As we discussed before, BYU needed a win Friday to secure (or at least make a strong case for) a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament. However, despite that now being highly unlikely, the Cougars are still being projected as a No. 5 seed by at least one prognosticator. Take a look:
| Source | Seed | Region* | Opponent |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blogging the Bracket | 5 | East | Siena |
| ESPN (Lundardi) | 6 | East | Washington |
| CNNSI (Glockner) | 6 | East | Georgia Tech |
| Bracketology 101 | 6 | East | Virginia Tech |
| Bracketville | 6 | East | Old Dominion |
* All opening games projected in San Jose, CA or New Orleans, LA.
Saturday, at least two sources were projecting the Cougars as a No. 5 seed - SB Nation's "Blogging the Bracket" and ESPN's Joe Lunardi apparently recognized BYU as a Top 20 team - as each of the Cougars' five losses have all come to teams now apparent locks in the NCAA Tournament. Layton also mentioned, "Lunardi's (5-seed projection of) BYU has more to do with New Mexico losing to the Aztecs (a true bubble team) on a neutral site than anything else. He gave lenience to BYU because they lost a very close game to the Rebels who were already in the tournament, in what was without question a home game."
So while the selection committee will certainly see BYU's losses - they will also consider that the Cougars have beaten Arizona State (22 win "bubble" team), San Diego State twice (24/25 win "bubble" team), UNLV (25/26 win team and tourney lock), UTEP (26 win team and tourney lock) and (even) Weber St. (20 win team and tourney lock). The wins against Arizona, Nebraska and Nevada also can't hurt because they are "name" schools.
And if you're still upset about losing out on a potential 3 or 4 seeding this season, look at it this way: BYU had won three MWC regular season championships but they still couldn't get this high of a seeding and still never won a NCAA Tournament game. The odds will be in the Cougars' favor more so this year than any during the Rose-era.
Furthermore, you shouldn't have to worry about playing Georgia Tech in a 5/12 or even a 6/11 game anymore (as was projected by some earlier in the week) - the Yellow Jackets are now in the ACC Tournament Championship game and should be at least a 10 seed. I'd much rather see Siena (27-6 with losses to Niagara and Northern Iowa) or Florida (21-12 and losses to South Alabama and South Carolina) in the First Round.