{"id":762025,"date":"2026-06-15T23:36:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T23:36:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/762025\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T23:36:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T23:36:20","slug":"byu-basketball-what-richie-saunders-is-saying-before-nba-draft-deseret-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/762025\/","title":{"rendered":"BYU basketball: What Richie Saunders is saying before NBA draft \u2013 Deseret News"},"content":{"rendered":"

At 24 years old, Richie Saunders<\/a> is among the oldest prospects in this year\u2019s NBA draft, but that doesn\u2019t bother him one bit.<\/p>\n

While his age has given some pundits pause, the BYU star views it as a wealth of experience he can draw from to more quickly contribute upon arriving in the NBA.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve played in 180 college games. I\u2019ve been in crazy situations. I\u2019ve had to win games and I\u2019ve lost games at the buzzer. I\u2019ve had to learn from those things,\u201d Saunders said on the \u201cKevin O\u2019Connor Show\u201d podcast, speaking to Yahoo Sports analyst Kevin O\u2019Connor.<\/p>\n

\u201cFortunately, the teams (I\u2019ve talked to) have been very positive about (my age) actually, where it\u2019s an advantage versus a disadvantage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just nine days away from likely hearing his name called in the second round of the NBA draft, here are more highlights from Saunders\u2019 conversation with O\u2019Connor.<\/p>\n

On how he would describe his playing style<\/p>\n

\u201cI just put my whole heart and soul into this game. I love playing basketball and I love doing the things that impact winning. I shoot the ball, but I know how to get offensive rebounds and how to guard.<\/p>\n

\u201c… That\u2019s just what I want people to take out of my game, is it doesn\u2019t matter where you\u2019re from or whatever, where you\u2019re measuring at or whatever, you can just go and put your whole heart into this game and have great impact on the game because of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

On how his shooting improved each year at BYU<\/p>\n

\u201cI think just (gaining) experience is a real thing, and having to go from high school to being in a stadium packed full of people and having to handle all that pressure, I just think I honestly got used to it and I just learned how to handle all that pressure better. <\/p>\n

\u201cI had two different college coaches and really appreciated the different things that they taught me. I appreciate how (Kevin Young) helped get me to my spots to where I\u2019ve been effective (shooting from) my whole life. Just his way to help me get to those spots is one of the reasons why I\u2019m here.\u201d<\/p>\n

On how Kevin Young convinced him to remain at BYU<\/p>\n

\u201cHis pitch to me was really twofold, \u2018I\u2019m going to help you become a better closeout player … and then two, I\u2019m going to help you become elite at coming off ball screens and reading the defense.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cEssentially taking that and him explaining how he was going to do that, coming from his background, it was really hard to pass up on. I want to have a long career in the NBA, and he essentially helped create a great foundation to move into this next level.\u201d<\/p>\n

On his Latter-day Saint mission experience<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m mentally stronger because of those two years. I think (the mission) played an incredibly huge role in why I\u2019m here and why I believe I can make a great impact at the next level. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s different when your whole focus is not basketball, you know, and I chose to do that. I chose to step away for two years and learned all the life lessons and all the off-court stuff. <\/p>\n

\u201c… Those character-building moments for me of having to choose to get up earlier, get my work in, knowing that I was going to be uncomfortable all day and I was going to have to get out of my comfort zone all day, I mean, I look back (at that) with a lot of fondness for what it taught me, just the daily grind and loving the grind.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

On his torn ACL recovery<\/p>\n

\u201cIn addition to all of my rehab, I\u2019ve put on some good upper body, lean muscle pounds. I\u2019m going to come out of this with a stronger upper body and more athletic because of the details I\u2019m putting into my (physical therapy). <\/p>\n

\u201cBut the two skill-wise things (I\u2019m working on) are better touch from around the hoop and improve my touch and handling (the ball) better. I\u2019ve been on the road a lot lately, but I\u2019m in the gym and working on my handles and working on my touch. I\u2019m not able to go play a five-on-five game or whatever, or even get in a real coming off screens workout, but yet I can control my dribbling and how much I\u2019m handling the rock and work to improve that.\u201d<\/p>\n

On if he cares about his draft position<\/p>\n

\u201cI think before my injury it would have mattered more, but now I\u2019m trying to go to the right team and get in the right situation. I don\u2019t actually care where or what number I get drafted, you know? <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m trying to trying to find a good contract and a great team that values the things that I value and where there\u2019s an opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

On why basketball matters to him<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve dedicated so much of my life to this game. It\u2019s not only brought me my wife, but it\u2019s taken me around the world and connected me with so many people that have helped me along my journey. <\/p>\n

\u201cI love that I get to dedicate so much of my life to this game and something that I get to work at and do imperfectly, but try to just give my soul to this thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"BYU guard Richie Saunders (15) high-fives fans after the Cougars defeated Holy Cross in a game held at the Marriott Center in Provo on Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At 24 years old, Richie Saunders is among the oldest prospects in this year\u2019s NBA draft, but that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":762026,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[7,1111],"class_list":["post-762025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-basketball","tag-news-feed-local"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116756754411238777","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=762025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/762025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/762026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=762025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=762025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=762025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}