I was already to delve into the question of whether BYU head men’s basketball coach Kevin Young should change the minutes of Cougar freshman Egor Demin.

Sure, on the surface, it seems like a ludicrous question but I had my reasons.

Demin was Young’s big coup in his first season, getting the multi-million-dollar man, the future NBA lottery pick, to get things rolling for a season at BYU before heading off to be the next European star in the NBA.

I was breaking down his numbers, looking at how the freshman was averaging 11.1 points per game heading into Tuesday’s Big 12 game at West Virginia, where he tallied 16 points and 2 assists. He leads BYU with 113 assists for the year while tacking on 11 blocks and 27 steals.

There are so many times during the season that I’ve watched Demin make a great play or come up with that pinpoint pass that I didn’t even see coming and I just go, “Wow!”

But you also can’t ignore some of the things that haven’t gone well for the freshman. He has 60 turnovers, is making just 27% of his 3-point attempts and is just a 65% free-throw shooter.

And while Demin is the most high-profile, I was also looking at some of the other newcomers on the Cougar roster who have had ups and downs.

Freshman Kamon Catchings can be brilliant with his silky-smooth high release — and he can get carried away and make poor decisions.

Junior Mihailo Boskovic has been getting more minutes but has only averaged 3.4 points per game.

My thought process was that BYU can’t afford to lose winnable games if it wants to get into the NCAA tournament, so maybe it needs to put more on the shoulders of the veterans instead of the newcomers.

As I watched the Cougars take on the Mountaineers, I could see some validation for that point of view.

There was BYU senior Trey Stewart, coming in to hound West Virginia star Javon Small and confidently draining a pair of buzzer-beater 3-pointers on his was to eight points.

Should he be on the floor more?

There was junior Dallin Hall getting the Cougar offense on track when he entered in the first half, including knocking down a couple of 3-pointers.

Maybe more minutes should be his.

And what about senior Fousseyni Traore, who had a monster game last time he was in Morgantown (24 points, nine rebounds) and got a couple of early buckets for BYU when he came in off the bench on Tuesday.

Perhaps the Cougars should go through Traore in the post more.

All of that was great and there was logic to my musings … but then the final 10 minutes of the game happened.

Suddenly Demin was the key figure, making big shots and big passes as well as getting a game-changing steal. He even calmly stepped up and drained the two free throws that gave BYU the lead in the final minute.

And there was Boskovic, coming through with the monster and-1 finish in the final seconds to push the Cougar lead to four points and allow BYU to come away with a road win.

And I shouldn’t forget Catchings, who drained a pair of enormous 3-pointers as well as getting fouled on two others (making 5-of-6 free throws).

So did those successes change my mind?

You’ve got to give credit where credit is due. That trio certainly played monumental roles in getting BYU the win.

It did make me rethink things a little bit, although I’m still of the opinion that the Cougars might be better served to start Hall and bring Demin off the bench just to attempt to get the offense going sooner.

But I have to admit that when those newcomers play well, they can be really, really good.

How Young divvies up those limited game-time minutes will probably go a long way in determining how BYU does over the last few weeks of the season.

If he makes the right calls, the Cougars should get enough wins to have a solid shot at make the Big Dance.

But that’s still a big if and BYU still has to make it work on the floor.