BYU finally pulled out of a recent funk. After a four-game losing streak, which included a brutal loss to unranked Oklahoma State, the Cougars seemed to have righted the ship with a road win against Baylor.
Unfortunately, that has led to the Cougars slipping in the Court of Public Opinion regarding their place in the NCAA Tournament projections.
BYU started the season hovering around a No. 2 seed. Now, with the Cougars sitting at 18-6, fresh off of a midseason swoon, have dropped.
Let’s check in on where the Cougars land on projections for the NCAA Tournament roughly one month before Selection Sunday.
On3: No. 5 seed vs. No. 12 Stephen F. Austin
Bracketologists: No. 5 seed vs. No. 12 Belmont
ESPN: No. 6 seed vs. No. 11 Texas/San Diego State
CBS: No. 6 seed vs. No. 11 USC/Saint Mary’s
Bracket Matrix: No. 6 seed vs. No. 11 Texas
Some sites still have BYU up in the five-seed range. Yes, that puts them in the scary 5/12 game where upsets abound. However, the majority now see BYU as a No. 6. If that holds, that would be an incredible four NCAA Tournament appearances in a row for BYU where they land on the six line.
After starting the season between two and three seeds, they are now hovering between five and six. This feels like a letdown, given the immense talent on this Kevin Young-led squad.
This is a long drop from where the Cougars began the season. However, AJ Dybantsa and company still have time to rebuild the resume. The Cougars have five remaining “Quad 1” games, per NET rankings. Putting together a few strong performances in those games will go a long way to getting BYU above the six line. On the flip side, they desperately need to avoid losses to Colorado (this Saturday) and UCF at home on February 24.