BYU Basketball's Center Quest: Top Prospects in Sight

0:00On May 2nd, BYU basketball heads into next season with 12 players locked in, but they're still on the hunt for a true starting center. Right now, only Kadeem and Boopin transfer Adam Stewart can play the 5 and neither fits as the anchor. The Cougars spend big keeping guys like Rob Wright and adding talents like Colin Chandler, Bruce Branch and Tyler Betsy, but they've got cash left for that missing big man. The center market is brutal high demand, low supply in the portal and overseas. Schools are dropping millions, sometimes 3 million or more, to snag high major caliber guys. BYU's right in the mix, battling powerhouses for the scarce talents. Fans and insiders are buzzing about the staff's hustle from Zoom calls to Mark Pope jetting to Israel for workouts. It's high stakes in the Big 12, where physicality rules and BYU needs someone to handle that grind while bringing skill. They're eyeing top international prospects like 19-year-old Croatian Michael Ruzik, a 7-footer

1:02shining in Spain with Ricky Rubio, 7-foot-3 Italian Luigi Swigo, whose NBA draft bound by talking college and skilled Brazilian Marceo Santos from a copy Tel Aviv. Others in play include Russian Igor Ryzov, Senegalese Muhammad Faye, and transfers like Alitankara or Halvind Zellad for depth. This race flips hourly with the money flying around, so BYU stays aggressive chasing that game changer to round out the roster before summer hits.