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BYU is going dancing!
BYU drew a 6 seed and will play the 11 seed winner of UCLA/Michigan State in the first round Saturday. The winner will get the either 3 seed Texas or 14 seed Abilene Christian. BYU is officially making its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2015 (still sad last year got cancelled). This is BYU’s highest seed in 10 years when Jimmer Fredette led BYU to a 3 seed and Sweet 16 appearance in 2011. BYU was a 14 seed in 2012, 10 seed in 2014 and 11 seed in 2015.
BYU is 20-6 on the season and ranked 20 in NET and 23 in KenPom. BYU was 8-7 in Quad 1/Quad 2 games and had 0 Quad 3/Quad 4 losses for the second consecutive year. Three of BYU’s six losses were to number 1 overall seed Gonzaga.
All three of BYU’s seniors have played in the NCAA Tournament at different schools. Matt Haarms has the most experience, as he had a substantial role in Purdue’s Sweet 16 appearance as a freshman and Elite 8 appearance one year later. Brandon Avertette played 8 mins as a freshman in Oklahoma State’s 2017 first round loss to Michigan. Alex Barcello was on Arizona’s tourney team as a freshman but didn’t play in Arizona’s first round loss.
Mark Pope won a National Championship as a player on Kentucky and was an assistant at BYU for three of the tournament appearances, but he will be making his NCAA Tournament debut as a head coach.