BYU’s Egor Demin Flashes Lottery Level Talent

“Capture the Flagg” has been lovingly dubbed the unofficial name of the 2025 NBA draft by many fans this year.

It of course derives from Duke Freshman and projected #1 overall pick, Cooper Flagg, and the fans of teams who desire to land him in the lottery.

Despite a very talented draft class featuring players such as Dylan Harper, Ace Bailey, and VJ Edgecombe, Flagg has been the projected top priority for some time now.

This hype of course comes before the college basketball season get’s fully underway as most teams have just recently played their first game of the season.

As the season goes on these mentioned projections will fluctuate and shift based on how players actually perform on the hardwood.

Some will have stock rise, some will have it fall and the “projected 2025 NBA Mock Drafts” that have been floating around prior to the start of the basketball year have a high probability of looking much different than they do now.

Take for example, BYU’s Egor Demin, the freshman from Moscow, Russia making his debut in Provo last night during a 88-50 beat down of Central Arkansas to start the year.

Demin committing to BYU was a big deal back in May, especially for a team that hasn’t seen an NBA draft selection since Jimmer Fredette in 2011.

Demin was expected to break this drought as a “one and done type of talent” but how high he would go in the draft would be dependent upon his season at BYU. And it’s off to a great start.

If you were to pull up recent mock drafts you would find Demin sitting at the 20^th overall selection for CBS, 15^th overall on Bleacher Report and 23^rd overall via The Athletic.

Those numbers aren’t within the NBA’s lottery, but all it takes is a solid season, consistent performance and a highlight play or two and someone like Demin can see their stock get a lot closer to a Cooper Flagg type of player.

Last night was step #1 on that path.

In the win Demin flashed pure shooting, aggressive scoring and an absolute feel for the game with some elite passing.

His final stat line looked a little something like this:

With a double double only 26 minutes into the game, a lot of eyes quickly switched onto the Cougars forward and talk has already begun on how good this kid might be.

It even went as far as saying that Cooper Flagg may have some competition for best overall freshman:

When they hype comes, so do the in depth breakdowns, and Demin’s first game had plenty of film for hoops heads and draft analyst to look at.

And of course any game worthy of moving up one’s draft stock has to have the “cool” play you can show your friends, and this one did:

Egor also did the thing where your debut performance just so happens to be as impactful as some of the best ball players to come before you.

It’s one game, and on top of that it’s a win over Central Arkansas, a team that hasn’t had more than 15 wins since 2017, but it was still a coming out party for the basketball world to see that BYU might just be “appointment TV” this year and Egor Demin’s stock can be expected to rise.

BYU next takes the floor this Friday the 8^th as they host UC Riverside at 7:00 Utah time.