Evaluating BYU Basketball’s 2026-27 Roster Construction

BYU has officially announced its roster for the 2026-27 season, and it arrives with one scholarship spot still open. Kevin Young may decide to use that slot for a potential midseason addition, similar to what the program did last season with Abdullah Ahmed. That roster spot could become more relevant if Jaxon Kohler is ruled ineligible to play this upcoming season.

With the team essentially finalized now, we can take a closer look at how the pieces all fit together. This group has a nice blend of returning production, power conference experience, youth, and international prospects.

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Returners

Dawson Baker (returning from injury)

Nate Pickens (returning from injury)

Brody Kozlowski (returning from injury)

Power Conference Transfers

Jaxon Kohler (Michigan State)

Collin Chandler (Kentucky)

Freshmen

Dean Rueckert (four star)

Dovydas Buika (Lithuania)

With 10 newcomers coming into the program, Young and the staff will hope to build chemsitry as quickly as possible.

So how good can this BYU roster be?

The Four Factors of Basketball Success

One way to evaluate the group is using a framework created more than two decades ago, when analytics pioneer Dean Oliver set out to answer this question:

What actually wins basketball games?

His answer became the Four Factors of Basketball Success, revealed in his 2004 book Basketball on Paper. He came to the conclusion that winning typically comes down to shooting, ball security, rebounding, and free throws. Oliver then landed on the factors below and weighted them to show which ones matter most.

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Effective field goal percentage (eFG%): Shooting efficiency, with three-pointers weighted more heavily (40%)

Turnover percentage (TOV%): How often a possession ends in a turnover (25%)

Offensive rebounding percentage (ORB%): How often a team retrieves its own misses (20%)

Free throw rate (FTR): How often a team gets to the free throw line relative to its shot attempts (15%)

These factors are still widely used in basketball analytics to gauge a…

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Publish date : 2026-10-02 18:10:00

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