I'll start with the seniors and work my way down.
Brandon Davies, F:
Last season Davies started a little slow and inconsistent. At times he would flash brilliance and potential (e.g. versus BYU-Hawaii and Baylor) and other times he would disappear (e.g. two point performances against Longwood and Buffalo.) Perhaps we can chalk that up to the nerves of coming back to the team after a suspension the previous year. The weight of that and it's potentially devastating results could have easily taken it's toll on him.
To his everlasting credit, Davies worked hard and refused to back down and became one of the premier players in the West Coast Conference. As soon as conference play hit he was a force to be reckoned with and very few defenders could slow down. He scored in double figures in all but one conference game. To illustrate how important he became to this team's success, the game he scored only six points the Cougars needed a Matt Carlino floater with 18 seconds remaining to win the game against San Francisco. Davies is a key piece to this team.
This upcoming season Davies must start the season on fire. The Cougars will be without the post presence of Noah Hartsock, who held this year's team together before Davies found himself again. He has the ability to dominate both sides of the ball and the glass. He had nine double-doubles in 2011-2012, and I would expect that number to increase significantly. He'll be a daily double-double threat and may even record a triple-double or two with his ability to get steals (season high of 8) and kick it out the open man or cutter (season high of 6 assists.)
Davies has clearly worked hard to develop his post moves and his touch on the glass is often unbelievably delicate for a man who likes to throw down like he's the Incredible Hulk. If he can work on his mid-range game, and even develop his ability to step out behind the arc (he did nail a three in a tight game against San Diego in the WCC tourney) he will become a star and a potential draft pick in next year's draft. It will also help if he can improve staying out of foul trouble early in games. The Cougars will need consistency out of him if they want to do some damage in Conference and possibly even in the NCAA tournament next year.
Brock Zylstra, G/F:
Zylstra is a bit of a wildcard on this BYU team. This past year he displayed his natural talent as a pure shooter, particularly in his memorable 8-8 (6-6 from three) game against San Francisco. He was a much improved on ball defender from a season before, although that may be an unfair judgement as he averaged just five minutes per game his freshman and sophomore years. This year he showed an ability at times to get behind a defense and out in transition for easy baskets (who can forget the image of him celebrating after his game clinching lay-up - with the foul - in the historic comeback against Iona?)
His consistency was an issue (along with the rest of the perimeter players) at times, but he was second on the team in three point shooting at 37.6 percent (trailing only Craig Cusick at 37.9 percent.) It is worth noting that this was the worst three point shooting team in the Dave Rose era, but it is still a credit to Zylstra for being among the best shooters on this team. I am not sure what Coach Rose plans to do with him this next year, but he showed incredible versatility in his game. He started the season as a point guard, and on occasion due to injuries and foul trouble was asked to play anything from point to power forward. I project him starting at the small forward spot this next year.
If this is the case he will need to learn to get physical when the Cougars run man-to-man on the defensive end, as some teams have monsters at the small forward position. I believe he is fully capable though, and if he improves his defense even more and get more aggressive, he can even cause some problems for teams because of his versatility.
Look for Zylstra to develop his outside consistency and his ability to drive to the basket and even work without the ball to get some open looks. Like I said, I feel like Zylstra is a bit of a wildcard, mostly because I really don't know Coach Rose's plan with him, but he has the ability to be a difference maker for this team.
Craig Cusick, G:
Here is what I have to say about Cusick this past season: Thank goodness he was there to save the day. On multiple occasions the game seemed to get a little out of control on the court and Craig Cusick was asked to come into the game and calm things down. He was a junior. He walked on to this Cougar squad. He saw his first collegiate action this year. And none of these things seemed to phase him. He never looked rattled. I was a little nervous going into the Utah game. Cusick played the majority of the available point guard minutes (28.) It was his old team, a team that did not give him the same chance BYU did. I will be forever grateful they didn't because he was clutch against his old team. 6 assists and 10 points, including two big threes. He made an incredible difference in that win, and in many more throughout the year.
My favorite story of the year was the game against Iona. Obviously, this was one for the ages: biggest comeback win in NCAA tournament history (25 points) and a third straight year with a tournament win for the BYU program. Matt Carlino looked rattled by the pace of the game, which is understandable as they were one of only a handful of teams who played at a pace comparable to the Cougars. Down by as many as 25, Cusick was asked to use his calming presence once again and lead this team to victory. Iona seemed lost when Cusick was able to slow the game down. It almost seemed as though they had forgotten to include him in the scouting report. "What are we supposed to do when BYU slows the game down, Coach? I didn't know they had a guy who could do that!" Cusick scored zero points, but that wasn't what he needed to do. What he needed to do was dish out 8 assists, collect 5 boards, and only turn the ball over once against a speedy team that was 14th in the country in turnover margin. And that is exactly what he did.
The story to me however, was Cusick's leadership in that game. Check out this tweet from Jason Franchuk:
Why that failed to become a popular story line is something I cannot figure out. I happened to overhear Craig Cusick talking to a friend in line today at the Blue Line Deli on campus, and he said his teammates mentioned him the second most number of times in their season ending interviews with Coach Rose as leader of this team. I would imagine Noah Hartsock was first, but it is incredible that a junior walk-on rose to such a height that he was looked to as a clear leader of this team. It would lead me to believe that Cusick will be a team captain this upcoming season, and rightfully so. He is also well deserving of the scholarship that is opening up with Nick Martineau's scholarship not being renewed, and he will likely be the recipient of it for his senior year.
I am a little concerned about his playing time, however. The 2012-2013 squad looks to be even deeper in the back court than it was this past season. Matt Carlino has star potential written all over him, Anson Winder is a better defender, Tyler Haws is returning and is likely to be a starter and big time offensive threat, and Raul Delgado transferring from Community College will also diminish Cusick's playing time if he lives up to his hype. I am not one to say that Cusick should get playing time over any of these guys, but there is certainly a possibility he will be called on to be a stabilizing presence in similar situations this next season.
Assuming he does see some playing time in pivotal moments this next year, he simply needs to do more of the same. He is a true point guard, straying from the scoring point guard trend in basketball today, looking to pass first and play solid, fundamental defense. He comes up with clutch steals, and when I say Anson Winder is a better defender, it is simply a compliment to Winder, not a knock on Cusick. Cusick does have great defensive ability and does a great job of slowing down some athletic opponents. Perhaps most importantly, he takes care of the ball. His 3-1 assist to turnover ratio is simply astounding. He led the team in three point shooting (37.9 percent) and was a blistering 90 percent in the first five conference games. He didn't need to score last year, but if he can add the ability to drive and improve his mid-range game, he may get more minutes than Winder or Delgado this upcoming season.
Stephen Rogers, G/F:
I have wondered at times if the Cougars' three point shooting woes would have ever occurred if Stephen Rogers had been able to stay healthy. He was coming off the bench and shooting 51.4 percent from the field and 39.5 percent from three point range prior to his being sidelined with a knee injury after ten games. When he returned he played sparingly, never really getting into the flow of the game and with a knee that was still clearly bothering him. He went from averaging 9.9 points through the first ten games, to scoring only 9 total points in the remaining 8 games he saw the floor. His injury coincided with the debut of Matt Carlino, who started red hot, but once he cooled, the entire team saw a major drop in perimeter productivity. If Rogers can get healthy and stay healthy, he can battle Zylstra for the starting spot at small forward.
He presents an intriguing option for Coach Rose, as he is essentially a shooting guard trapped in a 6-8 frame. His length can cause some problems for teams particularly when Rose runs a zone defense. He is not a quick defender, but his length makes up for that and he does reasonably well at keeping ball handlers in front of him and disrupting the passing lanes. This is not to say he is a perfect defender; he could certainly use work in man-to-man sets, lowering his center of gravity to stay in front of the smaller, quicker players he is frequently asked to defend.
His length and ability to stretch a defense usually draws some fouls, and he was nearly automatic from the free throw line his sophomore year. If he can get back to that form he can be a real problem for defenders and pick up some easy points. It would also be interesting to see him develop some post moves and create a mismatch with a smaller defender on occasion.
It appeared to me that between his sophomore and junior years he worked to make sure his shooting hand was in position before he went up to shoot, rather than rotating it into position while he was in the air like he did as a sophomore. Correcting something like that which has been ingrained in his muscle memory for years shows a great work ethic and willingness to change and improve, and if he can use that same work ethic to address some other minor issues in the off-season (as well as rehab his knee) he can do some real damage in whatever role he is asked to take on in the coming year, be it coming off the bench or working his way into the starting lineup.
If he can get healthy he presents a scoring threat off the bench at either the shooting guard or small forward positions, and if he improves and expands his skill set he can even challenge Zylstra for the starting small forward role.
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