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With a tie for third place in the Big 12 and a guaranteed ticket to the NCAA Tournament, Kevin Young takes BYU (23-8, 14-6) to the league’s tournament in Kansas City with a ton of momentum.
BYU has one of the most potent offenses in the league, proven depth, and a defense that is climbing into the top 50 in the country, according to KenPom rankings.
In Richie Saunders, BYU has a first-team Big 12 player who has proved versatile, durable and consistent this season, and has been a superstar during the Cougars’ current eight-game win streak.
Young also says in all his years as a basketball coach, this Cougar team stands out for its locker room cohesion and support of one another, and he’s witnessed it in the losses and the wins.
How ready is BYU to make some noise this postseason? About as good as the TJ Haws days in 2020 and Jimmer Fredette era in 2011. Maybe better because of depth.
Question of the week
An eight-game win streak with three wins over ranked teams, two of them on the road at Arizona and Iowa State would seem to give BYU a lot of momentum for the Big 12 tournament in Kansas City. Will BYU be able to continue the streak Thursday night? Put into perspective your views on how the Cougars should do at the Phillips 66 Big 12 affair.
Jay Drew: The minute the Big 12 tournament bracket was finalized, my immediate reaction was that this is not a good draw for BYU. Why? Because the Cougars will probably play No. 12-ranked Iowa State in the quarterfinals on Thursday morning (10:30 a.m. MDT, ESPN or ESPN2) and if there is a team other than the Kansas schools that you don’t want to face in Kansas City, it is ISU.
Their fans are known for turning T-Mobile Center into Hilton Coliseum South, coming down in droves from Ames — which is less than a four-hour drive away. Iowa State must beat the Cincinnati-Oklahoma State winner Wednesday, obviously, but I like the Cyclones' chances of advancing. I also think that playing the day before will be helpful in terms of getting to know the atmosphere, the sight lines, etc.
If the Cougars were to get past the quarterfinals, they would probably face Houston in the semifinals. Houston is just not a good matchup for BYU — or for most other teams in the Big 12. But even if BYU loses on Thursday or Friday, all is not lost. The Cougars already know they are in the Big Dance, and a loss to another nationally ranked team is not going to hurt their seeding all that much.
What is important is that they stay healthy and maintain the momentum and confidence with which they came out of the regular season. That’s going to be important when the real tournament begins next week.
Dick Harmon: Assuming BYU will get a rematch with Iowa State on Thursday morning, they’ll certainly face a revenge-minded opponent. Ordinarily, this would stack a lot of momentum on the side of ISU, but this isn’t an ordinary BYU basketball team. Iowa State had BYU on its home court just over a week ago. They forced 29 turnovers but still lost to the Cougars.
Whoever BYU plays will have played at least one game already and tired legs will come into play in the second half. If this Cougars team has shown anything the past eight games, it is depth, ability to adapt, continued defensive pressure, and firepower. The Cougars have gone 6-1 against tournament teams and 3-0 against tournament teams on the road (Arizona, Iowa State, West Virginia). This is amazing and a solid trend.
The other thing that stands out about what Kevin Young is doing is he’s keeping his players engaged and hungry. By playing 10 players with significant minutes, we are seeing many of them step up and contribute in points, rebounding and defense. That’s a great recipe for postseason play. I credit the play of Dallin Hall, Keba Keita, Dawson Baker, Trey Stewart and Mawot Mag as essentially giving Young another basketball team to throw at opponents. Young said it complicates an opponent’s capability to scout, prepare and play his team and that is evident with the Cougars current 8-0 run.
A key in Kansas City this week, one that BYU didn’t have in the WCC, is that a loss doesn’t kill the NCAA seed for BYU. No shame in a loss to an Iowa State or Cincinnati in the Big 12 Tournament. Right now, BYU is anywhere from a five to seven seed no matter what happens, so BYU can play free and with fun in KC. No need to tighten up and make it more complicated than it needs to be.
Cougar tales
BYU finished the regular season with an expected win over Utah in a packed Marriott Center. Here is my analysis of that game. This is commentary from Dave McCann, looking at where BYU sits heading into Big 12 postseason play.
BYU’s Richie Saunders and Egor Demin were named to the Big 12 all-conference team released Monday. BYU parts ways with women’s basketball coach Amber Whiting and her daughter point guard Amari will be hitting the transfer portal. Denver QB Zach Wilson is headed to Miami for a one-year contract.
From the archives
From X-verse
Extra points
- BYU isn’t a one-trick pony (Deseret News)
- Cougars ready to take on the world (Deseret News)
- Four-star recruit visits campus (KSLsports)
Fanalysts
Comments from Deseret News readers.
It’s been a thrilling eight games. We’ve played so well, and have so much confidence about March Madness.
But everyone felt this way after football beat Utah last fall. And though we were sure it was in the bag, we lost to two beatable teams and missed the Big 12 championship.
Same with 2020: We cleaned up the season we built from scratch, but pooh-poohed our bowl opponent UAB. And lost to them (for crying out sad).
As a 45-year BYU fan, I must say Coach Young will need snakebite antidote for March Madness. Because that’s just been our way. The statistics don’t lie.
In 50 years since expanding to 32 teams (and 64 10 years later), we’ve made the tournament 24 times = 48%, which is pretty good.
But it’s been a very steep dropoff from there. Here’s our stats for the first two games:
1st’s: 9/24 = 38%, 9/50 = 18%
2nd’s: 2/9 = 22%, 2/24 = 8%, 2/50 = 4%
That’s pitiful.
We did win a 3rd game once, by one point. And it was great.
But we lost Jimmer’s Player of the Year season, when everyone thought we’d make the Final Four. But we lost Davies and ran out of gas vs. Florida. So disappointing.
So 3rd’s 1/2 = 50%, 1/9 = 11%, 1/24 = 4%, 1/50 = 2%. We’ve never made the Final Four or championship.
It feels like we can again. But the collective mindset of players and fans has to be more realistic, and tough, and resilient than ever before. We must, or our hearts will get broken yet again. And I don’t know how we get there.
— Biopowertrain
I find the angst that fans put into rankings kind of humorous. Is BYU really the 17th best team in the country? We will find out in two weeks if they are standing when the Sweet 16 results are in. College rankings are a media-created thing to drive fan interest. They basically measure how long it has been since a team has lost a game. Teams with strong media pull like Duke, Kansas and UNC will get more favorable treatment then less prestigious programs.
— Tired_of_Contention
Up next
- March 13 | Swimming | CSCAA National Invitational Championship | @ Ocala, Florida
- March 13 | 10:30 a.m. | Men’s basketball| Big 12 Championship | @ Kansas City, Missouri
- March 13 | 2 p.m. | Baseball | UCF | @ Provo