BYU Basketball: Zac Seljaas to Play This Season

After a season where the BYU basketball team saw three players who started games go down with season-ending injuries, the Cougars got some good news with the announcement of Zac Seljaas returning to the team. According to Jarom Jordan, BYU coach Dave Rose confirmed that the 6-7 wing player will be playing on the team this fall. Zac recently returned home from his LDS mission in Des Moines, Iowa due to a lingering shoulder injury. It is expected that he will not need surgery, but instead undergo “intense shoulder rehab,” according to Rose.

This is a huge boost to the depth of the BYU basketball team. Seljaas was a huge contributor his freshman year. He only started one game, but played almost 20 minutes a game while scoring 7.6 points per game on 49% shooting from the floor and 50% from the three point line.

Besides being a player capable of playing large minutes off the bench, or in a starting role if needed, Seljaas’s biggest asset to the upcoming season is his shooting. If you take his shooting numbers from his freshman season and compare it to the shooting number of this last season, Zac would have lead BYU in 3-point shooting percentage while being being third on the team in 3 point attempts. Having another shooter that needs to be accounted for really makes defenses decide how they are going to defend the Cougars big men. Even if Eric Mika is drafted and plays professionally, Yoeli Childs is still a load to handle in the post. Teams can no longer sag off shooters like LJ Rose (28%) and Elijah Bryant (28%). It also helps a player like Bryant who is a great slashing guard to get into the lane and open easier scoring opportunities for himself or kick out passes to open shooters.

This is goid news for a BYU team that really needs some depth to become really competitive. It is always good to add a great shooter, but even better when it is unexpected.

Best of luck to Zac in his recovery!