Saying Goodbye To Stephen Rogers

Photo Credit: BYU Photo

Another piece of bad news struck the BYU basketball program this afternoon as the school announced that senior forward Stephen Rogers has played last game in a Cougar uniform. I had been harboring a sinking feeling that this might be the case for a few weeks now, and it's truly sad to see it actually come to pass.

As most know, Rogers had struggled to rebound from a meniscus injury suffered last year. He underwent surgery and subsequent procedures, but the knee continued to swell after intense periods of athletic activity. Coaches and staff were hopeful that the issue could be resolved and that Rogers would be able to contribute in 2012-2013, but the swelling persisted and has now resulted in his early retirement from the sport.

This development leaves coach Dave Rose with a severely depleted lineup as his team gets ready to begin the season in earnest with tonight's annual intra-squad scrimmage. With Rogers and Chris Collinsworth both permanently unavailable due to chronic injury problems, the Cougars have only 11 scholarship players available and able to play this year. Factor in the endless grind of playing 30-plus physical games over the next five months, and it's fair for fans to be a little nervous about what may happen down the road — particularly if the injury bug bites BYU once again.

Rogers showed occasional flashes of the silky outside touch that caused Rose to bring him to Provo, but he never quite lived up to his reputation as a rapid-fire scoring machine. However, this reality, while sad in and of itself, should provide a small silver lining for Cougar fans. That probably sounds like an insensitive thing to say so soon after the guy announces his retirement, but let me explain.

When I heard the news, my immediate reaction — other than sadness for Rogers — was that this presented a serious problem for BYU. One of the biggest weaknesses of last year's team was poor outside shooting. They just couldn't hit the broad side of a barn (although they certainly kept trying), and that persistent inaccuracy likely cost them a few winnable games. If the 2012-2013 iteration hopes to have more on-court success than their predecessors, they will have to shoot the ball at a much higher percentage. They know this.

So when I heard that Rogers was out for good, I immediately feared that the Cougars had lost one of their best deep threats, thus making a significantly improved showing from beyond the arc a much more difficult proposition. But then I thought about it some more, and that line of thinking just didn't sit right with me. I didn't really remember Rogers being a substantial contributor or ever really shooting the ball that well, but it was possible that I was wrong. I went to the numbers to find out.

As a team, BYU shot a disastrous 34.3 percent on three-pointers last season. Stephen Rogers shot a middling 34.8 percent from the same distance, just barely above the the team average. Not fantastic. But he struggled with injuries for much of the year, I told myself. That might have affected his accuracy. Fair point. So I checked his 2010-2011 stats — 34.4 percent, slightly worse than when he was playing on one leg. These are not the numbers of a long-distance savior.

This isn't meant to be a knock on Rogers or what he brought to the team in his two years in Provo. By all accounts, he was a nice player and a good teammate. I would have liked to have him on the floor this year. But he was also a pretty average shooter, statistically speaking, which runs contrary to so many people's perceptions of his skill set. In other words, the idea of Stephen Rogers was better than the reality of his production.

Does that mean he couldn't have helped the Cougars improve their outside shooting this year? No, he probably would have. It's always good to have another talented player on the bench. But he was never going to solve the problem single-handedly — if anything, the numbers indicate that Rogers' stroke could have used some work, just like the rest of his teammates.

At the end of the day, the outlook for 2012-2013 remains relatively stable for BYU. The key to their offensive improvement has always been simple: Returning players need to improve their percentages from behind the arc, while newcomers like Tyler Haws, Raul Delgado, and Cory Calvert hopefully provide an additional boost in firepower. All of that is still true. However, as of this afternoon, there is simply one less guy to help shoulder that responsibility.

I know Stephen Rogers wishes his career could have ended differently. I wish the same thing. Even though he probably couldn't have resurrected the team's wayward shooting, I still wish he could be out there on the Marriott Center floor tonight with his teammates, ready for a fresh start. Unfortunately, he'll be in street clothes, getting a fresh start of a different kind — and I wish him the best luck.


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