The biblical man built his house on the rock and when the storms came, the house stood firm. As for the man who constructed his luxurious beach house on the sand, well, we know what happened to his place.
The Good Book holds the key to more than eternal salvation; it also provides a blueprint for every college coach building his or her roster — something everybody is doing this week with the transfer portal open for business.
Watching Michigan outmuscle UConn in Monday’s NCAA championship game revealed a glaring difference between college basketball and the NBA. While the professional ranks invest their future successes in youth with potential, the college champions rely on age and experience.
ESPN’s latest NBA draft projections list the first 10 picks to all be freshmen, including AJ Dybantsa (BYU), Darryn Peterson (Kansas), Cameron Boozer (Duke), Caleb Wilson (North Carolina), Kingston Flemings (Houston), Darius Acuff Jr. (Arkansas) and four others.
While unique in their own skill set, each player shared a similar role — they were the stars on their team and when crunch time arrived, they were expected to step up and play like they had been there before.
The highlight reels are full of their sensational moments, but when it came time to play for the national championship, not one of them, or their teams, were on the floor. Instead, Michigan and UConn rolled out rosters that were built differently.
Of the 10 starters in Monday’s game, two were grad students, two were seniors, four were juniors, one was a sophomore and the lone freshman, UConn’s Braylon Mullins, was hardly a star.
Interestingly, Michigan’s entire starting five came from the transfer portal, but they were veterans who had sown their wild oats somewhere else. When they arrived in Ann Arbor, they were all business.
As a result, when the Wolverines needed a defensive stop in the biggest game of the year — they got one. When they needed to hit free throws — they made 25 of 28. When they needed to hold off UConn’s late rally — they did. When the boys needed to play like men — they were mature enough to pull it off.
Roster building is an art form. There are always exceptions, but in this most recent case study, experience reigns supreme. BYU coach Kevin Young knows that.
After signing Dybantsa, the top recruit in the world, Young set out to surround the teen with a veteran cast. The second-year coach signed sophomore guard Rob Wright III, who had just played a full season in the Big 12 at Baylor, but he also inked senior point guard Nate Pickens from UC Riverside.
BYU brought in junior guard Kennard Davis Jr. after his successful run at Southern Illinois and junior Tyler Mrus from Idaho and Aleksej Kostic from Europe, who were bona fide sharpshooters on their previous squads.
In addition, and most notably, Young and his staff retained senior All-Big 12 performer Richie Saunders, senior shooting guard Dawson Baker, senior center Keba Keita, senior forward Mihail Boskovic, sophomore shooter Brody Kozlowski and redshirt freshman Khadim Mboup.
On paper, BYU resembled a veteran team with a potential NBA superstar — all destined for greatness, or at least the Sweet 16 and maybe further — and then the injuries came.
Pickins (knee) and Kozlowski (foot) were lost before the first game. Baker went out (knee) on Thanksgiving, Saunders (knee) went down on Valentine’s Day and Keita (hand) was in and out.
By the time BYU reached the NCAA Tournament, their roster had been downsized to Dybantsa, the nation’s leading scorer, Wright (on a good day) and a band of brothers who had good intentions, but also lacked consistency in defending, rebounding, passing and shotmaking.
As advertised, Dybantsa was everything the Cougars could have hoped for. The consensus First Team All-American had to score 35 points just to keep BYU in their first-round game against Texas — which the Longhorns won 79-71.
With the season over, and Dybantsa projected to be the No. 1 pick in June’s NBA draft, Young is busy building another roster. Again, he has an incoming five-star freshman, Bruce Branch III, to showcase.
The next few weeks will be full of comings and goings, and when the dust settles, the roster the Cougars compile will look much different from the one they ended the season with — different in size and experience — but with the same high expectations.
The transfer portal allows freedom from both sides — players can leave programs and programs can excuse players. On occasion, players who choose to leave can also come back. It’s open season in an open market, like a players Costco. Everywhere you look, there is something to see, but buyers beware — roster building can be expensive, and it comes with no guarantees.
Those lavish homes on the beach are the envy of everybody, so long as the conditions stay perfect. But when the storm surge hits, they are the first to go. Building on the rocks is not risk-free, but just as Michigan discovered, and as the Primary children sing, “The rains came down and the floods came up and the house on the rock stood firm.”
Look for Young to emphasize size and experience to form a firm foundation for his third season in Provo.
Dave McCann is a sportswriter and columnist for the Deseret News and is a play-by-play announcer and show host for BYUtv/ESPN+. He co-hosts “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com and is the author of the children’s book “C is for Cougar,” available at deseretbook.com.