Due to their recent success, which included defeating Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse, ranked seventh at the time, BYU is poised to make its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2021.
BYU has two games left in the regular season before the Big 12 Tournament gets underway in Kansas City on March 12.
Since Jimmer Fredette’s 2011 senior season, BYU has failed to win a game in the Round of 64. With their current No. 12 NET ranking, the Cougars are positioning themselves for a favorable matchup with a single-digit seed in the First Round.
Where exactly will they end up? Opinions vary. Let’s see where the experts have the Cougars.
ESPN/Joe Lunardi: #5 seed vs. #12 Grand Canyon
BYU catapults themselves back onto the five-seed line in Lunardi’s eyes. Not only that, but in this scenario, BYU finds themselves just up the road in Salt Lake for the first two rounds. It sets up for a possible battle with Illinois (#15 in NET) in the second round for a trip to the Sweet 16. The crowd in Salt Lake would largely be pro-BYU.
This would set the Cougars up nicely to win at least one, maybe two tournament games.
CBS/Jerry Palm: #5 seed vs #12 Grand Canyon
Jerry Palm agrees with his ESPN counterpart. He too puts BYU as a fifth seed, playing the Antelopes of Grand Canyon in the Salt Lake part of the bracket. However, he inserts Auburn as the No. 4 seed above BYU as the possible obstacle for a berth into the Sweet 16.
USA Today: #5 seed vs. #12 Grand Canyon
What’s that scripture about “the mouth of two or three witnesses…”?
TeamRankings: #4 seed vs. #13 Samford
TeamRankings has been higher on BYU than just about everyone all season. To paint the picture of how big it would be for BYU to get a possible four seed instead of five, Grand Canyon currently sits at 55th in NET. Samford is all the way down at 80th
TeamRankings examines the data in greater detail. They project a 10.3% likelihood for BYU to go to the Final Four.
Most people agree that BYU should be, at most, a five-seed. For BYU, first things first. They have a difficult assignment at No. 8 in the NET ranking Iowa State on Wednesday. That game will be harder than the one at Kansas in certain aspects. They must concentrate on finishing strong, particularly because they will be playing Oklahoma State (116th in NET) for the final game on Saturday.
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