Late-blooming sharpshooter commits to Northwestern, will not return to BYU

Aleksej Kostic, a sophomore three-point sniper from Austria, has officially found a new home in college basketball, transferring to Northwestern University in the Big Ten.

Kostic was a late-blooming assassin from distance, who heard his number called more and more as the season progressed. The reasoning for his increased burn was two-fold: for starters, Kevin Young's roster had been torn to scraps and was barely holding on through the rigors and pitfalls of the Big 12 Conference schedule. Secondly, Kostic was starting to finally find his shooting stroke, and BYU's offense couldn't do it through Rob Wright III and AJ Dybantsa alone -- no matter how great they were playing.

He shot 36.7% from three-point land as a freshman in Provo, and was largely assumed to be to returning for another season under Kevin Young.

You know what they say about assuming.

Kostic's departure is unfortunate, but it didn't put Kevin Young's pointer finger anywhere near the big red glowing doomsday button he keeps in his panic shelter 50 miles underground, the Marriott Center Annex. Shooting is a valuable skill in college basketball (notice how Kostic is remaining a power conference athlete despite the move), but BYU hoops can easily replace his production through the transfer portal to be ready for next season.

In fact, they kind of already have.

Take, for example, Collin Chandler, who shot 41% from downtown as a sophomore at Kentucky, now joining his hometown BYU Cougars for his junior stint. Chandler is a bit more of a Saunders replacement than a Kostic stand-in, however, so what about a dedicated three-point shooter? Then you have Tyler Betsey, a junior arriving from Syracuse, who connected on 44% of his looks during ACC play, and will likely spend most of his time tossing from beyond the arc.

And the best part? Both of these new arrivals play defense. It's not that Kostic didn't put in effort at the defensive end, but his size and lack of strength made him a liability out on the perimeter. A beat too slow to step in front of the nation's better point guards, and too undersized to bother shooting guards. Small forward and beyond? Forget it. Chandler doesn't have the same problem, and Betsey has the physical tools that Kostic lacked.

So yes, while I would have liked to see Kostic return for another year in Provo, I won't waste my tears on his departure. He'll be a great player in college basketball for the rest of his career, but I won't sit here and act like his freshman contributions are irreplacable.

Silver lining for all parties: now Kostic can grow back the goatee he was nurturing before the honor code demanded its murder.

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