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PROVO — With only five games remaining in the regular season, the BYU basketball team is positioned for a return to the NCAA Tournament after last year's absence snapped a six-year streak in the Big Dance.
A majority of the most-cited Selection Sunday prognosticators have the Cougars as one of the last teams in the field of 68, meaning BYU's margin for error is minimal as Dave Rose's team heads out on the road for games this week at Pacific and Saint Mary's.
"You can feel it from the guys," said Rose on Tuesday, referring to the building pressure at this time of the season. "They realize that they're in a position where the games are really important and mean a lot.
"Our sport is unique to the fact there is always another chance with the (conference) tournament at the end, but I do believe that our guys know the standings and know the weight of every game now," he continued. "The best part is, when you do win, it makes the next game even more important and that's a great way to get through February and March."
A four-game win streak has improved BYU's season record to 17-9, with its 9-4 conference record good for second place in the West Coast Conference behind league-leading Gonzaga. Thursday's game at Pacific will either keep BYU on the right side of the bubble or put the Cougars back on the outside looking in.
Rose, for his part, says he pays little attention to the various projections because they are changing with every result.
"Guys understand that it's so temporary," says Rose. "There's so much to do, and if the (NCAA) tournament were on Saturday, that would be nice, but it's not. Every player and coach kind of deals with it their own way, but from my point of view — and they hear my point of view quite a bit — things can change so quick, no matter what side of the coin you're on.
"Right now...you've got yourself in second place in a good league, you've won some good games and you've got a lot of good games in front of you, to try to finish the best you can," Rose said. "Hopefully we've instilled in our guys that the only thing that's really important is the next game we play."
BYU guard Kyle Collinsworth echoed his coach's sentiments, while acknowledging that "it's a huge road trip for us."
"We're just going to take it one game at a time," said Collinsworth after Tuesday's practice. "Thursday's game is going to be a huge game for us because we've got to prove we can start winning on the road, and Thursday's the first step to that."
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Rose was asked about Collinsworth's contributions to this year's team with the sophomore guard having just recently returned from a two-year LDS Church mission to Russia. The coach was effusive in his praise of a player who is among the WCC leaders in multiple stat categories.
Collinsworth is second on the Cougars in scoring, second in rebounding, and leads the team in assists, while shooting 49 percent from the field and 41 percent from the three-point line.
"I actually believe that that Kyle's effect on our team this year is every bit as consistent and matches the effect that Tyler (Haws) had on our team the year before," said Rose, comparing Collinsworth's current season to Haws' post-mission campaign last season. "If you want to look at stats and compare numbers, that's probably not fair to either player, but both have just had huge impacts coming right off their mission, and if you look back at the history of our program, that's a little bit abnormal.
"Usually, returned missionaries come back and they kind of fit into the system, and their impact is later, but both of these players--their impact has been immediate."
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BYU defeated Pacific only 12 days ago in Provo with an 88-78 decision in which the Cougars were paced by Haws' 38 points, including 21 of the team's first 25 points scored. Rose says more of the scoring load may need to be shared on Thursday in Stockton, Calif., noting that "we understand that Ty could have those kind of nights, but we don't depend on them. All of us need to be prepared to have some good balance in our offensive game."
"(Pacific) is a really good team," said Rose, "and the matchup for us is really difficult, because of their ability to drive the ball, and drive it right at us. We told our guys today that we were the beneficiary of just a superb offensive game by Ty (in the Jan. 30 win), so we had that offensive cushion most of the game, but it really felt like we were on our heels a lot in that second half, the way they penetrate that ball.
"As a coaching staff, we really feel like we have our hands full, and our guys are going to have to be good," Rose said. "We're going to have to play a really good game to go in there and win. We have to play a full game."
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You can hear post-practice interviews with Rose, Collinsworth, Haws and Eric Mika, in "Cougar Cuts," above left.
