BYU basketball: Y. men focus on NCAA opener, not past early exits

PHILADELPHIA — As they prepare for Thursday's opening-round rematch with Texas A&M at the Waichovia Center in the NCAA Tournament, the BYU Cougars are doing their best to handle the exciting week with an even keel.

Still, the Cougars know the BYU program has lost seven straight NCAA Tournament games and must feel some pressure to get the first-round-and-out monkey off their backs.

But they're not showing it, and they're not talking about it. And they kind of shrugged on the program's recent history when meeting with the media Wednesday in Philadelphia.

"There may be some added importance to the fact that you need to win these games so that you continue playing, so that your season doesn't end," BYU coach Dave Rose said. "But it's something that we, you know, really believe that our team's capable of doing. And that's how we'll prepare. That's what we expect. We'll go from there."

One thing the Cougars deny is that they're feeling any additional pressure because of the 16-year drought.

"I hope it's not adding any pressure because it is really an accomplishment to make the field and to have an invitation, to have a place and a spot, have a seed, be in the tournament," Rose said. "And so that's a sense of accomplishment that I think needs to kind of make your team feel a little bit relaxed."

Both the Cougars and Aggies are still talking about the surprise of getting a rematch from last year's first-round game, which Texas A&M won 67-62.

"I think from all the 65 teams here, we're probably the luckiest ones because we know who we're going to face," Cougar Jonathan Tavernari said at Wednesday's press conference. "We actually have a chance to know who we're playing against."

Both teams, however, feel some advantage with the rematch.

"It's a good situation, I guess you could say. No surprises," Aggie guard Donald Sloan said.

In last year's loss, the Cougars missed their first nine shots and fell behind 11-0. That's one huge thing they're trying to avoid this time.

"Obviously, we haven't been playing real well in the first half for the past, you know, four, five games," Cougar sophomore Jimmer Fredette said. "That's something that we'd like to be better at. Get out there, get a good warm-up, get sweating before we start the game, and get out there and have that mindset that we've got to go from the beginning because this is, you know, one-and-done. Got our backs against the wall. Got to go out and play."