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PROVO — BYU basketball earned a key win before tipping off the first game of the 2023-24 regular season.
Top-150 recruit Brooks Bahr has committed to head coach Mark Pope and the Cougars, the Keller High (Texas) star announced Monday morning to 247Sports.
The 6-foot-4, 190-pound combo guard averaged 21.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.8 assists per game as a junior at Keller, leading the Indians to a 25-11 record that included a 13-1 record in district play.
Bahr, a left-handed three-star recruit who ranks No. 132 nationally by 247Sports and No. 17 among combo guards, prides himself on being a three-level scorer with a particularly highly game IQ and 3-point shooting ability. But mostly, he's just a worker, he told 247Sports — and he's ready to work for Pope and his coaching staff.
"I just felt like the coaching staff knew my game, and I've built great relationships with them," Bahr said. "I like the vision they have of me, and I think they can develop me into a really great player."
Bahr chose BYU over a final five that also included USC, Saint Mary's, Wake Forest and Utah, and even faked his commitment to USC in the traditional "hats on a table" commitment ceremony.
The moment drew laughs from his family and friends that surrounded him, but the bigger reaction came as Bahr picked up the BYU hat and unzipped his jacket to reveal a BYU shirt — when his father punched the air and gasped in excitement.
Bahr is the second commitment of BYU's incoming class of 2024 alongside four-star forward Isaac Davis from the Pocatello, Idaho, area. The group can sign as early as Wednesday's early signing period, but Bahr plans to serve a two-year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints immediately following high school and then join the Cougars in 2026, according to BYU blog Vanquish The Foe.
Per Bahr, it was Pope that made a huge difference even as Wake Forest and dynamic coach Steve Forbes, in particular, made a strong impression on him during an official visit. He also had offers from Oklahoma State, Nebraska, Utah State and Northwestern, among others.
"I love the way he talks through the game of basketball, and the way he breaks down everything," he said. "I think we can be super successful and win at a high level."
