The BYU Cougars women’s basketball team, who are playing in their debut Big 12 Conference season, have mostly experienced progress this year. They concluded the regular season with an overall record of 16-15 and a conference record of 6-12.
They may not have ended up with the Big 12 record they had hoped for, but at least one good thing came from it: it was the best of the four new teams in the conference this year.
On Sunday the bracket for this week’s Big 12 tournament was released, and the Cougars are the No. 10 seed and will face the No. 7 seed Kansas Jayhawks in the second round on Friday in Kansas City, with tip time scheduled for 5:30 p.m. local time (the bottom four of the 14 teams are the only ones playing in the first round).
Texas Tech is ranked No. 12, followed by BYU, and fellow Big 12 newcomers Cincinnati, Houston, and UCF, at Nos. 11, 13, and 14, respectively.
With a 6-12 conference record, the Cougars actually tied No. 9 TCU; nevertheless, TCU prevailed in both of the teams’ meeting.
In Big 12 play, Texas Tech, Houston, and Cincinnati all ended just one game behind at 5-13, while UCF only managed a 3-15 record. After No. 8 Oklahoma State’s 7-11 result, there was a significant gap between the next seven teams—five of which are this week’s top 25 ranked—in terms of points.
The tournament’s top seed is Oklahoma.
Lauren Gustin, a senior standout for BYU, averaged 17.3 points, 15.4 rebounds, and 1.9 assists per game at the end of the regular season. With a staggering 2.4 more rebounds per game than the player in second place, LSU standout Angel Reese, she leads the nation in rebounding.
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