Mark Pope said he’d be patient.
And that patience paid off.
On Monday, the BYU men’s basketball coach snagged a top target — his second and last of the offseason — from the transfer portal: Seneca Knight. The 6-foot-7 wing made the announcement on Twitter.
Knight spent three years at San Jose State, but withdrew from the 2020-21 season early due to COVID concerns. He then transferred to LSU in January but never played a game for the Tigers. He entered the transfer portal two weeks ago.
Knight had Georgia Southern, Idaho and BYU on his list of finalists, but was also receiving interest from Virginia Tech. That list would surely have been bigger and different had he not entered the portal so late, after teams had already established their rosters.
Knight comes to the Cougars having averaged 17.1 points on 40.3% shooting from the field as a sophomore — the last full season he played. Should he chose to use the free year of eligibility given by the NCAA due to the pandemic, Knight could have two years of eligibility at BYU.
But will he be available immediately?
That’s a bit tricky. Under normal circumstances, because this is his second transfer, Knight would have to sit out a year. However, these aren’t normal circumstances, as the pandemic is still ongoing. Other players around the country are in the same situation as Knight and have either been granted or are submitting waivers to play immediately.
Assuming Knight tries to get a waiver, he should be able to be eligible to play immediately.
And with the addition of Knight, BYU’s roster is set.
BYU had nine Cougars depart the team after last season; two to graduation, one to a church mission, one retired, one left the team to focus on school and the remainder transferred out. Along with Knight, BYU also secured the commitment of Milwaukee transfer Te’Jon Lucas two months ago.
The Cougars also have two 2021 signees coming in and four 2019 signees returning from church missions (two of which are walk-ons).
Add all that into the mix of returning players, which includes Alex Barcello, Richard Harward, Gideon George, Gavin Baxter and Caleb Lohner, amongst a few others, and the Cougars are stacked.
