BYU losing in 1st round now a habit

PHILADELPHIA — The setting was perfect, the finish far from it. Former Philadelphia Eagle all-pro Vai Sikahema, now a TV sportscaster in Philadelphia, sat right behind BYU's bench in the Wachovia Center to watch the Cougars' first-round NCAA loss to Texas A&M two days ago. He wore a white BYU basketball jersey that stood out proud and bold like a neon sign.

Behind him were other former BYU athletes, including New York Giants linebacker Bryan Kehl and Jay Thompson, a seldom-used power forward who played in 1994 with Craig Wilcox, Shane Knight and Mark Durrant. Although his Cougar career was brief, Thompson lives 15 minutes from the arena and just had to make it to the game. He was part of 750 to 1,000 Cougar fans who invested to see the game in person.

Then came the tipoff.

And the shock and awe.

Texas A&M was almost perfect. BYU came out reeling, off-balance and tight and within eight minutes fell behind by 18.

Game over.

So, who was more disappointed in this BYU showing? The fans? Head coach Dave Rose? Or the players?

I'd say it's a tie between the players and Rose.

As frustrated as many Cougar fans are in the early exit, and I've heard from many of them the past 48 hours, the weight of the one-and-done (again), the ultimate pain over that loss lies with BYU's players. These are the ones who sweated their way to a MWC co-championship but finished 0-2.

And among those players, who hurt the most?

It should be Lee Cummard, the leader who returned for his senior year after dabbling with a chance to play professionally. Or it could be forward Jonathan Tavernari, who will make that same choice in months to come, a guy who played hot and cold and operated under a gag order most of the year.

Fans? They've got a part of it, too, a legacy late of sports teams leading them to expectations only to be let down at closing.

Three straight MWC titles is a great accomplishment for the program. So is three consecutive NCAA invites — something nobody in the league has enjoyed.

But the three ones-and-dones loom large and are embarrassing.

This was a very good BYU team, but at the end, it was not the same team that almost beat Arizona State and had a lead on Wake Forest late in Provo. Their once NCAA-leading shooting percentage started to slip a month ago after the TCU game. They started trailing at halftimes of their last seven games.

They had to scratch and claw to get a piece of the MWC title despite failings offensively, doing it with pesky defense and grinding effort. It was admirable but barely enough. Even Thursday, getting 11 steals is no small feat.