Conference hoops time. It’s here.
Last time, when Kevin Young began his first foray into Big 12 basketball as a rookie head coach in Division I college basketball, it was a rollercoaster ride.
That first year under Young, BYU started league play 2-4. Those four losses were to Houston, Texas Tech, TCU and rival Utah in the Huntsman Center. The Cougars then rattled off four-straight wins over Colorado, Cincinnati, Baylor and UCF.
But the big story of that season was the 8-0 run after a loss at Cincinnati. It included wins over West Virginia and Kansas State on the road, a win over Kansas, Arizona in Tucson, ASU, West Virginia, Iowa State in Ames and Utah.
The 14-6 Big 12 finish earned BYU a No. 3 seed in the league tournament, where the 17th-ranked Cougars beat No. 12 Iowa State before losing to No. 2-ranked Houston.
Fast forward to this weekend.
Gone is first-round pick Egor Demin, steady center Fouss Traore, point guard Dallin Hall, defensive specialist Mawot Mag, and sharpshooter Trevin Knell.
But, my, has Young reloaded.
Today the Cougars are 12-1, ranked No. 10 in the AP 25, and feature the hottest player in the country in potential No. 1 NBA pick AJ Dybantsa heading to the opener against Kansas State on Saturday.
A year ago, Young’s team finished the regular season 23-8, were ranked No. 17 by AP, No. 24 in KenPom, and had a NET ranking of 26.
As of Friday, KenPom has the Cougars ranked 10th and their NET ranking is ninth. Early projections for the NCAA Tournament have the Cougars a No. 3 seed.
In short, this is a far better start to the Big 12 season than a year ago’s regular-season finish.
This winter, Young has an interesting squad.
BYU can come out flat and as unenergetic as a DMV sloth, yet flip a switch and become one of the most efficient offensive and defensive teams in college basketball. If not for a last-second turnover dribble by Robert Wright III at TD Garden against then No. 3-ranked UConn after an impressive second-half comeback run, this team might be 13-0.
And that game followed this same trend of starting slow, painfully cold, then turning into the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Most of this remarkable Jekyll and Hyde act is because Dybantsa has been able to take over games. To help set him up, Dybantsa has one of the best 3-point shooters in the country, Richie Saunders, and an elite ballhandler in Wright. They regularly set him up and force defenses to respect them, too.
Defensively, Wright, Dybantsa, Saunders, center Keba Keita, and St. Louis native transfer Kennard Davis Jr. have given Young a new look. A year ago in two games against Houston, Young quickly learned that he’d need to clean up and recruit defenders.
He upgraded.
The core of BYU defenders this season is far more skilled than those Young had a year ago. They are quicker, more physical and have length. With 6-foot-9 Dybantsa taking the lead point on three-quarter-court pressure, it’s been disruptive.
Add newcomer Khadim Mboup and newly activated 6-10 G-League center Abdullah Ahmed and the Cougars have far more fouls to invest in playing defense inside the key than a year ago.
Still, BYU’s current edition has plenty to improve upon.
One of these days, against a good team, they’ll put it all together, start to finish.
But there’s a lot of improvement to get done if they want to live in the top 10.
They give up too many easy 3-point shots.
They need to rebound better on both ends of the court.
They need to develop a stronger offensive post game.
Playing energetically for half of games won’t cut it in the Big 12, where the league boasts two top-five, four top-10 and five top-15 teams in the AP poll.
Giving opponents head starts, some as much as 22 points, isn’t championship basketball.
Part of it has to be chemistry and developing leadership. Also, this is a very young team going up against a lot of senior-laden squads.
But, fortunately all of it is fixable.
Some of it is just plain focus and maybe a little young negligence — waiting for others to do the hard work.
Young’s team has begun to tick upward of late because Dybantsa is so hot.
OptaStats declared Dybantsa as the only player in the past 30 years, over a full career (Dybantsa’s last four games before Eastern Washington) to have 90-plus points with 30-plus rebounds, 20-plus assists, 60% field goals on 60 or more attempts, with zero fouls in 100 or more minutes.
Dybantsa, Saunders and Wright remain Young’s staple for winning games — regardless of style points — they are delivering.
League play kicks off Friday with West Virginia at No. 3 Iowa State.
On Saturday, Oklahoma State is at No. 15 Texas Tech; No. 10 BYU at Kansas State; No. 17 Kansas is at UCF; No. 8 Houston visits Cincinnati; Baylor is at TCU; No. 1 Arizona is at Utah, and Colorado travels to Arizona State.
On Saturday, Young and Company find themselves at the gate of the Big 12. They’ll be on their first true road trip in a hostile arena.
It will be interesting how No. 10 reacts.
