BYU basketball: Cougars get No. 8 seed, face familiar opponent

PROVO — After Friday's loss to San Diego State in the Mountain West Conference Tournament the BYU Cougars were a little anxious about where they'd land for this week's NCAA Tournament.

And when it was announced Sunday that the Cougars (25-7) would be a No. 8 seed, for the third straight year, and playing No. 9 Texas A&M (23-9) in the West Regional in Philadelphia on Thursday, the same team BYU met in the first round last year, the reaction was a little mixed.

All from BYU's staff were hoping for a higher seed and a site closer to home. And some feel the Cougars deserve a better seed than the one they got. Others, however, were prepared for an even worse seed and are just happy that they'll be dancing.

"It's really, really important to get into the tournament, and I'm really proud of our players," BYU coach Dave Rose said. "It's a tough year for us. We lose three starters, we lose a guy early to the NBA draft, yet these guys recovered and got themselves in this position, so let's take advantage of it."

Most were surprised that the committee is giving the Cougars a tournament rematch with the Aggies, who beat BYU 67-62 a year ago in Anaheim. This season Texas A&M tied for fourth in the Big 12.

"We can go and kind of redeem our fall-out last year in the NCAA Tournament where we were close, as well as redeem what happened this past weekend and how we kind of just left a little on the table," Cougar co-captain Lee Cummard said.

This will be BYU's 24th NCAA Tournament appearance, where they have an all-time record of 11-26 - never having advanced past the Elite Eight. The Cougars haven't won an NCAA Tournament game since beating SMU in 1993 in Chicago, before losing to Kansas in Round Two.

The Cougars, ranked No. 25 last week and tri-champions of the MWC regular season, are confident they can end that drought.

"I think we're capable of putting a great game together," Cummard said.

Rose said he's more worried about the matchup than the seed.

"It doesn't matter who you play in this tournament, unless you're a No. 1 or No. 2 seed and maybe going to face a team that's maybe not as deep, not as many players. Any other team you play is going to be pretty good and be really, really confidence," he said.

If BYU can get past Texas A&M on Thursday, the Cougars would likely face No. 1 Connecticut on Saturday, which plays Chattanooga, a 16 seed, in the opening round.