BYU roster 21-22

[Jeff Lebowski]

I guess it sounds like Nate Hansen will be coming to BYU next year and will be on scholarship- I was pretty underwhelmed by what I read about Hansen so I had always assumed Pope wouldn't honor that scholarship.

FWIW, Nate's mission president told the missionaries that he would rather have them exercising and working out rather that sitting on their butts during the pandemic so Nate was able to play a few hours of basketball every day and work out. Came home in good shape.

[Goatnapper'96]

FWIW, Nate's mission president told the missionaries that he would rather have them exercising and working out rather that sitting on their butts during the pandemic so Nate was able to play a few hours of basketball every day and work out. Came home in good shape.

Somebody on the other sports site indicated he came home at 6'4" and 200 lbs- so real good size for a college guard. I never spent a great deal of time reading about his recruitment etc, but I just recall thinking that he wasn't going to be a huge difference maker. Hence, as these scholarship crunches started piling up I had always assumed that he would be a casualty of that.

He still might be after this upcoming year, but time will tell. On the other hand maybe he will be a really good basketball player and he will be that elusive point guard of the future that Pope has never seemed to find and convince to come to BYU.

[myboynoah]

FWIW, Nate's mission president told the missionaries that he would rather have them exercising and working out rather that sitting on their butts during the pandemic so Nate was able to play a few hours of basketball every day and work out. Came home in good shape.

Sounds like a model the rest of the athletic department should adopt.

[Goatnapper'96]

Sounds like a model the rest of the athletic department should adopt.

There you go Elder Joe Cool!

[BigFatMeanie]

Somebody on the other sports site indicated he came home at 6'4" and 200 lbs- so real good size for a college guard. I never spent a great deal of time reading about his recruitment etc, but I just recall thinking that he wasn't going to be a huge difference maker. Hence, as these scholarship crunches started piling up I had always assumed that he would be a casualty of that.

He still might be after this upcoming year, but time will tell. On the other hand maybe he will be a really good basketball player and he will be that elusive point guard of the future that Pope has never seemed to find and convince to come to BYU.

The point guard that Pope has never seemed to find and convince to come to BYU in his whopping two seasons as BYU head coach?

[myboynoah]

There you go Elder Joe Cool!

Ha. Ever in search of that elusive BYU Athletics Mission. Let's just do what everyone accuses us of doing, and make heads really explode.

[Goatnapper'96]

The roster is set, I think:

Seniors:
Alex Barcello
Te'Jon Lucas

Juniors:
Gideon George
Seneca Knight
Richard Harward
Gavin Baxter

Sophomores:
Trevin Knell
Spencer Johnson

Freshman:
Caleb Lohner
Hunter Ericson
Atiki Atiki
Trey Stewart
Fous Traore
Nate Hansen

14 Scholarship players.

I think your starters will be

1.) Te'Jon Lucas
2.) Barcello
3.) Seneca Knight
4.) Caleb Lohner
5.) Gavin Baxter

Your 6th man will be Gideon George who can literally come in for any of the 5 starters.

I expect Knell to come off the bench to shoot the ball and create some space on offense. Harward will play as a back up 5 when matchups demand a big. I also think Johnson will play quite a bit as a wing. I think the above 9 will be the standard rotation with a few minutes to Hunter Ericson to get him some experience as I think he will be in the rotation the following year.

The addition of Knight is huge in my opinion. Having both George and Knight allows BYU to play more small ball as either George or Knight can play both the 3 and 4. I think Knight can also play the 2. I really like that Knight has two years of eligibility and can be somebody BYU can have with experience as a perimeter scorer after Barcello and Lucas move on. I also think that Knight's arrival allows Pope to use Gorgeous George more the way he wanted to last year as a defensive stopper whose offensive game is still developing. I do think George will get his chance to be a starter and consistent offensive contributor his senior year.

I can see Traore being the reserve big if BYU needs somebody other than Lohner, Baxter and Harward so he will probably see some spot duty. I doubt Atiki, Stewart or Hansen ever play when it matters next year.

There is certain to be attrition after next year as BYU already has 15 players allocated scholarships and I expect BYU to go after a grad transfer PG after the season and BYU is recruiting a couple of bigs, Jaxon Kohler and Adem Bona, who would come in as true freshman. If they do sign a big I would expect either Baxter or Harward to move on. I would think if Baxter doesn't make it through this year healthy he will be done with hoops and Harward might just grad transfer someplace else.

I really think the extent to which this team improves will be driven by how much better Caleb Lohner is. But I think this will be a very good BYU team.