Dave Rose's teams have closed strong every year he's been at BYU, and the Cougars do have a full week to rest up and gather themselves before playing Air Force in Provo. A good stretch run would go a long way in helping BYU forget about Vegas ... until the MWC tournament.

But if the Cougars want to get that NCAA monkey off its back, there's still a lot of work to do. An average stretch run will put BYU right where it's always been - an 8 or 9 seed.

And we all now how that's turned out.