NEWARK, N.J. — On his way to becoming the "Tater Tot King" and "Heir Richie" and landing an NIL deal with Ore-Ida
, the potato-based company his great grandfather co-founded, BYU
's Richie Saunders
did wonders for his basketball career in postseason play.
Even as BYU's NCAA Tournament run ended in ignominious fashion Thursday night with a 113-88 loss to hot-shooting Alabama
, Saunders once again showed he has a bright future on the hardwoods, be it overseas, in the NBA's G League, or quite possibly the NBA itself.
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While most of the Cougars
' other outside shooters struggled in the Sweet 16 game at Prudential Center in front of a pro-BYU crowd that was taken out of the game
by Bama's barrage of triples, Saunders tried to keep BYU (26-10) within reasonable striking distance with 25 points on 10 of 14 shooting, six rebounds and two assists.
He was part of the reason BYU struggled defensively, allowing Alabama to get off a whopping 51 3-pointers and make 25 of them, but also came up with four steals. A lot of that defense, or lack thereof, is on the coaches, however, as they opted to pack the paint, have players go under ball screens, and generally dare the Crimson Tide
to beat them from deep.
Which Alabama happily did.
"Richie was terrific, as usual, and had a really nice game," said fellow junior Dallin Hall. "Defensively, we wanted to keep some of their quick guards out of the paint, and they did a really good job of what we call punishing the shift — which is just getting off the ball and moving it. Their shooters hit shots early and it took us a little too long to increase our urgency. … But this was an incredible year with my brothers, so I am super grateful for that."
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Noted outgoing senior Trevin Knell: "It has been so fun to play with Richie; He has turned himself into a legitimate star."
Knell went 4 of 11 from the field and 2 of 9 from beyond the arc, while Hall (0 of 6), Dawson Baker (1 of 5) and Egor Demin
(6 of 14) combined to go 7 of 25. Compared to the record-breaking 49% shooting display from 3-point range that Alabama was putting on, those numbers look especially damaging.
But the 6-foot-5 junior from Riverton by way of central Utah's Wasatch Academy carried the Cougars, as he has done for much of the season, along with unsung backup center Fouss Traore and starting center Keba Keita, another junior who boosted his professional basketball prospects.
Having scored 25 points against Wisconsin
to help get BYU to the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2011, Saunders enhanced his stock throughout the Big Dance, which brings us to the obvious question.
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When will that day come?
Saunders wasn't in a talking mood after the Cougars' 10th loss of the season — he takes losses as hard as any player on the team — but he did tell the Deseret News that he "will try to figure it all out" in the next few weeks. Saunders is married to former BYU women's basketball player Sierra Johnson and has said all along that she will be heavily involved in his decision, just as she was last year at this time when Saunders almost followed Mark Pope to Kentucky
.
"I (am) just trying to get to the end of this season and dive into what the future holds," said Saunders, who will turn 24 on Sept. 19.
It is a future that holds a lot of possibilities. In this day and age of NIL and the transfer portal, Saunders could quite likely could make more money returning to college basketball than he could in the professional ranks.
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Sources familiar with BYU's NIL situation believe he could command north of $1 million in his final season of eligibility.
And there are doubts about whether Saunders could make an NBA roster, some related to his age. He is two years older than the typical college junior because he served a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Seattle, Washington.
While freshman point guard Egor Demin is said to be a top-20 pick if he does enter this June's NBA draft, Saunders is currently projected to go late in the second round, if at all, if he does turn pro.
"Super grateful for this season," Saunders said. "Not much else to say. Super proud of this team and just super grateful I was a part of it. It was a fun year."
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While answering a question about Demin's decision
, BYU coach Kevin Young on Thursday night could also have been referring to Saunders when he said "those are very calculated decisions" and he will offer advice, if he's asked, drawing upon his lengthy experience in the NBA.
"That stuff is very personal," Young said. "It is also very situational."
There's no doubt, however, that Saunders has put himself in a very favorable situation. He finished his third season in Provo averaging 16.5 points per game, shooting 51.8% from the field and 43.2% from 3-point range.
He also became deadly from the free-throw line, finishing the season shooting 83.5% from the charity stripe. In BYU's last eight games, he was 40 of 41 from the free-throw line, including 10 of 10 in the Big 12 tournament and 11 of 11 in the Big Dance.
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Saunders told BYUtv that his next step is to "take in all the information" and go from there.
"Luckily we have great coaches who are super knowledgeable in this next step. I am not knowledgeable at all. So I will … just weigh everything, and figure it out."
