Utah Basketball: Brekkott Chapman leaves Utes with little experience

Utah basketball lost another valuable front court piece.

Jakob Poeltl declared for the 2016 NBA Draft. Chris Reyes is transferring to Pepperdine. Isaiah Wright is jumping to San Diego. Brandon Taylor, Dakarai Tucker and Jordan Loveridge are all graduating.

Got that? Now, let’s add another moving piece to the mix.

On Saturday, Utah lost it’s fourth front court piece as 6’8″ combo forward Brekkott Chapman has elected to transfer closer to home. The Roy, UT native will have to sit out a season before having two years of eligibility remaining.

It’s evident that Utah is clearly not pleased with the fact that they are losing a critical, versatile player early in May. The program has blocked Chapman from transferring within the Pac-12 and he is unable to move to any college in Utah, except for Weber State.

Chapman only averaged 4.4 points per game (down from 5.7 points per game in his freshman season) and he only grabbed 2.8 rebounds per game, but he was expected to be in the running for a starting spot. The forward also has game experience in a tough Pac-12 Conference and offers the ability to play down low as an undersized four, or on the wing where he can help enforce a bigger lineup on opponents.

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Also, Chapman was a four-star recruit coming out of high school, who had offers from numerous high quality programs on the West Coast (Arizona, BYU, Gonzaga, Colorado and UCLA). So maybe with a larger role and more focus on his game this offseason, head coach Larry Krystkowiak could have unleashed his potential.

Unfortunately for the Utah faithful, it looks as if their team will have to scramble to find some sort of production in order to keep their team from sinking in the Pac-12.

The Utes two returning experienced players are forward Kyle Kuzma (who can make plays inside and out) and Lorenzo Bonam (a former JUCO guard who brings size and aggressiveness). Other than that, Utah is at the void of players who have been through the gauntlet at the college level.

Senior guard Kenneth Ogbe returns but averaged less than 13 minutes per game in all three of his seasons. Second year forward Gabe Bealer averaged just four points in six minutes per game last season, while Makol Mawien will be eligible after redshirting.

The Utes add two freshman, four-star big man Jayce Johnson and three-star shooting guard Devon Daniels, along with two JUCO products, Jojo Zamora and Tim Coleman Jr. More depth in the backcourt is on it’s way as SMU transfer Sedrick Barefield committed in January and Parker Van Dyke is expected to return from a mission.