Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
- Kevin Young brings nearly two decades of experience from the NBA and G League, but is a first-time college head coach.
- His challenges include adapting his NBA coaching style to college basketball, including two halves instead of four quarters and recruiting.
- Young has recruited several key international players, such as Mihailo Boskovic and Egor Demin, to enhance BYU's roster.
PROVO — Kevin Young knows plenty about basketball.
The rookie head coach of the BYU men's basketball team has varied experience in the NBA and affiliate teams in the G League during a career that spans nearly 20 years in the industry, most recently as the associate head coach of the Phoenix Suns before taking the Cougars' job in May.
He knows, for example, that the roster he's assembled for the 2024-25 season is plenty talented. Expectations, thy name is BYU.
Take the most recent addition of Mihailo Boskovic, the 6-foot-10 forward from Uzice, Serbia, who spent last season with BC Igokea in the Adriatic League.
Boskovic averaged 12.3 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.0 blocks per game en route to MVP honors at the FIBA U20 European Championships, Division B in 2022, helping Serbia claim the team title with a 7-0 record.
Young knows that Boskovic, like plenty of other players on his roster, has talent. But he's not sure how to answer one question about the 22-year-old forward: What's his grade and/or eligibility status?
"I'm learning on the fly, brother; trust me," Young said cheekily after practice this week in the Marriott Center Annex. "It's definitely involved."
For as much as Young has been billed as a rising star in the coaching profession and as a future NBA head coach, he's also a first-time collegiate head coach.
His experience with the Suns, Philadelphia 76ers, Iowa Energy and Utah Flash means he knows what he's doing. But he hasn't coached in college basketball, or at least, not since he was at Utah Valley in 2005-06 when he was initially hired as director of basketball operations.
"All jokes aside, I really am learning on the fly with all this stuff," he said.
There are basic things Young is still trying to figure out, like how to adapt his timeout pattern from an NBA game of four quarters to the collegiate game of two halves.
There's also off-the-court changes, like grade checks, eligibility and — perhaps most importantly — recruiting.
In that end, name, image and likeness and the transfer portal have made college basketball recruiting as transactional as it has ever been.
Certainly, that played a role in Young bringing the likes of former Rutgers defensive ace Mawot Mag; Utah transfer Keba Keita; four-star freshmen Brody Kozlowski, Elijah Crawford and Kanon Catchings; and Egor Demin, the 6-foot-9 projected NBA draft pick from Moscow, Russia, who spent the last few years with Real Madrid's academy in Spain.
"The pace at which we can teach is a little bit different here, because we have so much more practice time than in the NBA," Young said. "You feel like early on in the season, you're just trying to get everybody in. … Everybody talks about 'NBA training camp,' and it's like four days. Then you start preseason games, and once you start the preseason, it's basically the season.
"This is not that; it's a lot more time to practice. … That's allowed us to see the pace we need to go out. I'm actually happy with where we are and the pace at which we're putting things up."
On the recruiting front, he also has a key ally: Kalani Sitake and the No. 17-ranked BYU football program.
Young, who can't speak about recruits before they contractually sign with the university, has several key visits coming up. His program will host No. 1 overall recruit AJ Dybantsa and Utah Prep teammate JJ Mandaquit when the Cougars host Arizona next Saturday, for example.
When Young hosted the current roster at BYU's then-upset of Kansas State a few weeks back, those same international players were stunned — by the stadium, by the student section, and by the game of football, including "George Q. Cannon" that the school's ROTC lights off after every touchdown.
@whoisegor3 🤝 Dallin Hall pic.twitter.com/ZrdahX3aQj
— BYUtv Sports Nation (@BYUSportsNation) October 2, 2024
At one point, when Tommy Prassas returned a fumble for a touchdown, Demin started screaming along with the crowd — then piped up within earshot of teammate Trevin Knell, saying, "What's a fumble?"
"Imagine you're the point guard, and you turn the ball over and the other team scores," the senior from North Salt Lake replied.
"Oh," recalled Knell of Demin's response. "That's bad."
Like his head coach, Demin is a smart basketball player who still has a fair amount to learn. But he averaged 16.0 points, 8.2 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game to help Real Madrid to the 2024 Adidas Next Generation Tournament title for the second consecutive season before landing in Provo.
He's also new to the United States, new to Provo, and new to college basketball. But don't doubt his basketball IQ, Knell chides.
"He can really pass it, he can really shoot it, he gets to the hole," Knell said of his new teammate. "His level of leadership is really picking up a ton, too. He just sees the floor in a whole different way than a lot of us.
"He's super smart, super talented, and you guys are going to love him. He has the funniest personality ever."
