2015-16 BYU basketball season preview

2015-16 Season Preview

BYU basketball will open the 2015-16 season on Nov. 13 against Utah Valley in the Marriott Center. With four returning starters and a talented group of newcomers, the Cougars are preparing to light up scoreboards across the country while competing for the West Coast Conference title and fighting for a return trip to the NCAA tournament. Click on the link above or see the notes below to get ready for the upcoming season.

Player Personnel

• BYU’s 2015-16 roster includes a talented mix of returning lettermen, returning redshirts and newcomers. Coach Dave Rose will have six letterwinners (four with experience as starters), four redshirts and six newcomers at his disposal this upcoming season.
• Senior guard Kyle Collinsworth is coming off a record-setting 2014-15 season in which he averaged 13.8 points, 8.7 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 1.8 steals and posted six triple-doubles to set the NCAA single-season record and tie the career record. Collinsworth was the only player in the country ranked in the top 100 in rebounds (42nd), assists (16th) and steals (71st), putting him on the short list in the conversation for most versatile player in the country. In addition to the statistical accolades, Collinsworth earned first-team All-West Coast Conference and honorable mention AP All-America honors – all despite having suffered a torn right ACL at the end of the 2013-14 season.
• Other returning starters include senior guard Chase Fischer, sophomore center Corbin Kaufusi and senior forward Nate Austin. Fischer started 33 of 34 games played and averaged 13.2 points and hit 103 3-pointers, the second most in a single season in BYU history. He also set the BYU single game record with 10 3s against Chaminade at the Maui Invitational. Kaufusi, a former football recruit, started the last 13 games and emerged as a defensive presence and solid finisher around the rim. He averaged 3.4 points, 3.9 rebounds and a block. Kaufusi’s 34 blocks were the third most by a BYU freshman. Austin was granted a fifth year of eligibilty after suffering a season-ending hamstring injury in the 10th game last season. He started all 10 games he played and has 53 career starts. Austin gives BYU a strong rebounding and defensive presence and is a capable shooter out to the 3-point line.
• Guards Cory Calvert and Jake Toolson are BYU’s other returning players with experience. Calvert, a combo guard, played his freshman season in 2012-13 before serving a two-year LDS mission in Boston. He averaged 1.9 points and 0.7 rebounds. Toolson, a sophomore, averaged 2.3 points and 1.4 rebounds in 2014-15. Toolson has excellent range, demonstrated by his 40.0 percent accuracy from downtown.
• Forwards Kyle Davis and Jamal Aytes will suit up for the Cougars for the first time in 2015-16. Davis sat out last season after transfering from Utah State, where he started 27 games and averaged 9.1 points, 7.6 rebounds and 1.3 blocks as a sophomore in 2013-14. Aytes, a sophomore, saw limited action at UNLV early in 2013-14 before he transfered to BYU. He redshirted last season due to an ankle injury. Both Davis and Aytes will give BYU improved post scoring and rebounding this season.
• Freshman guards Cooper Ainge and Jordan Chatman are also coming off redshirt seasons. Ainge redshirted at BYU before serving a mission in Chile. Chatman, who redshirted last season, was the Gatorade Washington Boys Basketball Player of the Year and the MVP of the state tournament as a senior in high school. He served a mission in Taiwan before coming to BYU.
• Guard Nick Emery, from Alpine, Utah, and Lone Peak High School, headlines a group of four returned missionary true freshmen on the roster. Emery, who served in Germany, won three state titles at Lone Peak and led the Knights to the MaxPreps.com national title in 2013. The younger brother of BYU’s all-time steals leader Jackson Emery was a third-team All-American and a three-time first-team all-state honoree. Jakob Hartsock, the younger brother of former Cougar Noah Hartsock, prepped at Bartlesville High School and served his mission in Las Vegas. An all-state honoree, Hartsock gives BYU depth as a strech four with deep range. Braiden Shaw is coming off a mission to Sacramento, California, and hails from Eagle, Idaho. The 6-foot-9 forward earned second-team all-state honors. Alan Hamson joins BYU after recently returning from a mission to Ventura, California. The 7-foot-2 center averaged 6.0 blocks per game his senior year at Pleasant Grove High School. 

• Zac Seljaas is BYU’s lone true freshman coming right out of high school. The 2015 Utah Gatorade Player of the Year led Bountiful High School to back-to-back state titles. As a senior he averaged 25.4 points per game. BYU also adds Elon transfer Elijah Bryant, the 2015 Colonial Athletic Conference Rookie of the Year. Bryant averaged 14.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.3 steals as a freshman. He will sit out this season due to NCAA transfer rules.    

BYU and the Postseason

Under Dave Rose, BYU has reached the postseason in 10-straight seasons, a school record. The previous record was six-straight seasons (1989-90 to 1994-95). During that time the Cougars have earned eight bids to the NCAA tournament and two to the NIT. In fact, during the last 10 years, only 10 other schools have received more NCAA tournament bids than BYU. The Cougars’ eight bids in the last 10 years are more than 218 NCAA Division I schools have since beginning their programs.

Triple-Double Machine

In 2014-15, Kyle Collinsworth registered six triple-doubles, the most in a single season in NCAA history and tied with Michael Anderson (Drexel, 1985-88) and Shaquille O’Neal (LSU, 1989-92) for the career record (6). Collinsworth also had more triple-doubles than every player in the NBA except Russell Westbrook. 

Hot shooting from downtown

BYU hit threes at a record-setting pace in 2014-15. The Cougars made 300 threes – the second most in program history. BYU set a program record by hitting 8.6 threes per game. Including the 2014-15 season, Rose has coached nine of the top 11 seasons in BYU history in made 3-pointers. The Cougars’ leading 3-point shooter Chase Fischer is back after hitting 103 from downtown last season. 

Among the nation’s top 10

Since the 2009-10 season, BYU has had a player ranked among the nation’s top-10 in scoring five times (Jimmer Fredette in 2009-10 and 2010-11, Tyler Haws in 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15). Creighton has had a player in the top-10 three times while Eastern Washington, Lehigh, Oakland, Providence, Sacred Heart, San Jose State and South Dakota State each have had a player among the top-10 twice during that same stretch.

Cougars leading the league

BYU has had the leading scorer in the West Coast Conference in all games and in conference games only every year since joining the West Coast Conference. Brandon Davies was the leading scorer in conference games only in 2011-12 and Noah Hartsock was the leader in all games in 2011-12. In 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15, Tyler Haws led the WCC in scoring in all games and in conference games. LMU is the only program in the WCC to have the league’s leading scorer in four-straight seasons in conference games (1982-83 to 1985-86 and 1987-88 to 1991-92) and all games (1988-89 to 1991-92).

Slow down for what?

While college basketball has been trending toward slower, lower scoring games over the last several seasons, BYU basketball has maintained its high-octane attack. Over the last six seasons, BYU is one of only two teams along with VMI in the country to be ranked among the top-15 in scoring each year. During that span, the Cougars have finished second (2009-10, 2014-15), third (2013-14), seventh (2010-11), 12th (2012-13) and 13th (2013-14).

Legal larceny

BYU coach Dave Rose’s style emphasizes getting in the passing lanes and creating turnovers that lead to transition opportunities. The 2014-15 season was no different as the Cougars recorded 257 steals, the fifth most steals in a season in team history. In the last seven seasons, BYU has recorded the top seven single-season steal totals in program history, led by the 307 steals recorded in 2009-10. Since Rose took the helm in 2005, eight players have populated the top 11 of BYU’s career steals list. Kyle Collinsworth is currently seventh with 155 steals, 40 from tying Danny Ainge for second all-time and 94 from tying Jackson Emery for first.

Family ties

Several players on the 2014-15 roster have family ties to former BYU men’s and women’s basketball players. See the list below:

• Cooper Ainge: Danny Ainge, father (1977-81); Austin Ainge, brother (2002-07)
• Jordan Chatman: Jeff Chatman, father (1984-88)
• Kyle Collinsworth: Chris Collinsworth, brother (2007-08, 10-12)
• Nick Emery: Jackson Emery, brother (2005-06, 08-11)
• Alan Hamson: Jennifer Hamson, sister (2010-14); Tresa Spaulding Hamson, mother (1983-87)
• Jakob Hartsock: Noah Hartsock, brother (2008-12)
• Corbin Kaufusi: Bronson Kaufusi, brother (2012-13)
• Jake Toolson: Danny Ainge, uncle (1977-81)