.”
That’s why BYU players watch tons of film of NBA teams like the Golden State Warriors and Philadelphia 76ers.
“We watch a lot of those guys because we’re trying to get better. It serves a lot of purposes. We take a lot of things philosophically with how we’re trying to approach the game from these teams,” Pope said. “Cody is the leading voice on that in terms of always trying to grow in the way you approach the game offensively and defensively. We use a handful of professional teams in the way we want to attack the game. As a staff, we use them as an example of how we want to play and how we want to grow and develop.”
An important part of the process also includes breaking down players’ tendencies to help them be more efficient.
“Synergy does a couple of things. As a coach, you take in a ton of information watching the game. You have an understanding of it,” Pope said. “Synergy starts telling you things you didn’t think and it challenges what you’re seeing. We have a million examples.”
One of those examples? For Barcello, who improved from a 29% career 3-point shooter at Arizona to a 48% 3-point shooter last season, studying the metrics has paid big dividends.
“The coaches talk to every single player on the team about their efficiency on the court and what their strengths and weaknesses are,” he said. “We use Synergy all the time to watch clips from our previous games and practices to see which areas we can improve in.”
Early last season, Barcello was turning the ball over in transition at a relatively high clip. He was below 1.0 in points per possession in transition before he started watching film with Fueger and learning how to be more efficient in terms of his decision-making. It helped him see his game in a new way.
“Within three weeks, I was back above 1.0 in points per possession in transition,” Barcello said. “It’s a huge resource when you have coaches that know the game that well and the statistics of the game to help you improve and be more efficient.”
These methods have helped the guards’ play translate to the next level.
After his hiring in 2015-16, Pope and his staff produced seven Wolverine guards that provided opportunities to play in the professional ranks. Three more from last year’s BYU team — Haws, Toolson and Seljaas — are poised to play professionally soon.
“We recruit guys that want to play professionally. That’s our No. 1 goal, that these guys want it so bad and they’re all about trying to get better,” Fueger said. “Our system, our player development, has been key to that. Coach Pope is the best there is with player development. He gives these guys so much confidence. We want them to be more efficient. We’re not taking away their game, we’re trying to help them be more efficient. That’s what we help all these guys do.”