NCAA Basketball: Top 10 storylines of second week of 2022 offseason
8. BYU facing a roster exodus?
One thing that head coach Mark Pope loves to talk about is having the “best locker room in America”, a nod to the culture built for the roster that has made them national competitive since the coach came over from Utah Valley.
But that locker room has been tested like never before in the past few months. BYU went on a free-fall after losing bigs Gavin Baxter and Richard Harward, going from a surefire NCAA Tournament team to making the NIT altogether. Outside of star guard Alex Barcello, the Cougars didn’t have much consistent production and with him and Te’Jon Lucas gone, the team is looking for new talent.
#Sources - Caleb Lohner & Gideon George have submitted their individual requests to put their names into the NCAA Transfer Portal.
— Jake Hatch (Yawk) jakehatch.bsky.social (@JacobCHatch) April 18, 2022
Their names should show up in the portal database in the next 48 hours. As of now, neither have plans to return to #BYU. #BYUhoops #GoCougs #LOC
And turns out that it will be even more talent, as both Gideon George and Caleb Lohner opted to enter the transfer portal. It’s not as much a loss on paper, as neither averaged more than 9.0 ppg this past season. But both players played big roles in the frontcourt and on a 24-win team, this was a surprising move for a program that doesn’t usually go through much attrition at the top of the roster.
The roster changes come as the program gets ready to enter Big 12 play for the 2023-23 season. BYU will likely need a roster overhaul at this point to get enough talent so in the long term, losing them opens up roster spots to get guys that will contribute at a higher level. But unless the Cougars can strike in the portal in the next couple of weeks, their final year in the WCC could be a rough one.