Where Bracketologists Project BYU to be Seeded Ahead of Selection Sunday

On Thursday, BYU was eliminated from the Big 12 tournament. The Cougars played a competitive game against Houston before running out of gas in the second half. BYU had a lead going into halftime before the fatigue set in - BYU was playing its third game in three days. Despite the loss, BYU helped its NCAA Tournament resume during the Big 12 tournament.

It all started with a critical win over Texas Tech in the regular season finale. BYU might have saved its chances at a run in the NCAA Tournament in that game. BYU was always a lock to make the tournament thanks to a strong non-conference resume. However, the Cougars were slipping down to the seed lines.

For context, going into the Texas Tech game, opinions varied on BYU's projected NCAA Tournament seed. Only 26% of bracketologists on Bracket Matrix projected BYU as a 6-seed before that game. The remaining 74% projected BYU as a 7-seed or worse.

After a win over the Red Raiders, bracketologists upgraded their outlook on BYU. 54% of bracketologists projected the Cougars as a 6-seed.

Then, BYU got two blowout wins over Kansas State and West Virginia. Meanwhile, Saint Mary's lost their first game of the WCC Tournament and Kentucky came up short against Florida. Miami also lost in the ACC Tournament. Those were three teams that were competing against BYU for one of the final 6-seeds.

As of Saturday morning, all 120 bracketologists on Bracket Matrix have BYU in the field of 68. The Cougars have appeared to create a little bit of separation between those three teams. BYU is a 6-seed in 85% of brackets.

This table shows where those four teams are projected to be in the NCAA Tournament bracket according to the top 120 bracketologists on the internet.

Team	6-Seed	7-Seed	8-Seed
BYU	85%	15%	0%
Kentucky	12%	86%	2%
Miami	12%	79%	9%
Saint Mary's	2%	80%	18%

According to Bracket Matrix, BYU (average seed of 6.14) is closer to Louisville (average seed of 6.01) than Kentucky (average seed of 6.91). According to Bracket Matrix, the four 6-seeds would be North Carolina, Wisconsin, Louisville, and BYU.

BYU had a dominant head-to-head win over Wisconsin earlier this year. The Cougars also beat North Carolina in the preseason, although that game will not be considered as part of BYU's resume.

Most importantly, BYU showed that it can defend at a high enough level to make some noise in March. The Cougars played some of their best defense of the season in the Big 12 tournament. That defense, combined with an offense led by AJ Dybantsa, could be enough to fuel a March Madness run.

In his first two years as BYU's head coach, Kevin Young has a chance to do something that has never been done at BYU before: make the second weekend of the NCAA Tournament in two consecutive years.