Kanon Catchings commits to BYU Basketball

We've had plenty of rumors flying around in recent weeks surrounding Kanon Catchings, a 4-star forward and Overtime Elite alumni out of Indiana. Catchings stirred the pot of the college hoops world when he de-committed from national runner-up Purdue and started swimming in the recruiting waters once again.

Yet another projected first-round pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, Catchings and Demin are two of the highest-rated recruits BYU has ever seen, and Kevin Young's recruiting scheme has hooked another big fish.

After scorning competing offers from some of college basketball's best like Florida State, Purdue, Illinois, and a handful of other notable programs, BYU fans are ecstatic about what Kevin Young and company have in store for a basketball program that is delivering more excitement for its fans than ever before.

As a team signs top-level recruits, a strange phenomenon that I like to call "celestial blinding" takes place in fans. Much like a walk on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the stars will no doubt catch your eye at first, but will lose their punch as you get bombarded with the mass quantities that pass you by. Similarly, the BYU basketball program keeps fortifying its roster with 4-star signings that are starting to feel like the standard, contrary to BYU recruiting classes of years passed.

I don't mean to say that BYU fans aren't grateful or excited about the outpouring of blessings Kevin Young is granting Cougar Nation, but with all the 4-star players populating the current roster, losing sight of each player's individual significance in the blueprint of success.

So, who is Kanon Catchings? Why should fans be excited about his skillset on the Cougars' roster, and what will he deliver to the Marriott Center this winter?

First of all, Catchings is another one-and-done player who is currently projected to land a first-round selection in next year's NBA Draft. Like Demin, Catchings has his sights set on the NBA, and chose BYU for Coach Young's experience and promise to prepare him for the next level of play.

He's a top 50 recruit for a reason and was desperately recruited by each team that had their eyes set on landing his skill set. Standing at 6'9", Catchings is incredibly long and athletic. Like a snake in a can, he's ready to spring into the air at a moment's notice. He'll add plenty of length and size to a BYU team that needed a boost at the 3 and 4--both of which are comfortable positions for Catchings to fill.

Catchings has a dangerous pull-up jumper and he uses it to rise above the defense to knock down jumpers from anywhere on the court. He shot nearly 40% from deep and shows great shooting touch; his jumpers tend to land softly on the rim and that's encouraging for a BYU team that will look to fill it up from beyond the arc.

Defensively, he has tools that look to add several dimensions to the Cougars' efforts on that end of the floor. Using his length and bounce in tandem, he's more than capable of getting his long arms into passing lanes and erasing shot attempts on the defensive end. And he looks to have the motor to keep effort levels high on defense.

Catchings told ESPN that he and Coach Young "immediately clicked" when the Cougars' first-year coach visited his family. "I knew right away that this was the right pick for me."

BYU's newest commit will be exciting to watch for BYU fans who will no doubt pack the Marriott Center to capacity on a nightly basis to catch the new era of BYU hoops. The coaching staff has made a strong push toward creating an NBA pipeline through Provo, Utah. If Demin and Catchings--among a plethora of weapons at Young's disposal--find their footing in college hoops to lift themselves to the highest level of hoops, the sky is the limit for BYU basketball.

It's a great time to be a BYU fan.

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