...or two and he'll be challenging for league titles. The reality is, with ALL-WCC talent, seniors-- Childs, Hawes and Toolson, BYU finished 2 games behind the Zags in the regular season and won zero games in the WCC tournament."

Actually the fact that we did so well in his first year at BYU is a testament to how good of a coach he is. All 3 guys you mentioned (Childs, Toolson and Haws) were previously guys whose games were predicated on them dominating the ball, going isolation. It took a chunk of the season for all 3 to learn to give it up and keep the ball moving, to read and react, cut and backfill positions instead of standing around on the perimeter wanting to run iso (Watch Toolson early in the season, he was constantly killing the flow and continuity of the offense).

The BYU-Gonzaga game in Provo near the end of the season was an example of how good Pope's offense can be when you get all 5 guys on the floor passing the ball and moving/cutting to the basket when they don't have the rock rather than stifling the flow standing on the perimeter and trying to go iso.

We started last season with Yoeli out for 9 games, Haws had knee surgery the week before the season opener, Gavin Baxter separated his shoulder, and Zac Seljaas broke his foot and had surgery in September. We ended up having 6'7" guys (Nixon and Seljaas) logging a bunch of minutes in the 4/5 role behind Childs and a very inexperienced Kolby Lee (who improved dramatically during the season). Pulling that team together was a major accomplishment by Coach and his staff. Getting them to the point that they could run the #2 team in the country out of the gym was next level great.

2020 will see a much more balanced, athletic and deeper BYU team, inside and out. No more playing 6'7" guys in the post defending opposing bigs. Pope returns 9 guys who have had a year or more learning his offense and how to defer their individual games to fit within his Flow Offense. 2020 BYU basketball will just be building on top of what the 2019 Cougars did last year.