Really interesting to read the perceptions of Beo from BYU fans. I understand all of them based on watching BYU about 10x this year. The on-court play speaks for itself. But, knowing Steven well, the on-court play clearly proceeded from his role and mentality -- not his skill-set.

Steven had multiple offers by the middle of his junior year in high school: Washington, Colorado, Boise State, and Eastern Washington and had interest from Virginia (before they took Kyle Guy), Arizona, and many others -- this despite not playing AAU ball in July because of an injury. He was then first-team all state in WA as a junior and committed to BYU (shunning the other scholarship offers) because he fell in love with the place. I say "committed" because it was an odd situation. Definitely not a "preferred walk-on" type feel. Coach Rose and staff flew out to watch him play two high school games his junior year. That's a huge statement. Nashif attended EVERY AAU game Steven did play in April of his sophomore year. The recruitment was heavy, and the lack of a scholarship offer included some really weird turns (of which I was part of at certain points).

Sure, Steven was a 2* -- because he was never really scouted by any of the services. Having already committed to BYU, he didn't play AAU after his junior year of high school. Had he played, he would have been a 3* or 4*. He was first-team all state again his senior year and averaged 27 ppg at the highest classification. Any comments suggesting he's "not a D1 player" are off-base. As a freshman who was often yanked from the game for making one mistake, I thought he performed well for BYU. He will definitely / hopefully find the right spot and be a potent scorer for another team in the WCC, MWC, or Big Sky. He might even land a Pac12 opportunity from coaches who watched him in high school.

Returning to this past season: BYU was an interesting team to follow as a disinterested observer. Haws and Emery appeared to have a green light to take any shot they wanted, and they played with that mentality. Steven looked unsure of his role. Had he been given the freedom Emery had, he would have taken better shots and made more of them. I'm certain of it. Such a huge portion of hoops is mental. Steven's always been a guy who dominated because of his mindset. That clearly wasn't there this past year. Haws had that swagger. Steven didn't. But they're not far apart as players. Steven was in Washington what TJ was in Utah as a hs player (minus the championships).

The final thing I'll say is that the transition is really puzzling. Beo played many times against Rylan Bergersen, and Steven was the better player. Anyone from the WA, OR, ID area who watched that class (Bergersen was originally 2016) compete regularly would say the same. It's not close. So now, you've essentially traded Steven for Bergersen. Odd to me.

In the end, I think this works out better for the Beos. There wasn't a lot of room for Steven with Emery and Haws dominating the ball. I agree completely with another poster who said Steven is the type player who needs the ball to get in a flow. That's spot on. And maybe he didn't have what it takes to do that at BYU. But, personally, I think he did...he just wasn't one of the favored guys, and was fighting an uphill battle (maybe his biggest mistake was thinking he could come in and displace one of those guys). That said, there were plenty of opportunities this year to let Steven go in and try to improve on what the BYU guards were doing on the floor.

By the way...Terry Nashif. Great guy. One of the best recruiters I've encountered.