BYU Coach Kevin Young Reacts To ‘Surreal’ First NCAA Tournament Bid

PROVO, Utah – Kevin Young has his BYU basketball program in the NCAA Tournament in his first season.

The former NBA assistant coach with the Phoenix Suns and Philadelphia 76ers is the first BYU coach since Roger Reid in 1990 to lead BYU to the Big Dance in his first year.

Young will be roaming the sidelines inside an NBA venue in Denver on Thursday afternoon when 6-seed BYU takes on 11-seed VCU from the Atlantic-10 (2:05 p.m., TNT & KSL NewsRadio).

BYU head coach Kevin Young prepares for his first NCAA Tournament appearance

BYU enters the NCAA Tournament winners of nine of their last 10 games. Their last outing, however, was a blowout loss to Houston in the Big 12 Tournament.

BYU finished the 2024-25 season with a 24-9 record and an 8-7 record against Quad 1 opponents.

Less than an hour after BYU popped up on the CBS Selection Show, Young spoke to reporters to give his initial thoughts

“Yeah, just excited. Regardless of what seed we got, you know, excited,” said BYU basketball head coach Kevin Young. “Like probably most people that are into sports, I’ve just been a huge fan of March Madness my whole life as a kid and even as an adult. So to be able to be part of it, kind of surreal, to be honest with you, is to kind of hear our name called on the show and be able to just be a part of it.”

BYU won’t have to travel far for Thursday’s matchup against a VCU team that was the A-10 Conference Tournament champion.

Young was happy with landing in a spot close to home

The Cougars will play in Denver, which should provide an opportunity for a lot of BYU fans to be in attendance. VCU, which hails from Richmond, Virginia, is 1,671 miles away and has to cross two time zones.

It’s a far better landing spot for BYU than traveling east to Wichita, Kansas; Lexington, Kentucky; or Providence, Rhode Island, which were the other three possible destinations.

See you in Denver, Cougs! 🤙 pic.twitter.com/VmTdRSc4U2

— BYU Men’s Basketball (@BYUMBB) March 16, 2025

BYU will be making its third NCAA Tournament appearance all-time in Denver. The last time BYU traveled to the Mile High City was in 2011 when they reached the Sweet 16 behind the star power of Jimmer Fredette.

“I like that we’re in Denver. I like the fact that we’re close to home. That’s certainly where I kind of had my eye. So that was something that I was happy about.”

Throughout the season, Young hasn’t hidden the fact that he’s learning about college basketball. Young established his coaching career in the NBA and NBA G-League for the past two decades.

He noted that he would lean on the coaches within his staff and BYU players like Trevin Knell, who have had previous NCAA Tournament experience, to help navigate March Madness.

“We’ve had a good rhythm in terms of how we prepare; I feel like our systems that we have in place at this point are pretty good. So we’re going to rely on how we’ve done things,” said Young. “I think our guys have really bought into the rhythm of how we prepare for a game, and that’s how we’ll continue to operate.”

Getting to know the VCU Rams

As you would expect, after barely learning who his BYU team will face, the knowledge of VCU is limited. The winner of BYU/VCU will take on the winner of 3-seed Wisconsin vs. 14-seed Montana.

we're in. 🐏 pic.twitter.com/GLwZ55uC1Z

— VCU Basketball (@VCU_Hoops) March 16, 2025

“I don’t know a ton about them, other than what I’ve learned here quickly,” Young said. “You know, a good defensive team. They’re a team that tries to turn people over. They do a good job on the offensive glass as well.”

VCU is ninth in scoring defense, allowing 62.4 points per game to their opponents. They also boast the sixth-best scoring margin in the country, beating teams by 15 points per game.

The 2025 NCAA Tournament appearance for BYU basketball is the 32nd all-time appearance in program history.

BYU vs. VCU

First Round – 2025 NCAA Tournament

Location: Denver, Colorado

Arena: Ball Arena

Tip-Off: 2:05 p.m. (MDT)

TV: TNT

Radio: KSL NewsRadio (102.7 FM, 1160 AM in Utah)

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and hosts the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow Mitch’s coverage of BYU in the Big 12 Conference on X: @Mitch_Harper.

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