Our lives are greatly influenced by the calendar, which is based on dates that are reinforced by custom. We enjoy their consistency, commemorating the same occasions with the same people on the same days.
However, sometimes a little spice may make things interesting.
This is one of those occasions when March looks and feels completely different for BYU.
The Orleans Arena has vanished, along with the twelve years of heartache that came with losing the West Coast Conference Tournament. The disappointment of losing to Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s is long gone. The “out-of-sight, out-of-mind” fog that accompanies a Selection Sunday without BYU is also missing.
As a Big 12 member, everything is different this March.
For starters, with two games remaining, the No. 20 Cougars (21-9, 9-7) can win their conference and, with a little luck, get a double-bye to the Big 12 tournament in Kansas City the following week. This is noteworthy in light of the conference’s strength and the fact that BYU was selected to place 13th out of the 14 teams.
Second, BYU is already expected to make the NCAA Tournament regardless of what occurs over the course of the next two weeks. The Cougars’ NET ranking has remained in the top 15 the entire season thanks to wins against Baylor, San Diego State, and Iowa State at home, as well as victory away at No. 7 Kansas.
This is a march of promise rather than a stumble to victory, and it is exactly how Gonzaga must have felt during so many WCC tournaments. Without a concern in the world, their fans packed the Orleans. All they had to worry about was the strength of the Zags’ seeding, since they already knew where they were headed.
Though BYU is by no means the Zags of the Big 12, the Cougars will travel to Kansas City with the understanding that winning doesn’t matter in the slightest. The team may unwind, let loose, and go all out when the task is finished, just like an investor who is spending someone else’s money, before the conference tournament.
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