Hollywood has its silver screen. BYU has a curtain drop — and both spent the weekend projecting their stars as bigger than life. Actors won Oscars at the Academy Awards Sunday night while the No. 23 Cougars blitzed West Virginia at the Marriott Center.
While very different from each other, they share another thing in common — theater — and they are pretty good at it.
We have all felt the magic of sitting in a packed theater with hot popcorn and cold Junior Mints waiting for a much-anticipated movie to begin. Likewise, when the lights dim inside BYU’s sold-out venue and those 40-foot sheets fall from the scoreboard to a raucous beat and reflected dunks, the Cougars set the tone for their own kind of theater — basketball.
As thousands of movies and games have shown, it’s not enough to hold an audience with grand introduction. A good movie or a good team requires more than just high-level performers – both require a good script. Without a gripping story to follow, the production goes nowhere.
For Tinseltown, their Big Dance ended Sunday night at the Dolby Theater in Los Angeles with celebrated individual conquests amidst plenty of glitz and glamor. BYU’s quest for its own “One Shining Moment” is still a few weeks off, but its dramatic story is strengthening by the day.
Not only have the Cougars (21-8, 12-6) won six straight games, but a win at No. 9 Iowa State (22-7, 12-6) Tuesday night (7 p.m., ESPN2) would secure a top-four finish and double bye for the Big 12 Tournament March 11-15 in Kansas City.
Considering BYU started with a first-year college head coach, a new roster hyped by potential and a projected ninth-place finish in one of the top basketball conferences in the country, what we are seeing is not far from what Hollywood likes to make movies about.
In the spirit of coach Norman Dale, portrayed by the late Gene Hackman in the sports classic “Hoosiers,” Kevin Young could have looked at his team on the first day of practice and said, “Huddle up. Let’s see what kind of hand I’ve been delt here?”
Young’s debut in the Big 12 has been an education of highs and lows and may best be described by Sylvester Stallone’s character in Rocky Balboa — “It ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward; how much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!”
The Cougars put their 2-4 conference start behind them and surged to a confident 12-6, including a restoration into the AP Top 25. Young can glean from another Hollywood blockbuster, “Gladiator,”when Russell Crowe’s Maximus character shouted to the crowd, “Are you not entertained? Is this not why you are here?”
Without question, the Cougars are following a gripping script whose finish remains a mystery. The next scene plays out Tuesday in Ames where BYU, as an underdog, may need a Hollywood finish to pull it off.
Dave McCann is a sportswriter and columnist for the Deseret News and is a play-by-play announcer and show host for BYUtv/ESPN+. He co-hosts “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com and is the author of the children’s book “C is for Cougar,” available at deseretbook.com.
If Cougars won Oscars ...
- Best Picture: “Crushing Kansas.” BYU defeated No. 23 Kansas by 34 points, 91-57 on Feb. 18.
- Best Actor: Richie Saunders. The junior from Riverton has gone from a preseason afterthought to the No. 2 leading scorer (17.8) after 18 conference games.
- Best Actress: Sierra Saunders. She helped convince her husband to return to BYU for his junior season and she may be asked to reprise that role to get him back next year.
- Best Director: Egor Demin. When the freshman is in command of a game and directing the offense, BYU is a different team.
- Best supporting actor: Fousseyni Traore. The senior center scored 20 of his 1,285 career points against West Virginia and he grabbed 10 of 840 career rebounds against the Mountaineers. With Keba Keita on the roster, Traore went from a starter to a reserve but has maintained a key role for the Cougars.
- Best Makeup and Hairstyling: Dallin Hall and Trey Stewart — Hall for whatever he is trying to grow above his lip and Stewart for whatever he’s doing with his hair.
- Best Sound and Visual Effects: The Marriott Center. During the final media timeout, late in the second half, the lights go down and the turbulence begins. Shoutout to the ROC, senior associate athletic director David Almodova and his staff for making it happen. Any Hollywood producer would be impressed.
- Best Screenplay: The 2024-2025 season that is still being written.