BYU basketball: Noah Hartsock is hoping for a big return

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. — Early Thursday morning, about five dozen friends, family members and former coaches of BYU sophomore forward Noah Hartsock will leave Bartlesville, Okla., for the two-hour drive to the Ford Center in downtown Oklahoma City to watch their native son and his Cougar teammates take on the Florida Gators in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

However, for Hartsock's high school fans who haven't seen him play basketball since he left Bartlesville High four years ago, they're going to see a player who now plays a different kind of basketball.

When the 6-foot-9 Hartsock wore a Bruins uniform, he was the team's only big guy, so the team's offense revolved mostly around him. He was the guy who needed to be the big scorer. He was the guy who got the ball in crunch time. In one game during the state playoffs in his senior season, he scored 36 of the Bruins' 49 points.

"Because we were not a very big team, they'd run all of the plays through me, and it made it so I was able to score a lot of points," Hartsock said.

But Hartsock was not only the big man on his own high school campus, but one of the most honored prep basketball players in Oklahoma. With averages of nearly 28 points and eight rebounds per game his senior year, he earned All-State honors and was named the top prep player in the northeast section of Oklahoma.

His numbers first caught the attention of coaches from Utah, then Oklahoma State, and eventually BYU. After a visit to Provo, he chose the latter.

"When I took my visit to BYU and met with coach (Dave) Rose, coach (Dave) Rice and coach (John) Wardenburg, it just seemed to be a good fit for me in the way they play basketball," he said.

The way Hartsock plays basketball now, however, has changed. He's gone from being the go-to guy to being BYU's role guy. Seldom is he BYU's first, second or third offensive option. He's mostly counted on to get rebounds and play defense. But when the shots do come his way, they're normally pretty good looks and he's normally pretty good at making them.

"I'm helping out this team in any way I can," Hartsock said. "As years go on, maybe I'll take on a bigger role. But right now I'm happy with what I'm doing for this team. I like my role, and I think it's an important role."

Last year as a freshman, and fresh off of an LDS Church mission, Hartsock came on strong late in the season but still averaged only 2.4 points and 2.3 rebounds per game. He did, however, shoot 58.1 percent from the floor and proved to BYU's coaching staff his value at doing the dirty work and letting the game come to him.