PROVO, Utah - The BYU men's basketball team hopes to build consistency with its young core as it prepares for an exciting upcoming season.
"You can really tell that they're young," BYU basketball head coach Dave Rose said. "We have a great practice one day and the next practice, our effort is good, but our execution isn't very good. It'll be interesting in the next couple weeks to see how they deal with the tipoff, exhibition games and some of the scrimmages that we have."
Rose believes Bob Medina, 21-year NBA strength and conditioning coach, will contribute in team consistency with keeping the players in good condition week after week.
Sophomore Kyle Collinsworth expects to be a leader and starter for the young team and believes one thing they do have right now is chemistry.
"We all hang out off the floor," Collinsworth said. "It's kind of a different team because there's only one guy married on the team, so it's different than usual. We're a younger team and we have a lot of fun together, so our chemistry is really good so far."
With the talent and athleticism, Collinsworth looks to push the tempo more with freshmen bigs Eric Mika and Luke Worthington. He also hopes to make big contributions this season after not having played a real game in two-and-a-half years.
Returning starter Tyler Haws believes not having any seniors on the team will play to their advantage and is excited for the exhibition games coming up.
"Guys come to practice ready to work and we're hungry," Haws said. "We want to win that conference championship and make some noise this year. Everyday, guys are working hard and working towards that goal. I think we have a pretty good gel already, but it'll take a few games to get our groove going and really figure out what's going to make this team roll."
The young team has been described as one of the most talented groups in BYU basketball history and the chemistry is already building, but Haws hopes to develop team consistency to achieve long-term goals.
"I think what can take us far this year is being consistent day in and day out," Haws said. "I felt like we shared the ball really well in the scrimmage. We haven't done anything yet and we can't let that get to our heads. We have to take it one day at a time."
Before the Cougar tipoff next Wednesday, Haws hopes to bring home hardware at Friday night's Boom Shakalaka.