Five reasons BYU will make the NCAA tournament
By Stephen Vincent
For the Deseret News
With Thursday’s night’s loss at San Diego, BYU lost some of its footing as an NCAA Bubble team. At the start of the week, ESPN’s NCAA Tournament Projections list the Cougars among the teams on their list of “Next Four Out.” The Cougars will probably slide out of that slot as a result of their loss.
The Cougars' bubble, though, has not burst. The loss to San Diego caused BYU to tumble 11 spots in the RPI rankings to No. 55, but the Cougars still have a month to repair the damage from the loss at Jenny Craig Pavilion. The Cougars’ NCAA Tournament hopes are in critical condition, but recovery is possible.
The next month will determine whether BYU goes dancing. Here is why I think the Cougars will get an invitation.
Stephen Vincent is a St. George native and a third-year law student at Arizona State University.
DeseretNews.com encourages a civil dialogue among its readers. We welcome your thoughtful comments.
— About comments
- Josh Powell made 'admission of guilt' in...
- 18-year-old musician dies after inspiring...
- Wright Words: Oklahoma tornado provides...
- 'Tattooed Mormon' Al Fox shares her...
- Letters to family show Steven Powell still...
- Tornado relief spurs LDS Church, Layton's...
- BYU basketball: Dave Rose hoping Tyler Haws'...
- Police locate West Point teen called 'person...
- High school baseball: 5A, 4A state...
56 - BYU basketball: Dave Rose hoping Tyler... 23
- Bodyguards allegedly beat up 2 fans who... 19
- Utah Jazz: No lottery luck, so Jazz... 19
- Dick Harmon: BYU coach Mike Littlewood... 15
- Utah State football: New coach Matt... 11
- If hired, Jeff Hornacek will face same... 10
- BYU football: Fan-developed software... 8
It would be great if they made the field of 68 this year, According to the reasons of this article on why the Y will make the tournament, quite a few things must go right and very few things go wrong. Either way, multiple consecutive trips to the Big Dance is nothing to sniff at. Go Cougars.
But BYU has Brock Zylstra and Brandon Davies who both turn into no-shows against better teams. And Zylstra is the worst shooter on the team when not playing in Provo. And Carlino is Mr. Hot Mr. Cold. When he's hot, BYU's tough to beat, when he's cold he kills BYU's chances against the better teams. I don't see BYU beating Gonzaga no matter how long they have to prepare for them, and they won't beat Saint Mary's on their own court. Until Carlino becomes Mr. Consistent (next year?), and Davies and Zylstra graduate, BYU is not going dancing.
#5-wrong,#4-doubtful,#3-prove it,#2-keep telling yourself,#1-your only hope. lol.
A win over St. Mary's and Gonzaga probably won't be enough. Losing to SD pretty much disregarded this article. Seeing how close they were to beating Gonzaga, I would have waited one more day before an article like this. This is an NIT team this year. They just can't hang with any decent team on the road, they just can't.
Next, give us five reasons why the Cougars can win a game in the big dance.
The writer basically thinks BYU will make the tournament because they will get better than they are today.
Keep dreaming... everyone needs a dream.
BYU has no really good starting forwards they are too short and do not score. That is why they cannot compete with these teams. They miss Chris Collingsworth and Rogers badly.