BYU's Hot Pursuit of Luigi Suigo Could TRANSFORM the Center Position for BYU Basketball & Kevin Young's Program

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Luigi Swigo is a name that Cougar fans are becoming very familiar with very quickly and

for good reason, because the 7 foot to 250 pound center prospect could be the apple of

the eye for the BYU basketball program, because he has simply put a phenomenal talent

and looks very much the part of what Kevin Young wants from the center position.

What is that?

Well, namely, a guy who is legit 7 foot plus, and I said 7 foot 2, has some size to him,

250 pounds fits the bill there, and then the other thing about this is not just a one

trick pony.

That is where I think Luigi Swigo emerges as maybe the best center prospect BYU can

find right now.

Now, there are other center prospects we have talked about.

There's Eric, I think it's Reebe from Yukon, who has been talked about, there's been

talk about guys like Mustafa, Chom, etc.

In terms of prospects out there, the BYU may look at, but everything that I have heard

from my sources is the BYU kind of a shoot looking at the, hey, that's the guy you want

to look at.

You know, they're actually very targeted in who they're targeting, and that's why Luigi

Swigo has kind of emerged here as a guy BYU wants.

Now, the debate kind of comes down to, and I think Sportondo, which is a publication out

of Italy, wrote about this yesterday, is that there is a debate for Swigo, whether it

is, do I go to the college route and collect on an NIL check, or do I go to the MBA where

he is currently projected as his second round pick, and this year's MBA draft.

Now, deadlines for all of this are coming up pretty quickly, but as an international

prospect, Swigo can withdraw from the MBA draft as late as the week before the draft

takes place.

So this could be a longer term project than I think than any of you, yours truly included,

want it to be for the BYU basketball program in terms of having potentially what could

be your starting center waiting until mid-June before he really decides what he's going

to do.

Now, I'm sure that Kevin Young and the BYU basketball program will be pressing.

I got like Luigi Swigo to decide what he's going to do before then, but this is a young

man who, despite being 19 years old, has a game that belies his youth, and what I mean

by that is that he can shoot from the outside, doesn't necessarily shoot at a high cliff in

terms of overall percentage, but he plays in the Euro league.

He is obviously playing against grown men, legit, established professionals, and he's

been holding his own.

So that is a nice part of the ability to play both inside out as a center prospect,

especially the size he is.

And you can't teach, I'm talking about it often on this podcast, you can't teach

height.

And that comes from people that I trust in the college basketball sphere that know a whole

lot more.

They say, there's one thing that you can't teach young men, Jake, that's the size that

they are.

Valid, obviously, genetics play a role in that.

But the thing about Swigo is he's not afraid to use his frame to his advantage, whether

it's rebounding, he blocks it a pretty decent clip, his ability to score on the inside

as well as, like I said, from beyond the arc.

That makes him a multi level threat, and that's, I think, exactly what Kevin Young wants

in his lineup.

Yes, I'm sure that he speaking of Luigi Swigo would be expected to patrol the paint

more often than maybe what he's done in the Euro League so far, maybe during his kind

of youth years playing for team Italy and funny enough, there's a clip I saw, and with

you two, I have to be careful about what clips I show on the show.

But there was a clip of him actually blocking AJD Bonson, the U-17 World Cup of basketball.

So this is a guy who's played against guys who have played at BYU and are legit talents

and he's got ability to impact games, whether it's offensively or defensively.

And the other thing is what I saw based on kind of the highlight rules I was looking

at is a young man who's capable of playing the pick and roll.

And that's a big part of what Kevin Young wants in this offense is that ability to come

out set a screen and then roll hard to the basket and create that, one of the defense

type kind of collapse and that ability to whether it's Rob Wright has the ball in his hands

or if it's dished off to Swigo and he doesn't feel like he has the ability to get it on

the rim in terms of scoring, well, you kick it out to the perimeter for a three.

All of that is in this young man's game and that's the exciting part.

If you're a Cougar fan and trust me, I've had a conversation, I've had conversations,

I should say, with a number of you out there via text, et cetera, talking about, well,

hey, what's BYU going to do when it comes to their center prospects and trust me?

I was wondering just as much as any of you were about, okay, they've got some wing players,

they got some guards, they've got Rob Wright, the third back obviously, they've got a

lot of pieces, but there is a glaring hole in BYU's lineup at that center spot.

And yes, among players committed and or signed to BYU basketball program, right now,

I think BYU center would be a Hadin Boop, but he is best served as a small ball five

in shorter sports versus being a full time center.

And I think that's what Luigi Swigo could be for the BYU basketball program is he is

that out and out star at the center spot.

And I think the messaging from a guy like Kevin Young to his Swigo is, hey, come here,

collect healthy NIL check that would rival anything probably that you'll get as a second

round pick in the NBA.

And yes, I know that there's that debate ongoing for various talents of various abilities

when it comes to the NBA draft, but in particular, a second round prospect BYU's NIL ability

should rival that if not make it look like a very no brainer type situation.

Because they're willing to do that, but then also sell them on the fact that, hey, we

develop Yeager dealman as an international prospect coming over here.

Look at what Hadin Boop's become already in the short time he's been a BYU and you kind

of go down just kind of the checklist of what they could do for him in terms of developing

a skill set and essentially sell them on the fact that you're going to bring him here.

He's going to play high level basketball against some of the nation's most physical rugged

lineups.

He's going to face in terms of the big 12 and the hope is you sell them on this that

he comes out on the other side as at worst yet again, another second round draft prospect.

But if he plays to the level, you think he can play at does he move himself into the first

round?

Does he become yet another NBA draft success story coming out of the BYU basketball

program?

That is I think the selling point that BYU has to make when it comes to a guy like

this we go.

Yes, I know you can go to the NBA, yes, I know you can become an out and out professional

and can obviously hone your craft will allow us to work with you for at least a year and

show you what we're capable of because that's the other thing about BYU's whole setup is

they've got an NBA trainer who works with these guys on a daily basis who's worked with

championship caliber squads in the NBA.

They obviously have the nutritionist and they got the strength staff in there.

Something that BYU has done in building up Kevin Young's program is to make it NBA

ask I call it NBA light if you will and they're doing everything with the whole thought process

that young men are going to come here.

They're going to work on their game and they're going to merge I talked about on the other

side as NBA draft prospects that the NBA is just salivating that that's what the goal

is of what BYU is establishing here and I hope that we go I can see that for himself

and yeah if they need to get him on the phone with a year or a deal and say hey I know

you're an international prospect I know you're playing in the Euro League.

What can BYU do for me that I can't do in terms of jumping from the Euro League straight

to the NBA and get Jager and say hey tell him what your experience was like and that that

hopefully can sell them on okay yeah I want to be what BYU could and I want to come

over and yeah bypass the NBA for at least a year and the hope is that as I said on the

other side of it a guy like Luigi would come out on the other side as an even better prospect

than when he arrived in Provo and when he would have left KK Megabass basket where he's

been playing almost recently in the Euro League and yeah become that out and out star that

hope BYU can find slash develop slash establish in this lineup there's a major major opportunity

here and yeah if Luigi Swigo doesn't take that opportunity I'm sure Kevin Young will turn

to his next option or options and try and sell them on the very same thing but it sure feels

like Luigi Swigo is option number one for BYU when it comes to their center spot.