PROVO — Last week, I made some arguments about why BYU basketball should be attractive to NCAA tournament selection committee members. Apparently they read my article (OK, they probably read Joe Lunardi's of ESPN and dozens of other articles from well-known authors), since the Cougars are going dancing.

After a few days of sweating, BYU players, coaches and fans were informed that the team would receive an at-large bid to play the Oregon Ducks in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

The Cougars and Ducks met earlier in the season in Eugene in a game that was very representative of BYU's season. The Y. was winning for the majority of the game despite its porous defense. Late in the game, the Cougars could not close out a win because of their defense and inability to make free throws. Nate Austin and Eric Mika fouled out prior to the overtime period in which Oregon ultimately pulled away.

Both BYU and Oregon have been enigmatic teams this season. The Cougars started out hot with some big wins over Stanford and Texas in non-conference play. Likewise, Oregon began the year 13-0. After solid starts, the teams both hit a nasty lull that threatened their NCAA chances. The Cougars lost five of six games at the end of non-conference and beginning of conference play, including losses to lowly Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount. The Ducks lost eight of their first 11 conference games.

Fortunately, both teams were able to pull out of their tailspin with Oregon winning its last seven conference games (including a win over then No. 3 Arizona) and BYU winning 10 of its last 12 games and making the WCC tournament championship game.

One major difference between the game in Eugene (and BYU's recent hot stretch) is that the Cougars will have to face the Ducks without their most versatile player, Kyle Collinsworth. Collinsworth was recently diagnosed with an ACL tear in his knee and is indefinitely out for the rest of BYU's season. Collinsworth's presence will be sorely missed by the Y. in a variety of ways.

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Last year, Selection Sunday for BYU meant waiting into the evening for an NIT assignment. After six straight years in the NCAA tournament, it was a bit of a shock to the system for the Cougars.

First of all, Collinsworth is BYU's best defensive player. Granted, BYU's defense has been mediocre for most of the season. Without Collinsworth, however, it would have been much worse. Collinsworth has the athletic ability, strength and size to stifle smaller guards or muscle up against opponents' forwards. His versatility enabled coach Dave Rose to frequently have Collinsworth match up with the opponents' best offensive player.

It will be interesting to see how Rose decides to defend Oregon's dynamic guard, Joseph Young. Rose will probably implement a lot of zone against the Ducks, though this could be potentially dangerous since Young is a 41 percent 3-point shooter who just nailed six threes against UCLA.

Secondly, Collinsworth's ability to play point guard took lots of pressure off Cougar guard Matt Carlino. While Carlino can be brilliant at times, he also has a penchant for trying to do too much and forcing wild shots. When Collinsworth took over as starting point guard, Carlino became a dangerous sixth man who provided the Cougars a spark while allowing Carlino to get a feeling for the pace of the game and what was needed. It is very possible that Carlino will take over the starting point guard role and if he does, it is a wild card of whether he will be the erratic player he has been at times or continue to be explosive as he was during conference play.

Finally, someone for BYU will need to step up and be able to create shots for themselves and their teammates. While Collinsworth's jump shot is a work-in-progress, there is no denying his ability to get to the rim.

Carlino has sporadically shown the ability to create his own shot, but he is often reckless with the ball and takes ill-advised shots (particularly when frustrated). Frank Bartley IV has shown he is not afraid to draw contact and take the ball right at people guarding the rim. But he is still learning body control and has been regularly whistled for charges. Neither player has shown Collinsworth's vision and ability to dish while driving. One of these two players, or someone else, will have to step up and create space for Tyler Haws' mid-range game.

No one player can replace Collinsworth's ability to do it all on the basketball court. Rose has his work cut out for him to find a platoon of players that can ease the loss some. Cougar fans are hoping Rose can get the right combination quickly or BYU's trip to Wisconsin will be a short one. Dylan Cannon is a regular contributor to KSL.com. He can be reached at his email, dylancannon86@gmail.com, or via Twitter @DylanCannon11.

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