BYU Basketball: Cougars need to continue to play younger players
By Adam Gibby
BYU Basketball will be losing nearly 70% of their backcourt playing production next season.
Last night in the first round of the NIT, Alex Barcello, Gideon George and Te’Jon Lucas played for 67 out of the 120 minutes for the backcourt. Spencer Johnson, Hunter Erikson and Trevin Knell combined for 53 minutes (George played some at the forward).
53 minutes is an improvement where these players averaged only around 38 minutes per game during the regular season (along with Seneca Knight), I’d still like to see Mark Pope find even more time for the backcourt players who will return next season.
Obviously BYU wants to, and needs to, continue to win games to get more playing time for everyone, but another big priority still needs to be getting next years’ leaders more time. No matter how fun the NIT may get, the ultimate goal is still to get to the NCAA Tournament next season. Only giving next year’s backcourt an average of 16 minutes per game to get experience (and half of those minutes were once the Cougs were up by 10+) is going to pay dividends next season.
Ideally, I’d like to see these players average 20-22 minutes. Again, the first priority is to win. Getting 16 minutes a game over three games, is better than 25 minutes in only one game.
Of course, there is always the chance (and seeing Pope’s record it is pretty high), that the Cougars go out and get a one year transfer player ala Brandon Averette/Te’Jon Lucas. This would be a quick fix to help make up for a lack of playing time but that comes with a risk. First, there is no guarantee that there will be a transfer that will help the team, and second, anytime you bring a new player into a locker room, sometimes it just doesn’t work out.
What do you think? Is Mark Pope giving the younger players enough playing time? Let us know in the comments!