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Interesting matchup: BYU is on an 8-game NCAA Tournament losing streak; Florida is on a 12-game NCAA Tournament winning streak. The Gators' last win came in the 2007 title game, the second of consecutive championship game victories--UF played in the NIT in each of the last two seasons.
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BYU and Florida have never met in the postseason, with BYU winning both previous regular season meetings, in 1959 and 1991.
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Random thought: if BYU were to get past Florida, I would think Kansas fans in the stands on Saturday could be BYU fans for the day, since the Cougars would ostensibly be facing off with Kansas State.
However, a Cougar fan and Kansas resident has e-mailed me to note that in his observation, the rivalry between the two state schools is rather "genteel," and that "state pride of Kansas surpasses any animosity between the schools. Certainly when the two schools play each other it gets heated, but when K-State plays another school, KU fans seem ambivalent...I would anticipate the KU crowd's rooting to be somewhat tepid."
By the way, both Kansas schools are about four hours away from Oklahoma City.
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At this point, the seeding debate is moot, but I have a tough time reconciling the gap between 3 seed New Mexico and other three tournament teams from the MWC.
Let's leave aside BYU's seeding for a moment and consider that the 11th-seeded SDSU Aztecs were 25-8 to UNM's 29-4, beat the Lobos twice and came within a free throw of the three-game season sweep. SDSU also beat 8th-seeded UNLV twice, won games down the stretch, tied UNLV for third place in league and won the conference tourney title on UNLV's home floor.
And for that, the Aztecs are three seeds worse than the Rebels and eight seeds worse than the Lobos? Anyone who watched the top four teams in this league knows there's not an eight seed difference between first and third place. True, SDSU lost at Wyoming and to Pacific, but the Lobos lost at Oral Roberts, and they were escape artists during the conference campaign. I think the Lobos should thank their lucky stars for a coveted three seed, while SDSU (RPI: 18) can feel a little disrespected.
My gut tells me BYU's home loss to New Mexico was ultimately as damaging to the Cougars' seeding situation as it was helpful to New Mexico. I think New Mexico was given its three seed by virtue of its season sweep of the Cougars. Certainly, losing in the conference tourney semifinals did nothing to hurt the Lobos, just as it did nothing to help the Aztecs. What happened to SDSU leaves me wondering if the Aztecs would have gotten in with a Saturday loss to the Rebels.
Relative to BYU, the bottom line is a three, four or five seed was within the Cougars' grasp, and whether it was untimely injuries or illness or just enough shots that didn't drop or stops that weren't made, a "protected" seed slipped through their fingers.
So, while it might feel that a record 29-win season wasn't properly rewarded, a seven seed is what BYU is deemed to have earned--now it's the Cougars' job to prove that it merited favored status against the Gators. I look forward to BYU meeting the challenge.
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Warning: the numbers I am about to share are not pretty. But, look at it this way...they show just how due for an NCAA Tournament win BYU really is. Hopefully these numbers will mean less after Thursday.
-only three teams have seven or more NCAA Tournament first round losses since 1994: BYU (7), Murray State (7) and Pennsylvania (8). In BYU's seven appearances since 1993, the Cougars' average seed is 9.7; Murray State's average seed is 13.1, while Penn has averaged a 12.3.
-since the tourney expanded to 64 seeded teams in 1985, BYU has 13 appearances, with a record of 3-13.
-Since BYU's last first round win in 1993, these are just some of the teams who have advanced past the first round multiple times: Bucknell (two times), Charlotte (four times), Detroit (two times), George Washington (two times), Princeton (two times), Tulsa (seven times), Manhattan (two times), Nevada (three times), Pacific (two times), Wisconsin-Milwaukee (two times), and Weber State (two times). BYU has a basketball tradition (past and present) that surpasses all of these programs, yet a first round win remains elusive.
-BYU has advanced beyond the second round only once in school history.
-BYU has the most NCAA Tournament appearances (24) without at least one Final Four appearance. Missouri has the second-most Final Four-less tourney appearances, with 22.
-of 99 teams with at least 10 NCAA Tournament appearances, BYU is 91st in win percentage, at 28.9%.
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The last pre-tourney Top 25 polls are released today, with BYU dropping a spot in the Coaches' Poll, and three spots in the AP Poll, after a 1-1 week in Las Vegas.
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