The architect of the new Kentucky basketball offense is ready to run. Here's what he's thinking.

LEXINGTON, Ky. — Between sessions at the NBA combine last month, the smile on Jaxson Robinson’s face grew wider when Cody Fueger’s name was mentioned.

Robinson, the leading scorer at BYU last season, recalled the countless hours spent in Fueger’s office, going over film and learning more about his own game. The 21-year-old spoke of soaking up as much information as possible while he was around the Cougars assistant coach.

After it was pointed out that some have described Fueger as a “genius” when it comes to basketball offense, Robinson interjected. “He is,” adding that BYU’s electric offensive style was “amazing” last season, often too much for defenses to handle.

“And Cody Fueger is definitely the brain behind all that,” Robinson said.

Sitting in a room in the Joe Craft Center last week, Fueger laughed out loud and shook his head when that quote — the one about being “the brain” behind BYU’s offense — was read back to him.

“Jaxson’s the best,” Fueger said. “He always has my back.”

The basketball lifer — he started out as a teen-aged student assistant under legendary Utah coach Rick Majerus — immediately deflected that bit of praise. Heading into his 10th year as an assistant coach under Mark Pope — Kentucky basketball’s new leader — Fueger acknowledged he was the “offensive coordinator” of Pope’s teams but said the two work closely together.

“Coach and I talk about that stuff every single day. And I’m not one of those people that claims I have all the answers. I’ll talk to everybody about everything,” he said. “… So I am far from saying I’m like that. I’d rather just — we’re all in this together. And that’s how you win championships. That’s how it’s done.”

A couple of months ago, shortly after he took the UK head coaching job, Pope spoke glowingly of Fueger, his first official hire with the Wildcats and clearly one of his most trusted colleagues.

“He’s a brilliant basketball mind,” Pope said then. “He was brought up by Rick Majerus — almost like Rick’s adopted son. Like that young. Learning from him, and Rick was one of the best to ever do it. And Cody just keeps pushing the envelope. He keeps pushing the envelope on the offensive side to where we’re getting to the really, really extremes of college basketball.

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