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Two weeks ago, we profiled the look of BYU's basketball roster in a lengthy 2015-16 preview. In an annual rite of passage for BYU faithful, speculation abounded as to how Dave Rose could, yet again, manage his scholarships on a bloated roster.
Now, ESPN's transfer guru Jeff Goodman is reporting two potential BYU returnees who will depart:
Couple more transfers to add to the list: BYU losing Frank Bartley and Isaac Nielsen.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) April 20, 2015
The departures were later confirmed by BYU.
Bartley's time at BYU has been slightly rough, and mining him far from home (Louisiana) made his departure feel very possible. Neilson began the 2014-15 season with ample playing time but saw it dwindle as Corbin Kaufusi began to look very much like a good basketball player.
Bartley, the 6-foot-3 sophomore guard, appeared in 33 games last season, averaging 9.3 minutes per game appearance. He shot only 38.7% from the field and 29.2% from three.
Neilson averaged 9.1 mpg as a returned-missionary freshman, shooting a useful 34.8% from deep as a reserve stretch big, even appearing in the starting lineup for a stretch after Nate Austin's injury.
The destinations of the two transfers are unknown.
Other non-seniors not returning to BYU next season are Luke Worthington, Dalton Nixon, and Ryan Andrus who will be serving missions.
As far as I can tell, these transactions would answer all BYU basketball roster questions, even making scholarships available to Jake Toolson and Corbin Kaufusi. Unless Austin decides to be a walk-on (a previously-speculated roster solution) allowing for another addition from the junior college ranks, for example, we very well could already have a set roster for 2015-16.
Assuming the vacated scholarship spots are filled by Toolson (who was a scholarship-player verbal commit) and Kaufusi (a surprise roster addition defecting from the football team), this is how the roster would look with the max of 13 scholarship players:
Seniors: Kyle Collinsworth, Chase Fischer, Nate Austin
Juniors: Kyle Davis
Sophomores: Jake Toolson, Jamal Aytes, Corbin Kaufusi, Cory Calvert
Freshmen: Jordan Chatman, Nick Emery, Zac Seljaas, Braiden Shaw, Jakob Hartsock
Walk-ons: Jordan Ellis (Senior)