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PROVO — At some point during the offseason, Trey Stewart turned to Fousseyni Traore and noted that the duo were about one third of the men’s basketball roster at BYU.

At the time, Trevin Knell — the longest tenured player with the program — had undergone offseason shoulder surgery that will likely keep him unavailable until January. That meant that Stewart, Traore, Atiki Ally Atiki, Spencer Johnson and Gideon George, who spent part of the offseason contemplating a potential NBA future, were all that were left before the program rebuilt around three Division I transfers, seven freshmen and two more transfers from junior college or Division II programs.

“The five of us really bonded, and then Gideon came back so we had six,” Stewart said. “Pope told us we were building the foundation, and if we did, the pieces would fall into place as new pieces came in. That’s what happened; we stayed really close, we just locked in, and we really worked on our relationships to come do what we were already doing.

“We created a family-like culture, and they could just slide in.”

Through laser tag and Star Wars movie marathons, that group bonded further together, and added to it transfers from Coastal Carolina, Detroit Mercy, Arkansas and an influx of freshmen and others.

And by the end of the summer, the coaches had another challenge, too: a new offensive and defensive system. Because if you’re already overhauling the roster, you might as well mix up the system, right?

The Cougars want to play fast on offense in 2022-23, partially to keep pace with Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s and the rest of the best teams in the West Coast Conference, l and also to prepare them for next year’s massive step up to the Big 12 — what many consider the best college basketball league in America.

On defense, that means a full-court press and zone defense, and disruption on every play.

“Really, it’s just causing havoc and chaos. That’s our whole goal,” said Stewart, the former American Fork star who played sparingly a year ago while running the scout team as a returned missionary freshman. “When you play basketball, you don’t ever want to be afraid when someone is guarding you and everyone is coming at you.

“That’s what we’re trying to make other teams feel: uncomfortable. We want to put ball pressure on them, and put pressure on each other’s backs. We just want to be animals out there.”

Of course, overhauling the defensive philosophy means a lot of time in the early days of two-a-day practices and gym time retooling the fundamentals — and perhaps even more time running and conditioning with strength coach Eric Schork.

“We’re trying to give our guys more freedom to make decisions,” BYU coach Mark Pope explained. “Our bigs, for example, get to make a decision live if they want to be in a drop, a ball, a quick show, or a blitz.

“I think it gives us a chance over the next few years to become a product that is different from other teams in the Big 12. Right now, the WCC hard enough, and this is one of the ways we’re approaching it.”

Every practice session, BYU posts numbers they call DIM — short for defensive impact numbers, which track deflections, steals and other defensive stats — and try to outpace one another. Always near the top of the list are George and Johnson, but players like Stewart aren’t far behind, either.

Disruption is the name of the game on defense, Johnson said.

“They’re really challenging us to get in passing lanes more, to take more chances, and just to use your hands a lot more,” Johnson said. “Watch the NBA, and those dudes are always slapping the ball when someone drives the lane and trying to get it. They’re really pushing us.”

Mostly gone are the days of man defense, and while BYU employed zone several times a year ago, the level of its use has gone up dramatically in practice. So, too, has the use of a full-court press unlike anything the half-dozen returning players have seen.

Even the new players are buying in. Perhaps one of the most surprising top scores on the DIM list? True freshman Richie Saunders, the former Wasatch Academy standout who recently returned from a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Seattle.

The former three-star recruit who was recruited by Creighton, Stanford, Utah State and Oklahoma while averaging 14.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.9 steals per game for the Tigers as a senior prefers to play fast, both on offense and defense. Shifting into a havoc-focused zone defense with plenty of press concepts is a good way to do that.

“My whole life, my dad has taught me that every single second is a tryout. Don’t show the opponent any frustration or any weakness,” Saunders said. “I think that’s honestly a big part of it.

“All you do on a mission is work hard and grind, and honestly, I can see it translating to this game that I love.”

Williams was known for scoring 14.7 points on 50.9% shooting at Coastal Carolina, but the 6-foot-2, 190-pound native of Hamilton, Ontario, played plenty of defense while averaging 30.3 minutes in all 33 games a year ago with the Chanticleers en route to The Basketball Classic All-Tournament team honors.

Jaxson Robinson has three years of eligibility left after the 6-foot-7 guard transferred following stops at Arkansas and Texas A&M. Meanwhile, Noah Waterman is a 6-foot-11 forward who can guard all five positions after spending the past two seasons at Detroit Mercy.

While earning MVP honors in the Empire State Christian Athletic League at Finger Lakes Christian in Seneca Falls, New York, Waterman didn’t think too highly of defense while he was averaging 33.9 points, 12.6 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 3.9 blocks per game.

That all changed when he got to college, first at Niagara, though.

“My first year of college, I came in always being the offensive player. It’s just what I wanted to do,” Waterman said. “My coach had to sit down with me and tell me if I wanted to make it somewhere, I needed to lock in on both ends of the floor.

“After that, I made an emphasis to lock in with my defense.”

Waterman said he tries to emulate former Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert on defense to try to defend switches the way Gobert does, as well as the versatile defending of Kevin Durant.

Either way, Waterman isn’t afraid to use his length.

“I love what they’re doing right now,” Waterman said. “A couple of years back, I didn’t really play any defense. Now I pride myself in my defense, and being able to switch.

“I can play a quick 7-footer, and if switching one through five is something the team needs from me, I’ll take pride on defense.”

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