It doesn’t hurt to be reminded what humble pie tastes like, especially before a national tournament where the winner advances and the loser goes home — for good. Big 12 champion Houston force-fed BYU a big slice of humility in Kansas City.
It’s not like the Cougars were arrogant or even overconfident. It was more of a reality check. To beat teams of the caliber of Houston in the NCAA Tournament, it will take everything they have, including a whole lot more than six 3-pointers.
BYU is a high-flying, run-and-gun kind of team that, when focused, can beat No. 19 Arizona 96-95 in Tucson, No. 23 Kansas by 34 in Provo, and No. 10/12 Iowa State — twice in two weeks in Ames and Kansas City.
The Cougars have the size, depth, experience and a wide array of shooters to go where no BYU team has gone since 2011 — beyond the first round. Kevin Young’s pep talk in the losing locker room Friday night was solid gold — so long as his guys take it to the bank.
“I want you guys to take to heart that the urgency and focus has to come up,” Young said shortly after No. 2 Houston roughed his Cougars up 74-54 to snap BYU’s nine-game winning streak. “Because if you guys have that, and you play true to who you are, it’s about to be so fun!”
As a second-year Big 12 member that finished tied for third place in the Big 12 regular season, the Cougars enter the Big Dance with a pretty good idea about who they are. Perhaps they weren’t so sure last year when, as a No. 6 seed, they let 11-seeded Duquesne bounce them from the first round 71-67 in a game where BYU led only once, 20-19.
The staff/roster dismantling that followed the season preceded a restoration that put the program in a better position to win and advance this year. Hiring Young and his NBA-savvy staff, retaining key players from last year, and recruiting high schools, the transfer portal and overseas has turned BYU not only into a contender, but also into a circus act.
They are a Barnum & Bailey-type show made for the big top. When the Cougars are flying high and the lob dunks are going down and the 3-point shots are going in, they make for must-see TV, and there is no better stage to show it off than the NCAA Tournament.
Picked to finish ninth in the Big 12 before the season began, BYU (24-9) has already surprised a lot of people. But after winning nine of its last 10 games, the cloak masking their skills is off and their secret is out.
Fans in Ames, Iowa, watched in disbelief (twice) as the Cougars combined to sink 29 3-pointers and score 181 points against Iowa State’s top-10 defense.
Died-in-the-wool Kansas fans still don’t want to talk about what BYU did to their beloved Jayhawks — delivering a 91-57 defeat and Bill Self’s worst loss in his 22 years as the Kansas head coach.
Folks in Tucson are scratching their heads over the Cougars’ 96-point barrage — something Arizona hadn’t seen at the McKale Center since Jimmer Fredette’s squad put 99 on them 16 years earlier.
Sometimes, as in 2011, losing can trigger winning. San Diego State beat Fredette’s Cougars 72-54 to win the Mountain West Conference tournament in Las Vegas. BYU responded the following week in the NCAA Tournament by beating Wofford and Gonzaga in Denver to reach the Sweet 16.
Fourteen years later, the Cougars are going back to Denver, and if they take their A-game with them, it could make for another mile-high moment to remember.
Humble pie didn’t taste good last Friday and the way they were forced to consume it wasn’t pleasant. However, it should be out of the Cougars’ system by the time they take the floor against defensive-minded VCU (28-6) in Thursday’s first round.
There are two important things for BYU to remember — pack enough clothes to get through the weekend and bring the circus.
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.