Not only is it a new era in regards to having a new coach, and being a member of the Big12 and all that, but it seems like LDS athletes could be a slight minority on this year's squad and perhaps for the foreseeable future. (It kind of felt that way this last season, but I think a majority still consisted of LDS players, even if only a slight majority.)

This can be both a good thing and a bad thing but I hope mostly a good thing. I think there are a good number of high character guys out there that despite not being LDS, can still be a good fit at BYU and can benefit from the BYU experience but also that BYU can benefit from by virtue of the increased diversity of the team and campus they provide.

These are guys like Noah Waterman, Fous, Jaxson Robinson, AK, and others, both past and those yet to come. These are guys who may or may not come from humble circumstances but regardless, they value the kind of culture and atmosphere the BYU campus and community has. They value family relationships, education, hard work, sacrifice, teamwork, self-mastery, structure, and so forth. They are likely to still be a religious person of faith, sharing a lot of the core values that BYU and the Church strives to teach and exhibit.

In turn, I think high character LDS talent can have a positive impact and influence on others when they choose to go play elsewhere and bring positive exposure to the church in their circles wherever they have ventured off to.

Anyway, I'm just making an observation that I think is interesting and has the potential be beneficial for BYU in being able to increase its recruiting pool and thus increase the amount of available talent it could potentially lure in as time rolls forward. The more non-LDS athletes can thrive at BYU, the more consideration others will give to attending and playing for BYU, especially among those who still share a faith based background.

This is by no means limited to basketball either but can extend to the other teams BYU fields too.