BYU basketball's latest five-star freshman, Bruce Branch III, is generating early buzz as a potential NBA draft prospect who could continue the Cougars' recent pipeline to professional basketball. Deseret News profiles the freshman phenom and asks whether he can achieve more team success than his immediate predecessors.

Branch would be the third consecutive BYU player drafted in the NBA first round if projections hold. The article examines his early performance and what it would take for him to help BYU achieve deeper postseason runs than recent star players did.