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BYU men’s basketball has concluded their non-conference slate at a stunning 12-1. Their lone loss, as painful as it was on the road to Utah, is considered a “Quad 1 loss” which doesn’t hurt their resume.

Their lone Quad 1 win is San Diego State, who is 11-2.

Now, they enter the gauntlet of Big 12 Conference play, beginning Saturday against Cincinnati in Provo.

At 12-1, and No. 12 in the AP Top 25, one would assume they are in prime position to make the NCAA Tournament and maybe even make some noise once there.

As of now, they are.

Per Joe Lunardi’s “Bracketology” on ESPN, BYU is rated as the top No. 3 seed in his field.

pic.twitter.com/W7XYmobAml

— Joe Lunardi (@ESPNLunardi) January 2, 2024

He currently has BYU slated as the No. 3 seed playing in Salt Lake City against local familiar foe Weber State. In this scenario, if the first round were to go to the favorites, BYU would square off with San Diego State in a rematch for a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line.

Jerry Palm of CBS is not quite as high on BYU, but still has them as a single digit seed. In his projected bracket, BYU is a No. 5 seed slated to play No. 12 Princeton, also in the Salt Lake bracket.

TeamRankings.com is extremely high on BYU, slotting them as one of the four No. 1 seeds in their tournament projections. They give BYU an 85 percent chance at being a top four seed. They are even giving them a 27.7 percent chance at making the Final Four.

First, they have BYU pitted against No. 16 seed Norfolk State.

Certainly, that is looking through some seriously royal blue-tinted glasses. BYU has to take care of business in the Big 12, which is easily the toughest basketball conference in the country. Even going .500 in Big 12 play likely puts BYU squarely in the tournament. They travel to Baylor, Oklahoma, and Kansas, all of whom are currently in the AP Top 20. And that doesn’t include hosting No. 3 Houston and No. 20 Texas in the same week.

By all accounts, BYU is in prime position at not only making the NCAA Tournament but possibly as a single-digit seed. BYU was a No. 6 seed in 2021 but have not been higher than that since the Jimmer year of 2011, when they were a 3-seed.

However, the Cougars have a mountain to climb before March dreams can come true. Nothing is set in stone.

In a trio of famous trios, you can read about the fabled “Three Musketeers,” you can listen to the famous “Three Tenors” and you learn from the “Three Wise Men.” But if you are seeking entertainment, BYU has a fourth trio worthy of your attention — the “Three Robinsons.”

Jakob, Jaxson and Nick are not related, but each Robinson is thriving in Provo. They have different roles, but each shares a similar story of perseverance to get where they are. The spotlight hasn’t always shined on them, but it is today.

Having grown up a BYU fan and winning state championships at nearby Orem High, Jakob Robinson was devastated when previous Cougars staffers told him he wasn’t big enough to defend the corner at BYU.

Truth is, Robinson isn’t that big. Physically, he is generously listed at 5-foot-11 and 170 pounds, but his big-play mentality is measured differently, and BYU football coach Kalani Sitake took notice.

However, without an offer, Robinson decided to play for Utah State. He saw action in four games during the Aggies’ 2020 season and finished with a meager eight tackles, hardly enough to fill a suitable resume for a new suitor, but he set out to transfer anyway.

Enter BYU.

Sitake never forgot about Robinson and given a second chance to sign him, he didn’t hesitate.

During the COVID-19 season of 2021, Robinson had three interceptions, including two circus-type catches at Georgia State. The following season, he had one interception and made the game-saving tackle to preserve BYU’s 24-23 victory against SMU at the New Mexico Bowl.

Last fall, the alleged undersized playmaker intercepted four passes, including a pick-six against Cincinnati during BYU’s Big 12 home opener on Sept. 29. Robinson finished fourth on the team with 59 tackles — 39 unassisted.

When the BYU football team kicks off its second Big 12 season in August, Robinson will run out to his corner position with a head full of confidence and the most interceptions on the team (eight). He will also be living a dream he feared was gone for good when BYU initially passed him by.

A superstar at his hometown Ada High in Oklahoma, 17-year-old Jaxson Robinson, a 6-foot-7, four-star basketball prospect, took his NBA aspirations to Texas A&M. During the shortened COVID-19 season, Robinson appeared in 14 of the Aggies’ 18 games. On his best night, he scored six points.

Suspecting a capped future in College Stadium, Robinson transferred to Arkansas, where he averaged just 2.8 points in 16 games in 2021-22. His season high was six points — again, not the atmosphere he was hoping for.

Enter BYU.

Cougars basketball coach Mark Pope needed a guy who could score, and Robinson needed a coach who would let him shoot, and the transfer portal brought them together.

Last season, Robinson started 30 games and averaged 8.5 points while leading the team with 61 3-point shots. This season, he hasn’t started any and still leads the Cougars with a 16-point average off the bench and is hitting 41% of his 3s. During his career-high 28-point game against Denver, Robinson sank eight 3-pointers.

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His mom, Brandi Robinson-McWilliams, describes her son as “unselfish and determined.” When asked if he minds coming off the bench instead of starting, Robinson confidently says, “I just want to help my team win and get to the NCAA Tournament.”

His team is winning. The Cougars are 12-1 and ranked No. 12 in the AP Top 25. BYU begins Big 12 play Saturday at the Marriott Center against 11-2 Cincinnati (8 p.m., ESPN2).

An NBA scout from the Brooklyn Nets came to Provo last weekend to watch Robinson play against Wyoming. He won’t be the only one. National pundits frequently mention his name when talking about the best sixth man in the country.

Like Jakob Robinson, Jaxson is living a dream he feared was lost, when his initial plans didn’t work out like he thought.

Nick Robinson lived his dream of basketball greatness as a star at Liberty High in Liberty, Missouri, where his teams went 54-3, and as a team captain at Stanford, which played in four consecutive NCAA Tournaments (2001-05).

For Robinson, his soul-searching moment came years later during a meeting with his athletic director at Southern Utah on March 9, 2016. The 39-year-old head coach was dismissed after four seasons and a 28-90 record.

Robinson also left Cedar City with damaged vocal cords that challenged his ability to speak. While working as an assistant at Seattle University, he underwent several surgical procedures and remains on the road to recovery.

As with Jakob and Jaxson, Nick’s basketball life wasn’t going as he had hoped.

Enter BYU.

Pope hired Robinson to join his staff in 2019 to build a team capable of challenging Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference. Five years later, BYU faces an even greater challenge as a new member of the Big 12.

Robinson is also the composer of the Cougars’ nonconference schedule. With Pope’s blessing, he crafted a slate of games that kept BYU mostly at home, except for one true road game at Utah, a game at the Delta Center against Fresno State, and two neutral-site games in Las Vegas against Arizona State and NC State.

The combination of scheduling and BYU’s impressive performance, including the win against No. 17 San Diego State, has earned the Cougars a No. 2 NET ranking — the analytics used by the NCAA Tournament selection committee to determine who gets to keep playing in March.

Robinson, a returned Latter-day Saint missionary, never dreamed he would coach at his church-sponsored BYU but he’s here and his influence is felt throughout the program. To his credit, even with a voice that requires him to temper high volumes, Robinson is making what Neil Diamond and Cougar fans would describe as “A Beautiful Noise.”

Jakob, Jaxson and Nick grew up in three different states in very different circumstances. When it came to sports, Jakob wanted to play at BYU. Jaxson had never heard of BYU (except for Jimmer), and Nick chose to play at Stanford — instead of BYU.

Despite the crooked paths each had to travel, the Three Robinsons found their way to Provo, where the trio is carving out its own place in history and having a really good time doing it.

Dave McCann is a contributor to the Deseret News and is a play-by-play announcer and show host for BYUtv/ESPN+. He co-hosts “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com and is the author of the children’s book “C is for Cougar,” available at deseretbook.com.

Despite heading into the 2024 season with plenty of experience and firepower, BYU men’s volleyball coach Shawn Olmstead admits he really doesn’t have a handle on how good the Cougars will be.

Until the Cougars face somebody other than themselves, who really knows?

“For the first time in a handful of years we didn’t play anybody in the offseason,” Olmstead said. “We usually get a scrimmage, but Pepperdine bailed out on us. That left us with not one day seeing another team so we’ve been beating up ourselves forever. I’ve coached this team long enough to know that even getting one outside competition in the fall gives us an idea of where we’re at. I just don’t have an idea and there are some unknowns.”

After finishing as NCAA runner-up in 2021, BYU hasn’t been back to the tournament. The Cougars were rebuilding in 2022 and finished 6-17, the program’s first losing record since 1996. Last season, BYU posted a 19-7 record, earning second place in the MPSF behind eventual national champion UCLA before falling to Stanford in the MPSF Tournament.

Five starters return at the pins and in the middle in 2024 and expectations within the program are high.

Olmstead said his team is like a powerful car with good tires and a strong engine. But how hard can he push it? How cautious does he need to be? Can he take some risks?

All he knows is the car is tuned up and ready to go.

“When I turn the key, it sounds pretty cool,” Olmstead said. “I think we have to figure out how to drive it and who we can drive it.”

After a rough 2022, BYU was a steady contender last season. The Cougars won their last eight regular season matches and defeated Concordia 3-1 to earn a spot in the MPSF Tournament semifinals. BYU fell to Stanford 3-2 and ended the season ranked No. 8 in the final AVCA poll, just missing out on an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament. Miks Ramanis was named honorable mention All-American and first team All-MPSF. Middle blocker Gavin Julian was tabbed to the All-MPSF second team and Trent Moser earned a spot on the MPSF All-Freshman team.

Ramanis (3.26 kills per set, .308 hitting percentage) returns for his junior year and there are a number of other options at the pins. Senior opposite Kupono Browne (2.19 kps, .239), Moser (2.50 kps, .233) and junior outside hitter Luke Benson ( 2.99 kps, .267) are all talented and ready to take another step in their progression. Julien (1.12 kps, .433) returns in the middle along with junior Teon Taylor, one of the nation’s top blockers last season at 1.32 blocks per set.

BYU must replace grad transfer setter Heath Hughes and libero Mitchel Worthington in the lineup. Junior Noah Haine (9.52 assists per set) stepped in and played well when Hughes missed six matches due to injury last season and will likely get first crack at the starting spot. Penn State transfer Tyler Herget (son of former Cougar linebacker Todd Herget) and highly touted 6-9 freshman Kyle Saurer will push Haine for playing time.

Sophomore Bernardo Adam will move to the libero position, along with sophomore Jackson Fife. Senior Jon Stanley, BYU’s serving specialist, is a versatile player who is one of the team’s emotional leaders as well.

“I think we need the experience of those guys returning to be around our new setter,” Olmstead said. “We have a little less experienced there and we understand that in matches there will be ups and downs, ebbs and flows. We’re comfortable with both of those positions (setter and libero). If we play Nardo (Adam), he has high-level experience playing in the world championships for Brazil. He’s been in the program and the guys on the team feel very confident with him.”

Another newcomer to watch is 6-7 sophomore middle blocker Tyler Watts, who was a first team NAIA All-American last season for Benedictine Mesa.

BYU opens at home with two matches against No. 11 Ball State. The Cardinals won the Midwestern Intercollegiate Volleyball Conference regular season title last season but lost to Ohio State in the league’s post-season tournament final. Ball State is already 3-0, winning two home matches against Division III Wabash and one against DI independent Thomas More.

“Ball State is a really big-time opener for us,” Olmstead said. “We went on the road to their place last year and we split two matches. Their coach does a phenomenal job. We love playing in the Smith Fieldhouse and are looking forward to our first match of the year. Our fans are unreal. The venue is always packed with familiar faces.”

The Cougars then play four straight road games, followed by ten straight matches in the Fieldhouse that include back-to-back clashes with defending national champion UCLA. The MPSF Tournament will be played at the Galen Center in Los Angeles April 17-20.

Despite returning most of its lineup that finished second in the MPSF last season, BYU was picked to finish tied for third in the league’s preseason poll.

“The focus of our offseason was understanding and processing what it takes collectively as a team to win,” Olmstead said. “We tried to put a ton of focus on game-type situation. When do I have a green light to make an error and attack over the course of a long rally? We want to be disciplined and we’ve been talking to the guys about playing good volleyball for a long time from start to finish, not just looking for that one moment. I think we’re seeing results with better serves and swings.”

Friday, 7 p.m. MT

Smith Fieldhouse, Provo

TV: BYUtv

Streaming: BYUtv.com

Live stats: byucougars.com

The Word: BYU leads the overall series with Ball State 14-6. … The Cougars are 10-2 against Ball State in Provo. … The two teams split a pair of matches in Muncie, Ind., last season. … BYU is 25-9 all-time in home openers and have won four of the past five to open the season.

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PROVO, Utah – BYU football has added transfer portal quarterback Gerry Bohanon.

The name should sound familiar, as BYU has faced Bohanon twice before. Now he will don the blue and white for the Cougars.

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A post shared by Gerry Bohanon Jr (@g.bohanon)

Bohanon has had previous stops with the Baylor Bears and the USF Bulls.

Bohanon has been a quarterback that BYU’s offensive staff has kept their eyes on for years. During the 2022 transfer portal cycle, BYU reached out to Bohanon to potentially be a backup signal-caller to Jaren Hall. Bohanon ended up going to USF.

BYU was attracted to Bohanon as a prospect because the Cougars run similar passing concepts as Baylor ran with Jeff Grimes when Bohanon was in Waco.

Gerry Bohanon career snapshot

He was a recruit in the class of 2018 and was the No. 1 player in the state of Arkansas for that recruiting cycle.

Bohanon prepped at Earle High School in Arkansas, where his mother, Juanita, was the principal. He passed for 11,362 yards and 142 touchdowns and rushed for 5,925 yards and 70 touchdowns.

#BYU adds former USF, Baylor QB Gerry Bohanon out of the Transfer Portal.

Instant reaction from #BYU Insider @Mitch_Harper.#BYUFootball #GoCougs #Big12 pic.twitter.com/kXGfEPLkrW

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) January 4, 2024

Bohanon has one year of college eligibility remaining. This is the breakdown of how he still has college eligibility, despite signing in 2018.

In 2018, Bohanon redshirted as a true freshman. The 2019 season was Bohanon’s redshirt freshman campaign.

Then in 2020, it was a free year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So in 2021, Bohanon remained a redshirt sophomore. During that 2021 campaign, he helped guide Baylor to a record-setting 12-win season, a Big 12 Championship and a Sugar Bowl win over Ole Miss.

In 2022, Bohanon was a redshirt junior. He transferred in the post-spring transfer portal window to the USF Bulls as a graduate transfer. Midway through that season, he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury that has since kept him sidelined.

The 2023 season was his redshirt senior year, but it qualified for a medical redshirt year by the NCAA. That leaves him with one year left at BYU.

Bohanon joins a BYU quarterback unit that includes Jake Retzlaff, who started the final four games of the 2023 season. They also bring back redshirt freshmen Ryder Burton and Cole Hagen. Plus, returning lettermen Cade Fennegan and Nick Billoups.

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for KSLsports.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow Mitch’s coverage of BYU in the Big 12 Conference on X and Threads: @Mitch_Harper.

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PROVO, Utah (AP) — BYU knew that if it was going to compete in arguably the nation’s best basketball conference, serious changes were needed.

Coach Mark Pope and his staff went to work building a roster after the Cougars accepted an invitation in 2021 to join the Big 12 Conference, knowing the transition would be difficult in the short term. BYU took plenty of lumps last season while mostly relying on inexperienced freshmen and sophomores.

One year later, the Cougars are 12-1, ranked 12th and showing they intend to make a serious splash in their debut Big 12 season.

BYU is off to its best start since opening the 1987-88 season with 17 straight wins. The Cougars are imposing their will on both ends of the court, scoring 90.4 points per game with a 58.5 effective field goal percentage while allowing 61.5 points per contest. All three categories rank in the top 12 nationally.

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“Everybody has this DNA now,” BYU guard Trevin Knell said. “We believe this is who we are and it’s so fun to see.”

Who the Cougars are now offers a sharp contrast to who they were during their final season in the West Coast Conference. BYU went 19-15, tying for fifth place in the WCC at 7-9. The Cougars failed to reach 20 wins for only the second time in 18 seasons and totaled their highest number losses since 2005.

It’s one reason BYU was picked 13th in the 14-team Big 12 media poll.

Perhaps the more seasoned Cougars knew better given their deep familiarity with what Pope wants his team to accomplish. His formula for success is simple — crash the boards, make the extra pass, take care of the ball and shoot almost at will from the perimeter.

BYU is doing all those things at an elite level. The Cougars lead the nation with 22.5 assists per game and rank first nationally with a 2.31 assist-to-turnover ratio. They also top Division I with 12.8 made 3-pointers per game and a plus-13.0 rebound margin.

“The identity that we’re chasing is not going to change,” Pope said. “I think we have a lot of faith in our preparation. We are humble. We understand what we’re walking into, but we know who we’re trying to be and it’s who we’ve been trying to be every day.”

BYU has accomplished all this even while not playing at full strength.

Fousseyni Traore, the team’s top returning scorer from last season, missed seven games last month with a hamstring injury. Leading scorer Jaxson Robinson battled an ankle injury in late December. Aly Khalifa, Dawson Baker and Dallin Hall missed games or played under minutes restrictions early in the season because of injuries.

Still, the Cougars keep rolling and have built quality depth to effectively combat the injury bug. BYU features nine players who have at least one 20-point game in their collegiate career.

“Our depth is important,” Pope said. “We still haven’t had a game with a healthy roster. I would like to do that at some point. I would like to have a healthy roster, but these guys have answered the bell in spite of that for a really impressive two-month run.”

Robinson, Khalifa and Noah Waterman have helped provide much of the spark.

Robinson leads BYU with 16.0 points per game. Waterman is the No. 2 scorer (11.8 average) and top rebounder (6.6). Both players are also shooting better than 40% from 3-point range. Khalifia sports a nation’s best 14.0 assist-to-turnover ratio and has committed only three turnovers in the 10 games he’s played.

But now the schedule gets tougher as the Cougars head into conference play, beginning with Saturday’s home game against Cincinnati. A dozen Big 12 teams rank in the top 100 of the NCAA NET rankings and nine are in the top 50.

“We’re stepping into 18 straight really challenging games where we’ll have all kinds of things happen to us,” Pope said, “but I think we have a chance.”

___

AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball

After 39 years of service as a prosecutor for Provo City Attorney’s Office and as Provo City Justice Court judge, Vernon “Rick” Romney chose to retire to serve a mission with his wife, Yevon Romney, for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. His retirement ceremony was held Dec. 14, almost one week after he received a lifetime achievement award from the Board of Justice Court Judges.

Romney and his wife have been called to serve in Peru, where he served a mission for the church as a young man before he was married. Romney will be serving with the church’s Area Legal Office in Lima, so his time spent working with the law is not yet over. His wife will be serving on assignments that are given to her by the area presidency, Romney said.

To continue his service to the community in the capacity of being a judge and in other ways, he plans to fill in for judges who are on vacation and participate in church and community service.

Romney said he learned from his parents to be involved in the community, adding, “I think we have an obligation to be involved in our community, (to) try to help others, to try and make our communities (and) our neighborhoods better.” Serving a mission for the church, he said, is one way he and his wife are giving back.

Romney started on his pathway to becoming a lawyer and a judge when he was just a kid.

“I probably didn’t have much of an imagination because my dad and my grandpa were lawyers, and I thought that’s what people did and that was what I would do,” he said.

He grew up in Salt Lake City but moved to Utah County when he was 22 and considers it home, he said. He met his wife at Brigham Young University, and together they have four children and 15 grandchildren. Throughout his career, his service to the community and the other work he has done over his life, he said his biggest accomplishment to date is his family — both the family he grew up in and the family he has created.

“Having the tremendous parents that I did, the wonderful wife, the wonderful children, there would be very little to compare with that,” he said. “The wonderful gift and blessing of family, that is just so dear to me.”

In 2007, Provo opened a municipal justice court instead of having cases continue to be handled in district court. Having worked in the Provo City Attorney’s Office for 22 years, most of the time as lead prosecutor, he applied and was selected by then-Mayor Lewis Billings to be the first and only Provo City Justice Court judge, and he has served in that capacity ever since. Now that he has retired, Steve Schreiner, who has been serving as lead prosecutor in the city attorney’s office, will succeed him. Schreiner was appointed to the position by Mayor Michelle Kaufusi and approved by the Provo City Council.

The municipal justice court handles cases such as DUIs, domestic violence, theft, public disorder, disorderly conduct, intoxication, minors in possession of alcohol, possession of marijuana and more.

Romney said, “It’s been wonderful. I’ve enjoyed coming to work every day. I’ve felt like we’ve made a difference for good in the community. I think the community’s a little bit safer because of what we’ve done in the city attorney’s office and as judge, and I’ve just enjoyed the camaraderie of my fellow workers (and) of the people I work with. It has been an honor; it has been a joy — my work with Provo City.”

“As a judge, you want to be firm and fair,” Romney said. “And it’s an art not a science, because every person is different, every case is different, and every case does not call for the same treatment.”

During his time in the Provo City Attorney’s Office, Romney said he learned a prosecutor’s duty is to achieve justice, not get convictions. One of the biggest challenges as a judge and prosecutor was determining “What does justice look like,” he said. One size does not fit all, he added, so his career consisted of constantly determining the meaning of justice and working to bring a just result to defendants and victims. One way he faced this challenge was by focusing on people as individuals.

Explaining his thoughts as he regularly faced this challenge, Romney said, “You hope that you’re able to always see the individual or the individuals in a case. They’re not widgets; they’re people — they have real lives, they have real stories, there’s real impact on them — and you hope you’re able to see that.”

Early in his career as a prosecutor, he worked on a case that impacted his perspective of those he was bringing justice to, particularly the victims. In this particular case, he was prosecuting a man who was involved in lewdness or another type of sexual offense involving children. He explained that as a prosecutor, he tried not to personalize or internalize the cases, “But at that time when I was prosecuting him, for some reason, I thought of my own little daughters — and they were young, they were grade schoolers at the time. I thought, ‘My word, how traumatic this must be for the victims, and how traumatic it would be if my daughters were victims.'”

He explained that the case gave him empathy for the impact these types of cases can have on victims and gave him empathy for victims’ rights.

“I think that helped me to see that we’re not just dealing with numbers. We’re dealing with people and we’re dealing with effects on people’s lives. We have real victims who’ve suffered real harm and we have real defendants who have difficulties, and we can assemble resources and help them or we can do things that will help the community so that these folks don’t re-offend and that the problems don’t keep reoccurring, because that’s what we want.”

“One of the very best things that’s happened while I’ve been justice court judge is we brought the Mental Health Court model into a Justice Court, into a more local court, and we’ve had some great success” Romney said. “(We have) some people who have graduated, who have not recidivated, not re-offended, and that has been something that I’ve been really happy about.”

Mental Health Court is a “problem-solving court,” Romney explained, for people whose offenses are related to a mental health condition. Approval must be given by Wasatch Behavioral Health after an assessment is completed.

Romney explained how the Mental Health Court model functions: A defendant will plead guilty or no contest, but rather than accepting the plea and a conviction going on their record, the plea is held in suspension. Instead of being sentenced, they are given the chance to receive mental health treatment. For one year, they are placed on a probationary-type status and are required to comply with medications and treatments. If they are compliant, at the end of their treatment, charges are dismissed and no conviction will show on their record. If not, the conviction and sentencing will go forward.

According to Romney, Mental Health Court benefits the community as well because people are getting the help they need. “They are getting better and doing better, and that’s what we like to see,” he said. “Then because of that, they’re not committing other crimes while they’re involved in the court and they’re not serving jail time while they’re in the court. So, it’s beneficial all the way around because jail is a very expensive substitute for mental health treatment.”

“It’s a wonderful career,” he added, “and particularly it is when people change for the better. … There’s a great satisfaction in being part of that process.”

While that does not happen all of the time, he said, “It happens with enough frequency that there is wonderful job satisfaction. There is wonderful job satisfaction in going home at night and thinking, ‘Well, the community is a little bit safer because of what I did today.'”

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Crews have broken ground on a new tech incubator in Provo.

Keith Morey, Provo’s economic development division director, said Qualtrics co-founder and former CEO Ryan Smith came to the city about two years ago with the idea. The live-work community would allow Smith to “invite entrepreneurs from around the world that had some tech concept that they were developing to live in his community,” said Morey.

From there, Smith will help “teach them to grow companies the way he grew Qualtrics.” The survey company is now one of Utah County’s biggest employers and was valued at $12.5 billion in March 2023 when it was sold to the private equity firm Silver Lake.

The development will be called The River District, and be built on 26 acres of land near the base of Provo Canyon. The plans are for a communal space with 198 residential units and 300,000 square feet of office space.

Provo worked with the billionaire to figure out what the project might look like, Morey said. Overall, the city is happy with the results.

“We’re really excited about it because it really aligns with who we think Provo is at our core,” added Morey.

Before anyone coined the phrase “Silicon Slopes,” there were tech companies in Provo. Both WordPerfect, an early word processor, and the software company Novell got their start in the area in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Since then, Provo has been the site of startups like smart home developer Vivint and cloud software companies Domo and Podium.

It’s worth noting that while these start-ups have been successful, the earliest ones don’t exist anymore. Morey thinks the constant churn and need for innovation is part of what makes an incubator a good idea for the city.

“We’re kind of a feeder environment for those tech developers,” he said. “When they’ve finished one concept, some of those companies sell off, but that intellectual talent stays here in our community and develops the next tech opportunity.”

In a tumultuous landscape, Morey hopes a tech incubator will help fill Provo with the next big ideas to keep the industry thriving.

While Smith’s vision of the incubator includes inviting talent from around the world to Provo, others hope it remembers the startups that are here.

“We have 9,500 tech companies here in Utah already,” said Elizabeth Converse, CEO and co-founder of the professional association Utah Tech Leads. “A lot of those tech companies need exactly what Ryan and other incubators are offering, whether or not it's a living space or that mentorship relationship in the professional realm.”

Construction has started on the residential section of the project and is expected to begin this year for the commercial side.

PROVO, Utah — The American Volleyball Coaches Association released its 2024 Preseason Coaches Poll on Wednesday afternoon, with the Cougars ranked No. 9 headed into their season opener this Friday.

BYU will be hosting four of the top-10 teams in Provo this season, including UC Irvine, Grand Canyon, Stanford and reigning national champion UCLA. In the 2023 season, the Cougars accomplished a perfect 14-0 home record and 19-7 overall record and headed into their season unranked in last year’s preseason poll.

The Cougars bring back outside hitter Miks Ramanis who was named an All-America honorable mention by the AVCA in its 2023 awards, his first honor from the AVCA. Ramanis was also named First Team All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation in 2023. Middle blocker Gavin Julien was named All-MPSF Honorable Mention and Trent Moser was named to the 2023 MPSF All-Freshman Team. Both Julien and Moser return for the 2024 season.

2024 AVCA Preseason Coaches Poll

Rank School 2023 Record

1 UCLA 31-2

2 Long Beach State 21-5

3 Hawaii 29-3

4 UC Irvine 18-11

5 Ohio State 23-10

6 Penn State 27-4

7 Grand Canyon 22-8

8 Stanford 15-13

9 BYU 19-7

10 Loyola-Chicago 21-7

Diego Camacho Salgado scored a team-high 71 points as BYU men’s swimming rolled up 649 points, eight event wins and 18 personal bests on its way to victory at the FIU Sprint Invite at Biscayne Bay Aquatic Center on Wednesday.

“We had a solid meet,” said BYU head coach Shari Skabelund. “Everyone found a way to stay alive in the dwindling heats. It was a perfect opportunity to give feedback to each athlete and watch them improve as the day went on.”

The Cougars’ winning 649 points came ahead of runner-up South Dakota’s 309 and Mary Washington’s third-place 211. BYU swept the four 50-yard sprints and held each of the eight spots in the one-on-one finals.

Camacho Salgado took first or second in each his eight races in Miami and won the 50 back final at 22.71. The junior from Tijuana, Mexico came up just short of another win with a runner-up spot at 20.63 in the 50 free final.

Fortunately for the Cougars, it was teammate Luigi Riva who knocked Camacho Salgado form the top spot in the 50 free. Riva won in the first round and semifinal of the event before finishing off with a win at 20.55 in the final. The junior from Milan, Italy garnered 60 points for the meet after clocking 45.30 to win the 100 free as well.

Emerson Edwards and Darwin Anderson scored 52 and 51 points, respectively, for BYU.

Edwards blasted through the 50 breast preliminaries before slowing to win the final at 31.62. The junior from Columbia, South Carolina clocked as fast as 25.17 in a new 50 breast personal best on Wednesday.

Anderson competed in three of the meet’s longer events and took second in each. The sophomore from Rock Springs, Wyoming cut a combined 4.68 seconds off his entry times in the 200 free and 100 fly as he clocked 1:40.75 and 50.39, respectively.

Tanner Edwards, Jordan Tiffany and Joseph Pyon rounded out BYU’s wins in Miami.

The younger Edwards notched new personal bests in each of his final three 50 fly races before going 21.96 to win the event. Tiffany cut nearly four seconds off his entry time in the 200 free to win at 1:37.54. The team’s reigning Big 12 Swimmer of the Week then hacked over 2.5 seconds off his entry time in the 100 breast to win with 54.32. Tiffany now ranks No. 8 all-time at BYU in the 100 breast.

Pyon, a freshman from Gainesville, Florida, made the most of his home state return with a run to the 50 fly semifinal and win in the 100 fly. Pyon recorded a personal best 21.83 in the opening round of the 50 fly then a winning 50.21 in the 100 fly.

BYU men’s swimming next competes in a tri-meet on the road versus Denver and Wyoming Jan. 12-13 in Denver, Colorado. BYU men’s diving will compete Jan. 12-13 as well but at UCLA’s Bruin Diving Invitational in Los Angeles, California.

Tahis Ibáñez, Halli Williams and Annie Reichner each won sprints as BYU women’s swimming posted 518 points and finished second at the FIU Sprint Invite at Biscayne Bay Aquatic Center on Wednesday.

“We had a solid meet,” said BYU head coach Shari Skabelund. “Everyone found a way to stay alive in the dwindling heats. It was a perfect opportunity to give feedback to each athlete and watch them improve as the day went on.”

Host Florida International scored a winning 636 points but competed divers while BYU did not. The Cougars finished over 200 points ahead of third-place South Dakota. Ibáñez and Williams led BYU with 40 points a-piece while Reichner scored 37.

Ibáñez entered the meet as the 13 seed in the women’s 50 fly with an entry time of 26.79. By meet’s end, Ibáñez had improved her time through each round of 50 fly competition and defeated FIU’s Oumy Diop in the final with a personal best 25.66. The sophomore from Rexburg, Idaho won three of four races on the day and finished second in the opening round of the 50 fly.

Williams held the top seed in the women’s 50 free and showed it with a dominant performance on the way to winning in the final. The junior from Houston, Texas finished second in the first round of the 50 free at 24.08 then made steady improvements while winning each ensuing round. Williams clocked 23.53 to win the 50 free final over Emily Kahn of South Dakota.

Reichner delivered the Cougars’ third win of the day in the 50 back. After finishing second in the first three rounds, Reichner sliced 0.4 seconds off her quarterfinal time to win the event at 26.83, narrowly edging FIU’s Diana Santamaria at 26.84.

Victoria Schrieber, Addison Richards and Kara Martinson each scored over 30 points to further bolster BYU.

Schrieber competed in four events and won the 200 free at 1:55.00 on her way to 33 points for the meet. The sophomore from Brighton, Michigan also cut over two seconds off her entry time to take sixth in the 100 back.

Richards scored 31 points as she reached the 50 breast semifinal with a personal best 30.78 and took third in the 100 breast at 1:06.84. Martinson competed in four events with her best finishes coming in the 100 and 200 free. The freshman from Weddington, North Carolina went runner-up in the 200 free at 1:55.01 and took sixth in the 100 free at 54.26.

Rachel Ballard, Mackenzie Lung and Daniela Flores Bautista garnered a combined 72 points for the Cougars as well.

BYU women’s swimming next competes in a tri-meet on the road versus Denver and Wyoming Jan. 12-13 in Denver, Colorado. BYU women’s diving will compete Jan. 12-13 as well but at UCLA’s Bruin Diving Invitational in Los Angeles, California.

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