NCAA Basketball: Analyzing the 4 teams in 2020 Phil Knight Invitational

By Andy Patton | Jun 17, 2020

SPOKANE, WASHINGTON - JANUARY 18: Drew Timme #2 of the Gonzaga Bulldogs battles for control of a loose ball against Zac Seljass #2 of the BYU Cougars in the first half at McCarthey Athletic Center on January 18, 2020 in Spokane, Washington. (Photo by William Mancebo/Getty Images) /

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LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – MARCH 09: Kyle Bowen #14 of the Saint Mary’s Gaels grabs his own rebound against Gavin Baxter #25 of the Brigham Young Cougars (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /

Phil Knight Invitational participant – BYU Cougars

While USC has actively pursued nearly every available transfer on the open market, BYU was right there with them, and the WCC school came out on top when it comes to overall transfer talent.

While USC landed Eaddy, White and Goodwin, BYU pulled an excellent haul: center Matt Haarms (Purdue), point guard Brandon Averette (Utah Valley) and a pair of elite junior college guys in Spencer Johnson (Salt Lake Community College) and Gideon George (New Mexico Junior College).

Additionally, the team pulled in Caleb Lohner, who de-committed from Utah to join the Cougars, and they will get two incoming guys who finished their missions: Dallin Hall and Richie Saunders.

That’s not to say BYU is necessarily contending for a natty or anything, after all, they lost five of their top seven scorers from last year in Yoeli Childs, Jake Toolson, TJ Haws, Dalton Nixon, and Zac Seljaas.

Mark Pope has proven he is an elite recruiter and an excellent in-game coach, so even with all the turnover it’s hard to imagine the Cougars won’t be a very, very solid team in 2020-2021 – although they are among the more difficult teams to forecast in the NCAA.

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