BYU Makes Final 3 for Pop Isaacs — What are BYU’s Chances?

BYU is in the final 3 for Texas Tech transfer Pop Isaacs along with Creighton and St John’s, according to Jeff Goodman.

To start with the elephant in the room, a civil suit against Isaacs was recently dismissed. The allegations never led to a criminal complaint and Texas Tech did not suspend Isaacs. From the ESPN article:

“The lawsuit, which was filed in January, alleged Isaacs had sexually assaulted the girl while she was intoxicated. The Red Raiders were playing at the Battle 4 Atlantis on Paradise Island at the time. The age of consent in the Bahamas is 16, but the lawsuit said the girl was intoxicated at the time and could not give consent.”

The dismissed civil suit is one factor all schools need to consider, and BYU and Isaacs will need to consider if he can fit within the honor code while at BYU.

Isaacs on the Court

Basketball-wise, BYU fans are very familiar with Isaacs. Isaacs made the All Big 12 Freshman team in 2022-2023 when he averaged 11.5 points and shot 37% from the floor and 38% from three.

As a sophomore this past season he made the All Big 12 Third team and averaged 15 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3.8 assists. Isaacs scoring and assist numbers took a jump, but his efficiency took a hit; Isaacs shot 35% from the floor and 29% from three.

Isaacs did get to the free throw line much more — his free throw attempts jumped from 1.9 per game to 4.5 and Isaacs shot 84% from the stripe. He was sixth in the Big 12 in fouls drawn per 40 minutes.

One important caveat is that Pop played with a torn labrum this last season, one source close to Pop told me. He had surgery after the season to repair it.

Isaacs scored 32 and 22 points in his two games versus BYU and had 7 other games with 20+ points. When Pop is on, he is one of the best scorers in the Big 12. He also shot less than 30% from the field in 8 of 18 Big 12 games.

Why is Pop interested in BYU?

Pop has a couple things that tie him to BYU. Although a Las Vegas native, Pop played his sophomore and junior seasons of high school at Wasatch Academy, about an hour drive from BYU’s campus. Isaacs was teammates with Richie Saunders his first season at Wasatch and was with Fousseyni Traore both seasons. Richie will be a junior for BYU this coming season and Fouss a senior.

Pop’s dad is also a big fan of BYU the school and the state of Utah. Pop was first recruited by BYU all the way back in 2017 when Dave Rose was at BYU.

To understand why Pop is interested in BYU, you have to understand the deep affection his dad has for BYU and the area. First, see the recent tweet from Richard Isaacs applauding BYU’s hire of Kevin Young.

Look at some of the other tweets going back nearly 7 years showing Richard’s admiration of BYU.

Richard’s dad is currently recovering from cancer in Las Vegas. You can read more of what he wrote and donate if you are so inclined.

Richard Isaacs is a driving force of Pop’s interest in BYU and would be a huge factor is Pop commits to BYU. I don’t think BYU is necessarily the favorite, but as outlined above there are reasons Pop is considering BYU. I think Creighton is a strong contender after Trey Alexander declared for the NBA Draft.

What would Pop add to BYU?

BYU needs to consider all the off-the-court questions Pop would bring to Provo. Right or wrong, bringing in someone like Pop is magnified at BYU with the honor code.

On the court, Pop would step right in and start alongside Dallin Hall in the backcourt. BYU lacked a guy that could consistently create his own shot, and Pop would fill that void for BYU. Kevin Young knows how to work with isolation-type players in the NBA and sees something in Pop’s game that he thinks would fit seamlessly into BYU.

You can watch highlights of Pop below.