Changes on the horizon for BYU basketball
BYU basketball has just wrapped up their season with their annual banquet. With an assistant leaving and players’ status in the air, Dave Rose may be tipping his hand as to what’s going to be different for the Cougars next season.
Everyone, both inside and outside the BYU basketball family, knew that some change was needed.
The wins and losses count. But from a broad perspective, 22 -12 won’t leave you weeping into your pillow at night. It was more they way the Cougars lost in their losses. Dropping league games to Pepperdine and San Diego. The way they lost cohesion as a team on the floor.
Especially at the end of the year, when a squad should be playing its best.
Only a daring few placed bets that the Cougars would topple Saint Mary’s in the conference tournament. But they way they looked against the Gaels, and then against UT Arlington in the NIT… it fell below the standard that has been set. It wasn’t what you’d come to expect of BYU basketball.
Now, we’re already hearing the rumblings of shifting gears. Thursday, BYU announced associate head coach Terry Nashif was hanging up his clipboard and play chart in favor of other business opportunities.
Do I think he was somehow persuaded to leave as part of an internal shake up of the Cougar staff? No. Nashif had a history of excellence at whatever side of the ball he coached, and was famous for his knack for designing out of bounds plays that got buckets.
People forget he commanded the defense in the excellent Jimmer/Jackson years. If the struggle to defend had any root in a staff problem, it almost certainly wasn’t he.
Do I think this is a great opportunity to bring in someone new that will help create a defensive mentality that the Cougars urgently need? Indubitably. The heart of the team has to be refined. Dave Rose should seize the opportunity to change his organization so as to encourage that.
Steve Cleveland for one, former head coach of the Cougars who hired Rose as an assistant, believes they will (especially from the 5 min mark).
Players also in flux
There are also rumors (principally from Jay Drew of the Salt Lake Tribune) that Davin Guinn and Jamal Aytes may be cashing out the last chips of their eligibility. Both are graduating this spring, and Guinn is moving on to law school. And as we saw with Jordan Chapman, when it comes to a battle between law and hoops, the law won’t accept second place.
After spending a season as basically Karnowski insurance, you could call Corbin Kaufusi’s decision to focus on football an open secret. It may be his best move.
But pause to note a touch of irony. Because that’s exactly what the fanbase was saying he should do just a short time ago. Except, you know, in reverse.
In any case, those changeups seems to be coming with planning aforethought. RMs Ryan Andrus, David Nixon, and Luke Worthington land back on campus soon. With Zac Seijass jumping back in the mix a year early, this would seem to solve the Y’s almost yearly scholarship crunch, even if they manage to hold onto Eric Mika for at least another year.
Next: Terry Nashif Out as Associate Head Coach
Along with losing LJ Rose and Kyle Davis, the makeup of the team has more than enough shift to feel like a whole new team. The Cougars can break away from this year’s weaknesses.
BYU basketball has been good for a long time. They were still good this last season. But with the right kind of changes on and off the court, they can be much better.