BYU's most underrated player key to Cougars' WBIT semifinal run

PROVO — Brinley Cannon may not be BYU's leading scorer or top rebounder.

The former would be sharpshooter Delaney Gibb, who averages 18.3 points per game, and the latter is senior Lara Rohkohl, whose 6.6 boards pairs well with 8.2 points per game including a double-double in her final home game, a 76-61 win over Stanford in the WBIT quarterfinals.

But ask nearly anyone on the team, and the answer may be universal: The 6-foot-1 sophomore is earning a reputation as the Cougars' most underrated player during a WBIT run that could prove dividends for years to come.

"I've been teasing Brin, because she's the most humble person ever. Every time she shoots the ball, I think that it's going in," said Gibb of her classmate who shot 6-of-10 from the field for 15 points with four rebounds and an assist in 29 minutes last Thursday.

But there's more.

"Brinley is someone who does all of the things that aren't necessarily shown on the stat sheet," Gibb added. "She is the person getting every single loose ball, and I think our team has fed off that this season. It's been Brinley on 50-50 balls every time, and now a couple of others jump in there. But we can always count on Brinley to rebound and to defend her hardest, to give everything she has on the court.

"And I freaking love when Brinley knocks down threes."

The former two-time Idaho 4A player of the year has been arguably the most unassuming stars of a BYU women's basketball team that won 25 games in Lee Cummard's first season at the end of the bench, the most by a first-year head coach in program history.

But if Gibb is the face of the squad, Cannon is the heartbeat, a sophomore from Shelley, Idaho, who followed the path of her older brother McKay — who played for BYU from 2018-20 after starting his career at Weber State — and started all 36 games of her sophomore year after coming off the bench for all but four.

Cannon was recruited to BYU by former head coach Amber Whiting, who coached against her in Idaho 4A basketball at Burley High. But when Whiting was fired after her third season, Cannon stuck with the program, with a coach who moved up from associate head coach, and with a staff that remained largely intact while giving her even more responsibility.

She's thrived in it, shooting 43.9% from the field and 37.3% from the perimeter while averaging 7.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.4 steals per game. If there's something that needs to be done — from pulling up from deep to diving on the floor — Cannon will do it, like she did in the first half Thursday to lead BYU with 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting including a pair of triples to keep the Cougars in front at halftime.

"I probably sat her too long at the end. But she played great tonight," Cummard said. "I had her over there for a bit too long. But she's such a competitor and a good teammate that I knew if she came back in, she'd be ready to go. She's a great part of this group."

But even when Gibb offers an explicit compliment seated next to her, Cannon dishes it right back. For her, basketball is a team game — and she's part of a team.

"Delaney draws a lot of attention," Cannon said. "If you look at the shots I'm getting, they're in rhythm, they're easy, and it's just fun to play with really great players who give me those opportunities.

"The way they guarded our primary ball handlers, I had open looks all night. I was grateful that I could convert some of those, and compete."

Gibb is the unquestioned star of BYU women's basketball (25-11), which will face Big 12 rival Kansas in Monday's WBIT semifinals at Charles Koch Arena (3 p.m. MDT, ESPNU). Freshman Olivia Hamlin has drawn plenty of notice with 12.5 points per game, a top-25 season in the Big 12, too.

But the Cougars, who once led the Big 12 in rebounding and finished the season second behind only third-ranked TCU with 40.6 boards per game, has taken on the identity of Cannon: scrappy, hard-nosed, and willing to lay it all out for team success.

Now the group is two wins away from a championship, playing some of their best basketball as the calendar flips toward April — something only a handful of teams in the country can say.

"They just have a joy to them," Cummard said, "and nobody is ready for it to be over."

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