Kevin Young and BYU basketball have been on the recruiting trail for so long; it's a mystery how these rugged trailsmen have managed to maintain the facial hair grooming standard of BYU's honor code. After early success with transfers Tyler Betsey, Jake Wahlin, and Collin Chandler, the Cougars' hot start has cooled off dramatically.
Here we are, months removed from the end of March Madness, and all is quiet in the valley. BYU basketball's roster remains largely unchanged, aside from Robert Wright's fresh new haircut.
The last piece of good news this program has seen in filling the starting center vacancy arrived in the form of TCU transfer Adam Stewart, who is better suited as a reserve big after a appearing in just four games with the Horned Frogs as a sophomore.
If TCU, a middle-to-low tier program in the loaded Big 12 Conference won't peel a player off their bench, that's a pretty good indication of how prepared said player is to perform at the level BYU will certainly demand with their loaded (see: expensive) roster.
I mean no disrespect to Stewart -- welcome to the team, brother -- but he isn't the Cougars solution at the 5 position. This was common knowledge at the news of his arrival back in April.
The center spot remains vacant, and not for lack of candidates.
Since the opening of the transfer portal, BYU basketball has tried and failed to secure the commitments of Michael Ruzic (who signed with Will Wade at LSU), Eric Reibe (now a USC Trojan), Marcio Santos (also joining LSU), Obinna Ekezie (reclassifying to join a loaded Louisville team), and Theo Edema (committed to St. John's).
At the moment, the only targets of which I'm aware that are still on the market are Xu Xin and Ilia Frolov, each with their own respective offensive and defensive weaknesses. Italian Luigi Suigo is presumed to be a Villanova lock if he chooses to withdraw from the NBA Draft before the June 13th deadline.
It's been a frustrating offseason. Not due to incompetence or inability on the side of BYU basketball's recruiting staff -- they've proved their talent in the past -- but because starting centers come at a premium in this recruiting cycle, and everybody's bidding.
Is it time to slam the panic button in Provo? No, of course not. But things are getting tense, and that pressure will only intensify without good news arriving soon.
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