PROVO — On the heels of BYU’s impressive 68-64 victory over Utah State last Saturday, the Cougars are looking more and more like an NCAA Tournament team.
It’s only December, of course, but when the NET rankings debuted Monday, BYU (9-4) checked in at No. 42, out of 353 teams.
The NET is the NCAA’s main ranking system, which replaced the RPI system last season. According to the NCAA, the NET focuses on “game results, strength of schedule, game location, scoring margin, net offensive and defensive efficiency and the quality of wins and losses.”
BYU has won two “Quad 1” games — at Houston and against Utah State. Two of the Cougars’ losses came to No. 2 Kansas and No. 3 San Diego State in the NET rankings. BYU has played the eighth toughest schedule so far, according to the NET.
Meanwhile, ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi’s NCAA Tournament projection this week has the Cougars in as a No. 12 seed, playing Iowa in a First Four matchup.
BYU hasn’t played in the NCAA Tournament since 2015.
The Cougars, who have won three games in a row, also ranked No. 41 in the latest KenPom.com rankings and received a vote in this week’s Associated Press poll. Kansas is No. 1 in the AP poll and SDSU is No. 20.
Jeff Goodman of Stadium.com tweeted Saturday night, “BYU with a BIG win over Utah State in Salt Lake. With Yoeli Childs shaking the rust off, Mark Pope’s Cougars should be an NCAA tourney team. WCC should get 3 in this year with Gonzaga, Saint Mary’s and BYU.”
The Cougars have two nonconference games remaining before tipping off West Coast Conference play Jan. 4 against Loyola Marymount. BYU hosts Weber State on Saturday and Oral Roberts on Dec. 28.
How important was the victory against USU (10-2), which was picked to win the Mountain West Conference?
“It’s huge. Every win is huge,” said Childs, who recorded a double-double with 20 points and 10 rebounds. “We’ve been trying to take every game seriously. We’ve had a great schedule and I’m really proud of the way we played together.”
Childs, who scored 16 points in the second half against the Aggies, has notched 40 career double-doubles. He and Kresimir Cosic (48) are the only Cougar players to have produced at least 40 double-doubles in program history.
“I love playing with these guys because they make everything easy for me and I make everything easy for them,” Childs said of his teammates.
Pope said last week that pro scouts are watching Childs closely.
“They’re paying attention to him every day. He’s just that player. He’s so intriguing. As he continues to round out his game, he’s going to transform those and other parts of his game,” he said. “They watch some of the things he does offensively and they’re going to be just as excited about some of the things he does regularly defensively.
“That’s where he is right now. That’s why he came back. That’s what he’s going to get done. I have all the confidence in the world that he’ll do that.”
The Cougars have been getting key contributions from players up and down the roster.
Against USU, TJ Haws scored 16 points, knocked down four 3-pointers and dished out five assists; Jake Toolson tallied five rebounds, four assists and two steals; Connor Harding hit a pair of 3-pointers to go along with three rebounds; Dalton Nixon had four rebounds, three assists and a blocked shot; and Kolby Lee added six points and four rebounds.
And Alex Barcello drilled the game-clinching 3-pointer with 27 seconds remaining.
“We’re not the tallest team or the most athletic team but we really come to fight together,” Barcello said.
As a team, BYU has made at least 10 3-pointers in six straight games, which is an ongoing school record. The Cougars drained 11 of 28 3s against the Aggies.
“We’re a great shooting team and coach stresses that,” Barcello. “We work on it every single day.”
Now BYU is looking to continue to play at a high level in hopes of landing in the NCAA tournament in March.