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PROVO — BYU's first trip to the NCAA men's basketball tournament in three years will start in middle America.
The Cougars (23-10) clinched its first bid to the Big Dance since 2021 Sunday evening, when the selection committee slotted BYU as the No. 6 seed in the East regional.
BYU will open the tournament Thursday against A-10 champion Duquesne in Omaha, Nebraska, in the Cougars' 31st NCAA Tournament appearance all-time. The Cougars and Dukes will tip off Thursday morning at the CHI Health Center on TruTV.
It's the second NCAA berth for the Cougars under head coach Mark Pope, who snapped the program's six-year tournament drought by advancing to the all-Indianapolis-area tournament following the 2020-21 season that was just a year removed from the NCAA canceling the tournament due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
BYU is 15-33 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, including 3-2 as a No. 6 seed. Two of the Cougars' three appearances as a 6 seed have come under Pope.
The other six-seed, of course, was the one that saw former BYU star and current Utah Jazz executive Danny Ainge and the Cougars take to the program's first-ever Elite Eight appearance in 1981.
But the Cougars were the No. 17 overall seed, the selection committee revealed to the announcement to the CBS selections how shortly after unveiling the final bracket. That means that BYU would have been rated the top No. 5 seed in the tournament. So why a No. 6 seed, and why Omaha?
The committee didn't have immediate answers for Pope.
"It's time, guys. It's NCAA Tournament time, and every game is the most challenging game of your lifetime," Pope told reporters via video conference Sunday evening shortly after the team held a watch party at the Marriott Center Annex. "They're all great teams (in the tournament), all championship caliber teams, and we're excited to get it going."
Led by Associated Press All-American guard Alex Barcello, that team finished the season at 20-7 with a No. 6 seed before a 73-62 loss to UCLA, the Cougars' highest seed since 2011.
This time, BYU has been led from the bench in Big 12 sixth man of the year Jaxson Robinson, who is averaging a team-high 13.7 points per game. The senior from Ada, Oklahoma, extended his streak of games with at least one 3-pointer to 20 straight in an 81-66 loss to Texas Tech at the Big 12 Tournament, marking the 13th time this season and 22nd time since he transferred to BYU two years ago that he has hit three or more 3-pointers in a single contest.
Robinson's 76 3-pointers are tied for the 12th most in a single season in BYU history with TJ Haws in 2016-17. He's also attempted the seventh-most triples in a year with 216, helping a team that finished fifth in its final season in the West Coast Conference to a No. 5 seed in last week's Big 12 Tournament in Kansas City.
He's also part of a prolific 3-point shooting lineup that ranks second nationally with 11.2 3-pointers and 32.2 3-point takes per game (only North Florida has more).It's a key reason the Cougars currently rank No. 12 in the NET computer rankings, and have been inside the NET's top 20 for most of the season.
Beyond Robinson, four BYU players average double-digit scoring, including Trevin Knell 911.1 points per game), Fousseyni Traore (10.7) and Spencer Johnson (10.5). Three more average more than 9 points in Noah Waterman (9.8 ppg), Richie Saunders (9.6) and Dallin Hall (9.1).
The Big 12 set a league record and tied the SEC with the most teams in the field with eight apiece, while the Big Ten and Mountain West each had six. In addition to BYU, the Big 12 placed No. 1-seeded Houston, No. 2 Iowa State, No. 3 Baylor, No. 4 Kansas, No. 6 Texas Tech, No. 7 Texas and No. 9 TCU in the field.
Robinson is back in the NCAA Tournament since 2021, as well, when he played 16 games (including four starts) for an Arkansas squad tha reached the Elite Eight.
"I've never been to Nebraska before, either," Robinson said Sunday. "But there's nothing better to be there for than the tournament. I'm excited to get out."
The Jayhawks, who did not play with star post Hunter Dickinson and top scorer Kevin McCullar Jr. in last week's conference tournament, will open the tournament against former Olympus High and Utah State guard Rylan Jones and Samford in Salt Lake City.
The matchup between BYU and Duquesne will be the third all-time between the institution owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the private, Catholic school in Pittsburgh, and the first since 1954.
The Dukes (24-11), which won the A-10 tournament earlier Sunday to punch their first ticket to the NCAA Tournament in 47 years, are led by A-10 most outstanding player Dae Dae Grant, who averaged 16.3 points, 2.3 rebounds and 3.5 assists while shooting 42.6% from the field in the conference tournament.
"We got in a rock fight, which is probably good for us rather than a smooth, flowing game," Duquesne coach Keith Dambrot said following the A-10 championship. "We're one of the best defensive teams in the league, and if it's 57-51 that's good for us. We did a good job defensively the whole tournament, and I think that's why we won."
