DENVER (AP) — With every player who's signed, every name, image, likeness deal that's cut, every athlete, or coach, who moves from Team A to Team B without even saying goodbye, college basketball takes one more step toward something that feels an awful lot like the pros.
Instead of fighting that trend, BYU took the logical step: It hired a coach straight out of the NBA.
Kevin Young's move from the association to the NCAA is paying dividends right away for the Cougars — with a high upside down the road, too.
After beating VCU for the program's first March Madness win since 2012, sixth-seeded BYU can make its first Sweet 16 since the year before that, when Jimmer Fredette was jacking up jumpers, with a win over No. 3 seed Wisconsin on Saturday.
And win or lose against the Badgers, next season they'll be joined by AJ Dybantsa, the nation's top recruit who made a splash this season when he signed an NIL deal with BYU worth between $5 million and $7 million, according to some reports.
All part of the plan formulated by the 43-year-old Young, who received his share of raised eyebrows last spring when he took the job and boldly announced he'd be building an NBA-style program and had every intention of bringing in NBA-caliber talent to fortify it.
The last player drafted out of BYU was Fredette, back in 2011.
“I don't know that going out to hire an NBA coach was our primary function," said BYU athletic director Tom Holmoe, who had interviewed Young the previous time the Cougars were looking for a coach. “The No. 1 thing we were looking for was a great coach who had basketball acumen. But at the time, what he had to offer was unique.”
Everything feels more like the NBA at BYU
With Young at the helm, BYU plays fast, with an emphasis on 3-point shots, where BYU ranks 23rd in the nation in attempts, or easy buckets in the paint, which has helped it move to 10th in the KenPom offensive efficiency rankings.
The Cougars study a lot of film. Holmoe says they've doubled down on nutrition and added a professional air to their fitness and weightlifting routine.
Counting graduate assistants, the coaching staff numbers 20 (compared to 11 on two-time defending champion UConn's staff), a handful of them with experience in the pros themselves. It's a dynamic Holmoe said created “a structure that's different, and that we kind of had to adapt to.”
To recruit to that NBA mindset, Young landed Egor Demin out of Moscow, a 6-foot-9 swingman who can shoot, handle and pass, and also could be a one-and-doner.
Next year, Dybantsa is coming, bringing with him not only his game but the inherent message that BYU is a place for players with visions of hitting it big in March, then maybe in the NBA.
“We've been able to kind of put this in place and merge this NBA style with college basketball,” said Doug Stewart, an assistant with Young at the Delaware 87ers of the G-League who came to BYU to be his chief of staff. “I think that's been an attractive piece for people to grab a hold of.”
Young sought new challenge by leaving the pros
The question still lingers as to why Young, who left a $2 million-a-year job as associate coach with the Suns, whose entire career has been built around the pros and who was all but destined to land a head-coaching job in the NBA, would trade that in for the college game.
There are legions of coaches who make it big in college and try to take their act to the NBA. Far fewer do what Young did.
Part of it was about his faith — Young is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Another part, as a story in the Deseret News explains, had to do with a long text Young received from his wife, Melissa, who zeroed in on the importance of spending more time with family.
“That text was a pretty spiritual experience for me,” Young told the newspaper.
In his interview with media Friday, Young also said he saw a challenge in breaking away from the 100-game-a-year grind of the NBA and moving into a new realm.
“Once I started really, really to think about it, I kind of relished the thought of being able to take a program that’s been really good for pretty much its entire existence and try to move the needle to places it’s never been to,” he said.
In Wisconsin, BYU will see a bit of itself
It's happening. Holmoe concedes it's happening more quickly than even he expected.
“We thought it might take more time to warm up and really get this thing going,” he said.
Next comes the matchup with the Badgers, who also average more than 28 3-point attempts per game and are ranked 13th in the KenPom offensive efficiency.
“It'll probably be 50-48,” Wisconsin coach Greg Gard joked before outlining the similarities between the teams.
As is always the case in March Madness, Young & Co. are faced with a quick turnaround to deliver a scouting report to the team. As a coach with 17 years of experience in the pros, seven of them in the NBA, Young is used to turning around the information quickly.
“There's tons of reference points," he said. "I always think, ‘We tried this against Jayson Tatum, we tried this against Luka (Doncic),’ whatever the case may be. There are certain things that are different, obviously, but for me, that gives me a lot of comfort. I think it gives our players comfort.”
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