BYU starters entering portal

BYU rebuilt fast under Kevin Young, and now two of the pieces that started that rebuild are walking back out. Robert Wright III announced plans to enter the transfer portal on April 8, and Kennard Davis Jr. followed on April 9 after starting all 32 games he played. (espn.com) (sports.ksl.com) Wright was not a bench guard testing the market. He was BYU’s starting point guard, and ESPN reported he would be headed to a third school in three years after opening at Baylor in 2024-25 and spending 2025-26 in Provo. (espn.com) (byucougars.com) Davis was a different kind of starter. The 6-foot-6 wing transferred in from Southern Illinois, started every game he played for BYU this season, and still has one year of eligibility left. (sports.ksl.com) (deseret.com) That gives BYU two portal losses in two days from the same starting group. KSL’s roster tracker said Wright and Davis were two of the team’s most consistent starters alongside AJ Dybantsa, which is why these exits hit the top of the lineup instead of the back end of the bench. (sports.ksl.com) The season they are leaving behind was good, but not stable. BYU finished 23-12, went 9-9 in Big 12 Conference play, earned a No. 6 seed in the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament, and lost 79-71 to Texas in the first round. (sports-reference.com) (espn.com) Wright’s role was the harder one to replace on paper. When BYU signed him from Baylor in April 2025, the school called him “one of the most dynamic guards in the country,” and his Baylor freshman season had already produced 11.5 points and 4.2 assists per game with All-Big 12 Conference honorable mention and all-freshman honors. (byucougars.com) Davis’s numbers were smaller, but his minutes were not. He averaged 8.5 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 1.3 assists, and he was still on the floor for 39 minutes in BYU’s Big 12 tournament loss to Houston and 39 more in the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament loss to Texas. (sports.ksl.com) (espn.com) This is the part of college basketball that now moves like free agency. Players can switch schools through the transfer portal, coaches rebuild rosters in one offseason, and even programs with money, league status, and a headline recruit can lose starters after one year. (espn.com) (sports.ksl.com) BYU is not starting from zero. The current roster page still lists AJ Dybantsa, Richie Saunders, Keba Keita, and several younger frontcourt pieces, and KSL reported Aleksej Kostic had moved into the starting lineup for BYU’s final five games. (byucougars.com) (sports.ksl.com) But the immediate question is now simple and expensive: who handles the ball, and who fills 32 starts on the wing. In two days, BYU lost its starting point guard and a starting wing, which means Kevin Young is back in the portal looking for starters, not depth. (espn.com) (sports.ksl.com)