BYU basketball: ESPN projections have BYU out of the NCAA Tournament

PROVO — March Madness is still weeks away, but BYU is already sitting squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble.

ESPN.com's Joe Lunardi came out with his updated tournament projections Monday, and the Cougars found themselves on the outside looking in, as one of the "first teams out," along with Texas, Northwestern and Notre Dame.

BYU has a 17-5 record overall and is 6-2 in West Coast Conference play. The Cougars are taking a break from WCC action with a non-conference tilt at Virginia Tech of the Atlantic Coast Conference on Wednesday (5 p.m., MST, ESPN3).

BYU was set to make the long trip to Blacksburg, Va., this morning, with an evening practice scheduled for that night, said coach Dave Rose. The Cougars will return home immediately following the game.

On Saturday, BYU hosts WCC league-leader Saint Mary's, which is ranked No. 21 in the nation.

The Cougars have played in the NCAA Tournament in each of the last five seasons, and talk will heat up in the coming weeks about BYU's chances of keeping that streak alive.

But Rose wants his players living in the moment.

"That's probably the most important thing with this team right now. We need to realize the importance of each game, we need to realize the importance of each practice and our ability to get better," he said. "I think we have pretty level-headed, mature kids, but everybody gets caught up in what other people are saying about you. Hopefully, we'll be able to focus in on the things that are important to help our team get better."

Certainly, a win over an ACC team would help BYU's tournament resume, as would a victory this week over Saint Mary's.

"What I really hope is that we're getting better," Rose said. "That's what we really would like to concentrate on in the last week of January and the first couple of weeks in February — figuring out ways to get our team better … I think we're still trying to find ourselves, but I like the direction that our team's going in. Hopefully we can get a little more consistency from some of the guys."

INJURY UPDATE: Rose said Monday that he's hopeful that forward Stephen Rogers, who's nursing a knee injury, would be able to play against Virginia Tech.

Rogers missed two games after re-injuring his right knee at San Diego last week.