BYU basketball: Why Zac Seljaas is most important piece for Cougars

BYU basketball’s most important piece this season isn’t TJ Haws or Nick Emery. Rather, Zac Seljaas will be the key for the Cougars.

Zac Seljaas wasn’t even supposed to be on the BYU basketball roster this season. But, after returning from his LDS mission early, the lanky forward is back in Provo.

That’s good news for BYU basketball fans.

Seljaas was sorely missed last season, as the Cougars struggled from 3-point range. Fans yearned for Seljaas’ sweet stroke from outside – and truth be told, so did head coach Dave Rose.

Now he’s back. And he’s going to be the key for BYU basketball.

Between TJ Haws, Nick Emery and Yoeli Childs, Seljaas might not be one’s first thought when it comes to Cougar hoops. However, his ability to do two things will help BYU rebound from a down year a season ago.

3-point shooting

This one is obvious.

Seljaas shot 50 percent from 3-point range in 2015-16. He was a great spot up shooter, but he was decent off the dribble as well.

But his ability to move around the arc and wait for a pass from Kyle Collinsworth or Nick Emery is what made him truly dangerous.

Collinsworth may be gone, but Emery is still the floor general. Not to mention Haws is a great (and flashy) passer.

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Seljaas also shot 43 percent from the field, and looked to be an adequate off-ball cutter. Then he’d use his 6-foot-7 frame to help finish. He was the Cougars’ fifth scoring option that season – that won’t be the case in 2017-18.

More realistically, he’ll be BYU basketball’s third option behind Haws and Emery. So perhaps his shooting percentages dip, but his scoring average will likely double from the 7.6 points per game he put up.

Defense

This one is a little less obvious.

While everyone remembers Seljaas for draining 3-pointers, he did something else very well. He played quality defense.

He was particularly effective when Rose shifted to the 1-3-1 defense. I’d prefer the Cougars to stay away from that in 2017-18, but Seljaas will still be a competent man-to-man defender. He’s got enough height to stifle smaller guards, and enough speed to deal with forwards.

Seljaas is so long that he might be able to cheat some passing lanes as well.

Obviously Rose will want to keep him off of bigs defensively. But at the same time, if BYU forces opponents to run two bigs on the floor, Seljaas will be free to roam offensively.

We’ll see how the full BYU basketball lineup shakes out this fall.