Mid-major Basketball: 5 biggest offseason storylines heading into 2020-21
5. BYU and Mark Pope lands a major fish in the transfer portal
Usually, the WCC program that makes waves with frontcourt news is Gonzaga. A year ago, they lost a pair of 1st round picks to the NBA Draft in Rui Hachimura and Brandon Clarke but as usual, they managed to reload inside and had another top-3 caliber campaign, winning the WCC regular-season and conference tournament titles.
The Bulldogs were led by WCC Player of the Year Filip Petrusev, who averaged a team-leading 17.5 ppg and 7.9 rpg. But a couple of weeks ago, the sophomore forward elected to go pro and play in his native of Serbia rather than come back to college. For any other mid-major basketball program, it would be a devasting blow. However, Gonzaga has Drew Timme, a breakout star candidate for next season, to plug in as a starter, along with redshirt freshman center Oumar Ballo and Anton Watson, a talented forward who missed most of last season with a shoulder injury.
The Bulldogs will be fine in the frontcourt but there’s another team in the WCC that can match them toe-to-toe. Although multi-time All-WCC star forward Yoeli Childs is gone, BYU returns a ton of depth in the frontcourt. Kolby Lee is back for his junior season, along with former top-50 prospect Gavin Baxter, who’ll be healthy after missing most of last season with an injury. Then there are a pair of Utah Valley frontcourt transfers now available in Richard Harward and Wyatt Lowell, although the ladder just went down with an injury of his own and will be out for a few months.
Yet the most important big man for the Cougars isn’t a returning player but rather a transfer pickup in Matt Haarms of Purdue. The 7’3 center was a defensive stalwart of the Boilermakers and averaged over two blocks in the past few years. He brings size and experience to BYU and can hold his own against the frontcourt of Gonzaga. The overall talent may be with the Bulldogs slightly but there certainly won’t be any major advantage if Lowell gets healthy.
dark. Next. Biggest pending waiver decisions
It’s a great pickup for Coach Pope that didn’t come from Utah Valley, beating out both Texas Tech and Kentucky. If he’s going to have any hope of overthrowing Gonzaga as the top WCC team, he’s going to have to land quality transfers that can match up with the Bulldogs. The last game Gonzaga lost showed that BYU can beat them on a given night but a 16-game marathon stretch in league play is something different. But in that tough task, the Cougars offseason moves has them on the right track.