BYU Still Projected to Play in Salt Lake City in Lunardi's Latest

The Cougars still have a chance to open the NCAA tournament in Salt Lake City

Author:
Casey Lundquist
Publish date:
Mar 8, 2024 12:06 PM EST

On Friday, ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi updated his NCAA Tournament projections. BYU, coming off a narrow loss to no. 6 Iowa State, remained a five-seed. Perhaps most notably, Lunardi has BYU playing in the Salt Lake City in the first two rounds. In Lunardi's projections, BYU would face 12-seed Richmond in the round of 64. The winner of BYU-Richmond would take on the winner of Auburn-Samford.

It's also worth noting that BYU has three wins over teams that are projected to be top-five seeds: Iowa State (2), Kansas (3), Baylor (3), and San Diego State (5).

Nine Big 12 teams are projected in the field of 68:

Houston (1)
Iowa State (2)
Kansas (3)
Baylor (3)
BYU (5)
Texas Tech (8)
Texas (8)
Oklahoma (9)
TCU (10)

If BYU can beat Oklahoma State on Saturday and win at least one game in the Big 12 tournament, they have a very good chance to be a five-seed in the NCAA tournament.

BYU in the Polls

On Monday, the new AP poll for college basketball was released and BYU was back in the top 25 following wins over Kansas and TCU. Last week was the only week since November that BYU was not in the Top 25. Following a pair of impressive wins, BYU was ranked no. 20.

BYU is one of five Big 12 teams in the AP top 25. They are joined by Houston (1), Iowa State (6), Baylor (11), and Kansas (14). BYU wins over three top 15 teams (Iowa State, Baylor, Kansas) and another win over a top 25 team (San Diego State).

It's also worth noting that San Diego State has maintained its spot in the top 25. BYU beat the Aztecs earlier this year.

There are some familiar names surrounding BYU in the latest AP poll. Former WCC goes Gonzaga (19) and Saint Mary's (23) are in the top 25. Utah State, who is 24-5 this season, is ranked no. 22.

Below is the full AP top 25.