BYU basketball's Kevin Young shares his hopes, vision for this year's roster

Questions, questions, so many questions. Following perhaps the most disappointing season in BYU basketball history, head coach Kevin Young has reflected on the poor on-court return the program received despite trotting out a starting lineup that included AJ Dybantsa, the number-one player in the nation and likely top NBA Draft pick, 5-star point guard Robert Wright III, and veteran wing and All-Big 12 First-Teamer Richie Saunders.

Depth failed when injuries collapsed the proposed infrastructure, and BYU's stars were left to create practically the entirety of the offense themselves. When Saunders tore his ACL, there was little more the team could do with only two players reliably creating opportunities on offense.

It was a sobering moment for BYU basketball in the year following their surprising run to the Sweet 16.

Now in his third season at the head of the program, Kevin Young brings in his third consecutive 5-star freshman in Bruce Branch III. But as we learned a season ago, a star can only drag a team so far alone. So what has Coach Young learned with two years of experience behind him, and how does he plan to push the program forward?

He shared some insights into the current roster makeup during an appearance on BYU Sports Nation.

"There's three things that come to mind," Coach Young opened. "Number one is the DNA of the group, the character of the group. They all seem to gel well so far, which I think is arguably one of the most important things you can do in this era."

"Number two, I like our positional length. We've got a lot of 6'5" to 6'9", 6'10" guys who are long. We have a lot of positional size that'll be good for us."

"That's the third one, the shooting piece. there are some high-level shooters out there that will allow us to play the way that we want to play. Last year felt like we were on Hunger Games, just trying to survive towards the end ;there, which made us kind of do things just out of necessity."

"Obviously, we have to keep this group healthy as well. My vision for this year's team is to have a combination of what we had our first year, where we really spaced and the ball was popping, and the second year, where we had some dynamic one-on-one players. Trying to blend the two."

"That last bit goes into the big. We're trying to get a big that's a little different from what we've had in the past. It's been a fun project to identify who fits what we're looking for in that space."

On the topic of the big, rumors suggest that this player is 7'5" Chinese big Xu Xin, who is a defensive monster with untapped ball skills. While BYU has yet to confirm these rumors at the moment, it sounds like he's the guy for the Cougars this season.

So it'll be a very different look for BYU hoops this year, and that will be fascinating to watch. With more offensive options and fewer liabilities with the ball in their hands, the Cougars project as a much more well-rounded team with better top-end talent than we saw in Kevin Young's first season -- hence, the combination of the two seasons that Coach Young referred to.

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