BYU Basketball: Projecting the rotation until Nick Emery’s return

The Rotation (Bench Players with Big Minutes)

Rylan Bergersen – Bergersen struggled last year with decisiveness offensively, making mistakes by being too hesitant. He’s a good on-ball defender, though, and looked much better offensively in the Cougar Tipoff.

With the guard line thin until Emery’s return, he’ll get more minutes this year. If he struggles early, hes’ a good candidate to lose playing time once Emery can play.

McKay Cannon – Cannon looked really good in his first few games as a Cougar last year, then his play slowly tapered off as the season progressed. Nothing in the Cougar Tipoff gave much hope for improvement this year.

He’ll get playing time due to his experience and the lack of backcourt depth, but he could easily lose time early on to Evan Troy or Taylor Maughan, and he’ll almost certainly cede minutes when Emery’s back.

Connor Harding – Of the three 4-Star freshman on the team this year, Harding’s game is the most college-ready. He plays smart and can do a little of everything, although he’s still got to get used to the speed of the college game.

Harding is a key piece of the Cougars’ future, and he’ll get minutes early. If he struggles, though, Gavin Baxter will be waiting in the wings to steal those minutes.

Dalton Nixon – Nixon is the ultimate glue guy, making the right plays without needing the ball in his hands. He’ll be the primary backup in the post, and he can play in combination with both Yoeli Childs and Luke Worthington.

If Nixon can improve his shooting touch and see his three-point percentage jump by about ten percent he’ll become the prototypical stretch four.