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With BYU’s win over Colorado in the Alamo Bowl, head coach Kalani Sitake is looking to take advantage of his extension and 11-win season with recruiting and newfound media respect.

By tying for the Big 12 in the regular season and losing out on the league championship game due to a tiebreaker, the credibility BYU found in the bowl season is a far cry from where the program was a year ago with a five-win season, a losing record at the end, no bowl game, no extra practices heading into winter workouts and spring ball.

ESPN’s Trevor Matich explained to BYUtv in this piece just how important that momentum is at this time of the year and how it has paid off in recruiting. This past fall, BYU had to start the season completely out of the rankings and fight its way to No. 6 with a 9-0 start. This coming year, with so many returning players, the Cougars should start 2025 in the top 25, perhaps the top 15, and that will provide a far better track to make the CFP.

In this piece, I explain how some of Sitake’s momentum is paying off with BYU’s finances and resources, which are far different from even 18 months ago for the program.

Question of the week

Kevin Young’s challenge with melding his vets and rookies is establishing a tougher, more aggressive mindset for road games after Providence and Houston bullied the Cougars into submission. How will Young fix this?

Jay Drew: Having watched the Providence blowout on television and the Houston debacle in person, my gut reaction was this: Kevin Young and his BYU basketball coaching staff have a lot of work to do in the next two months if they hope to turn the Cougars into a tournament team. Right now, that very well may be the National Invitational Tournament. All those preseason fears when Young was building this team of six reliable, veteran returners and about the same number of newcomers, including two highly touted freshmen, have proven to be substantial.

Against weaker opponents, the Cougars have been A-OK. Against the types of teams they will face from here on out in the Big 12, the Cougars have been exposed. Sure, they beat Arizona State by 20 points. But that was at home, and there’s no greater home-court advantage in sports, in my opinion, than in college basketball.

Can Young fix it? He can, but first he must face reality — that Egor Demin has a long way to go to become an NBA lottery pick. And that this attempt to play two guys accustomed to being point guards — Demin and Dallin Hall — on the court at the same time is not going well. Neither guy looks comfortable against the better teams the Cougars have faced.

Another task will be to get Kanon Catchings playing up to his potential. The freshman’s shot selection leaves something to be desired, he’s too loose with the basketball, and his defense is average, at best.

Dick Harmon: Kevin Young has his work cut out for him. When Egor Demin missed games with an injury during key chemistry time, it set him back. Playing a very easy schedule with a lot of home games didn’t help introduce Demin and Kanon Catchings to the rigors of Big 12 play on the road. The two freshmen have targets on their backs in opposing game plans and how the Cougars fare will depend on how they react and improve. They must gain confidence while being bullied by veteran players in the nation’s toughest league.

First up is getting Demin and Hall to blend their skills, think less and be aggressive with their own games as they seek to set up teammates. Both are facilitators. Both have handles, can rebound, pass and shoot. What we’ve seen is paralysis from too much worrying about what’s going on and their role in it. Young wants both to use their instincts and play faster. He is trying to shuffle in his experienced players to help the progress with the younger. It will take time.

I take the Houston loss with a grain of salt. Houston was favored and BYU’s chances to win there against the No. 14 Cougars was about 18%. Houston shot the lights out and BYU backed down on the boards and fumbled around on offense, which many teams do against those Cougars. Turnovers didn’t help Young’s guys, but that’s part of playing Houston. TCU only scored 46 points versus Houston a few days later in Houston. BYU failed to play to its strengths (rebounding) by giving up 15 offensive boards to Houston. That’s fixable with effort and blocking out.

Right now, playing on the road in this league looks like a given loss for this team unless progress is evident, but Young is hip-deep in fixes. If this team can win 20 games, you can consider progress made. If not, the growing pains will carry on in the offseason.

BYU started Big 12 play last year 0-2 with a 71-60 loss to Cincinnati at home and 81-72 loss at No. 14 Baylor. It was a learning curve for Mark Pope’s team that finished fifth when all was said and done. Young’s team, with its challenges, is off to a better start at 1-1.

Cougar tales

Luke Benson had 21 kills in a 3-1 win over No. 11 Ohio State in men’s volleyball this past week. The Cougars swept the Buckeyes in back-to-back matches last weekend.

Here’s an analysis by Jay Drew on the aftermath of BYU’s first road trip in Big 12 play to Houston and in this story by Dave McCann, former Cougar Finnish star Timo Saarelainen explains why playing in America is so much faster for Egor Demin.

Former Cougar Zac Blair continues to battle for PGA Tour status despite losing his card in 2024. In this piece, I explain his plans for 15 conditional events, starting with the Sony Open in Hawaii this week. Current sophomore Peter Kim won the Coral Canyon Amateur in St. George, his first tournament of the season.

BYU’s bowl win was a priceless experience but the spoils will be split with Big 12 teams.

From the archives

From the X-verse

Extra points

• Kevin Young anxious for fixes heading into TT, TCU games (Deseret News)
• Xavion Staton joins AJ Dybantsa on Utah Prep (KSL Sports)
• How former BYU stars fared in NFL (Deseret News)

Fanalysts

Comments from Deseret News readers:

Give some credit to Houston. Their defense was suffocating. Any team will have difficulty with that type of defense. Plus playing on the road, plus Houston was hot from anywhere on the court and the officials didn’t even come close to being non bias. That is not an excuse but just helped in the loss. Keita got mugged on his slam dunk and no foul. Houston was at the foul line 12 times in the first half to BYU’s 0. If Houston can play like that on the road, they’ll win the conference.

— 512Boxer

Predictable NBA offense with on-ball screens and guys standing in corners. It works fine when Kevin Durant and Chris Paul are running the offense.

But with college talent, BYU’s offense is stagnant. The need for more movement and off-ball screens is real. Let’s see if Young can do what Pope did: learn and implement a more dynamic offense.

— NativeTongue

Up next

• Jan. 8 | 7 p.m. | Women’s basketball | Houston | @ Provo
• Jan. 9 | TBA | Track and Field | BYU Invitational | @ Provo
• Jan. 10-11 | TBA | Swimming and diving | Utah Dive Invite | @ Salt Lake City
• Jan. 11 | noon | Men’s basketball | TCU | @ Fort Worth, Texas
• Jan. 11 | 4 p.m. | Women’s basketball | Kansas State | @ Provo
• Jan. 11 | 7 p.m. | Men’s Volleyball | St. Thomas Aquinas | @ Provo