NIT run saves season for BYU hoops


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For the first time in 19 years, no local college team was in the Big Dance.

In fact, it is possible that the most entertaining basketball this year was played by a high school team in Utah County.

BYU's expectations were large this season. Dave Rose had led his team to six straight NCAA appearances, BYU was returning center Brandon Davies and Tyler Haws was returning from his mission.

The hoop season started strong and things were moving along beautifully as BYU won 14 of their first 18 games.

Tyler Haws even chipped in a career and Haws-family high 42 against Virginia Tech.

Then Matthew Delavedova happened.


It was really tough in the locker room after; basically have our last moment as a team together.

–Matt Carlino


BYU had St. Mary's on the ropes at the Marriott Center. Haws had just hit a tough jumper to give the Cougars a 69-67 lead with just three seconds to play, then Delly hits the infamous half-court-double-clutch-game-winning three at the buzzer and the Cougars began their tailspin.

With the St. Mary's loss, BYU dropped seven of their final 14 games, with the height of despair coming with a West Coast tournament loss to sub-.500 San Diego (16-17).

Perhaps spoiled by constant success, Dave Rose's team was at a crossroads, "What I'll remember about this group is the extreme disappointment that we felt," Rose said to Greg Wrubell on KSL Newsradio.

Extremely disappointed that their six year run at the NCAA dance was over, BYU was given new life with a bid to the NIT, a tournament that they had won twice, in 1951 and 1966.

BYU started off with a home game against Washington and the Cougars ended former Pleasant Grove High star C.J. Wilcox's season with a 90-79 shellacking.

For an encore, BYU posted another 90 points on the board at the Marriott Center, blowing out Mercer 90-71.

"We've been to six straight NCAA tournaments before this year, I don't remember being any more excited." said Rose.

Then the Cougars had their first road game, traveling to Hattiesburg, Mississippi where Matt Carlino (4-11) and Brock Zylstra (5-9) bombed from 3-point range and led BYU to the upset win and into the NIT Final Four.

"Then these guys had a chance to go one of two ways and they picked the high road and stayed together. They worked hard and we had success." said Rose.

The roller-coaster season came to an end with a 76-70 loss to Baylor, but with few regrets.

"We were able to bounce back from a tough spot" said Rose, "and not only in the basketball sense. That's a great life lesson for this group of guys. These three seniors in Brock and Craig and Brandon are special for our staff forever because of how they responded in a really tough spot."

Sophomore guard Matt Carlino had a spectacular NIT run averaging 18 points, 8 assists per-game, while hitting 18 3-pointers in four games.

"It was really tough in the locker room after; basically have our last moment as a team together." said Carlino. "I just have great relationships with all those guys. Maybe the toughest thing wasn't losing the game as much as losing those guys. It was a great team. We all love each other, we have great chemistry together and they're all just great guys and they're going to do great in whatever they do. It was just a great run."

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