New BYU basketball coach Mark Pope ‘out of my mind hyped’ to land UVU graduate transfer Jake Toolson

Provo • BYU’s men’s basketball program has landed shooting guard Jake Toolson.

Again.

New coach Mark Pope announced Friday that the 6-foot-5 Toolson, the Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year at Utah Valley last season, has officially been accepted into a graduate program at BYU and will be immediately eligible in 2019-20 as a graduate transfer.

Toolson, who began his college career at BYU, graduated from UVU earlier this month and was named an honorable mention All-American in March.

“I’m out of my mind hyped,” Pope said in a school news release. “I’ve been incredibly blessed to have [had] the honor of coaching Jake Toolson for the last several years. I’ve watched him grow from a talented young player to one of the most efficient offensive threats in the country.”

Pope called Toolson “one of the most highly sought-after grad-transfers in America” and said he chose BYU over “the likes of Duke and Virginia.”

Toolson averaged a team-high 15.7 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists for UVU last season — while playing for Pope at the Orem school — and helped the Wolverines to a 25-10 record.

He played his first two collegiate seasons at BYU (2014-16) and averaged 2.8 points and 1.5 rebounds in 36 games.

from The Salt Lake Tribune http://bit.ly/2ExhtuH