BYU’s Road To NCAA Tournament Is More Complicated Than Ever

PROVO, Utah – It’s been five years since BYU basketball appeared in the NCAA Tournament. Last season marked the first time BYU wasn’t in a postseason tournament in 14 years.

With each passing year without an NCAA Tournament appearance, the path back to the Big Dance feels more difficult for the Cougars.

First-year head coach Mark Pope wants to get BYU back to NCAA Tournament. But Pope realizes there will be challenges in getting his team there. Especially in hopes of obtaining an at-large bid which is what BYU received in all eight of the appearances under former head coach Dave Rose.

Is there still a path for #BYU hoops to earn an At-Large bid?

Pope: "In the last 2 years, if you take out the Power 5, the Big East, the MWC, & the AAC. In the other 24 conferences there has been only two at-large bids from those 24 leagues in the NCAA Tournament." @kslsports

— Mitch Harper (@Mitch_Harper) November 2, 2019

“Joe Lunardi came to the WCC head coaches meetings in the spring, just after I had taken the job,” said Pope on KSL Newsradio. “He kind of took us through all the numbers (of the NCAA Tournament). One of the most sobering things that he pointed out, was in the last two years if you take out the Power 5, the Big East, the Mountain West, and the AAC, there are 24 conferences left besides those eight. In those 24 conferences in the last two years total, there have been two at-large bids. One of them was the number one ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs last year.”

Sobering, indeed. But Pope believes the pendulum will swing again and more at-large bids will open up. But right now, it’s difficult.

Since BYU joined the West Coast Conference eight years ago. The Cougars have earned three at-large appearances. Two of the three landed BYU in the First Four bracket in Dayton and the other bid was a 10-seed in the round of 64 six seasons ago.

Under Dave Rose in the Mountain West Conference, all of BYU’s at-large bids were single-digit seeds. Including a three-seed in the 2011 NCAA Tournament with Jimmer Fredette.

“In all of those 24 leagues right now, you have to be keenly focused on finding a way to win your league. In terms of what’s happened the last two years,” Pope said. “But I also think there’s room (for an at-large bid) for sure by putting together tougher schedules and finding a way to win those games. The road has gotten more complicated, no doubt about it.”

BYU hasn’t won a conference tournament championship since 2001, so to help matters in getting to the dance former head coach Rose beefed up the non-conference schedule in his final year at BYU. Now Pope inherits a lot of those games on his first schedule.

BYU hoops is down to seven scholarship players in practice. But that's not changing Mark Pope's optimistic outlook for his first season. https://t.co/1XBI0fsMRr

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) October 10, 2019

BYU has games against four teams currently ranked in the Top 100 of the KenPom rankings and that doesn’t include college basketball blueblood UCLA in the opening round of the Maui Invitational.

“It’s an unbelievable schedule. It’s awesome, it’s really hard, but it’s great,” said Pope. “Coach Rose left us a gift with having a few of these big games at home. It’s a great schedule.”

Will it result in an NCAA Tournament bid? Time will tell. But the road is definitely getting more difficult for programs like BYU to get into the Big Dance.

You can listen to all BYU Basketball games throughout the season on KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM, 1160 AM, and the KSL Newsradio app.

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12-3 pm) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.