What is needed to advance in the NCAA Tournament. Does this BYU team have what it takes?

BYU players warmup during a practice held at Ball Arena in Denver, Colo., on Wednesday, March 19, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

Don’t face-plant and come home.

That has to be the mantra for BYU head coach Kevin Young and his No. 17-ranked Cougars fresh off wars in the Big 12.

No. 6 seed BYU is looking for Big Dance wheels to advance and live beyond Thursday’s first-round East Regional game against No. 11-seed VCU in Denver.

The last two times BYU was in this NCAA event it came in as a No. 6 seed and made a quick exit. Those losses were last year, when Mark Pope’s team lost to Duquesne, and in 2021 when the Cougars fell to UCLA.

BYU's NCAA tournament record as:

3 seed: 2-2 (Sweet 16 as 3 seed in 2011)
4 seed: 1-1
5 seed: 0-1
6 seed: 3-3 (Elite Eight as 6 seed in 1981)
7 seed: 2-2
8 seed: 1-5
10 seed: 1-4
11 seed: 0-1
12 seed: 0-4
14 seed: 1-1

BYU has been a 6 seed in each of its last two NCAA tourneys.
— Greg Wrubell (@gregwrubell) March 16, 2025

Why has it been so tough for the Cougars to advance past the first round, especially in the last two opportunities when they were the higher seed?

Former BYU coach Dave Rose takes issue with the general theme.

“You could go to all 50 states and write the same article,” said Rose. “The NCAA Tournament is a pretty tough nut to crack. Very few teams have a formula to do it, but I think that BYU has been well-represented in the NCAA Tournament.

“We have won, we have got in. We are the team with the longest-running number of appearances without getting to the Final Four.”

This is BYU’s 32nd trip to the NCAA Tournament, and it brings with it a record of 15-34, 3-3 as a No. 6 seed. BYU has reached the second round nine times, most recently in 2011 with Rose’s Jimmer Fredette-led team that made the Sweet 16.

“We were a few made free throws from reaching the Elite Eight,” said Rose of that Fredette team that lost Brandon Davies (suspension) before the Mountain West tournament and its NCAA invite.

BYU last made the Elite Eight with Danny Ainge in 1981, the third time after 1950 (just eight teams in the field), and 1951 (16 teams in the tournament).

See you in Denver, Cougs! 🤙 pic.twitter.com/VmTdRSc4U2
— BYU Men's Basketball (@BYUMBB) March 16, 2025

Theories abound

There are a lot of theories as to why BYU has not ventured deeper into the tournament more consistently.

At the top of the list is it simply was not good enough.

Other theories include late-season injuries, not peaking at the right time, matchups, lack of comparable on-court depth, poor performance, lack of urgency, and the day in 2004 when Syracuse guard Gerry McNamara scored a historic 43 points in an 80-75 win against a Steve Cleveland-coached team in Denver when the Cougars were a No. 12 seed and Syracuse was No. 5.

Last year, BYU was “gifted” a matchup with Duquesne as the No. 5 finisher in the Big 12 and was physically dominated by a smothering Dukes defense.

Rose, who has been to 24 NCAA Final Four games as a player at Houston or as a coach/fan over the years, says a huge key to NCAA Tournament success is just being there.

BYU coach Dave Rose and staff look on in last year's 67-62 NCAA Tournament loss to Texas A&M in the first round. — BYU coach Dave Rose and staff look during 67-62 loss to Houston in NCAA Tournament. | Scott G. Winterton, Deseret News

“Going year after year after year is what makes it a little easier nut to crack,” said Rose. “I mean, as far as winning games, we went back-to-back-to-back years before we won. But if you are going once or twice, and then you’re out for a year or two or three or five years, and then you get back in again with a new group of guys, you’re reliving that whole experience brand new all over again.

“I think that you need guys on your team that have been in the tournament before and have felt the pressure and all the excitement of that tournament, and then being able to kind of handle it and then perform and then move on.

“So, to me, I believe the secret to real success in that tournament is to get there all the time so your guys expect it, and then you perform better in the tournament.”

Tournament tested

This rings true. In 2007 BYU began a run of six-straight NCAA appearances.

BYU’s fifth-straight trip under Rose in 2011 with Naismith Trophy Player of the Year Fredette set the stage for that No. 3-seeded BYU team to advance with wins over Wofford and Gonzaga before losing to No. 2 Florida in overtime in the Sweet 16.

Rose said he is impressed with how Young’s players work. “They’ve really bought in to what he wants to do,” said Rose, who was courtside in Kansas City to see BYU beat Iowa State and then lose to his alma mater Houston in the semifinals.

“I’m impressed with how much time they spend in that practice facility. Those kids are there all day and night. It sounds like a cliche but they spent so much time working on their game. Basketball has gone from a hobby to pretty much a full-time job and these kids are really taking advantage of it.”

Seedings (and depth) matter

Roger Reid made five NCAA Tournament trips (2-5 record) and should have advanced in a low-scoring 49-47 loss to Clemson in 1990 with a Marty Haws and Andy Toolson team. The next year, Reid’s No. 10-seeded team beat No. 7 Virginia before losing to No. 2 seed Arizona in the second round.

Cleveland believes seedings make a difference. He knows there were times his team made the tournament, but was moved off one earned seed because of no Sunday play, and as a result became a 12 seed instead of an 11. That would have been in 2003 versus No. 5 UConn as a 12 seed.

BYU coach Steve Cleveland watches players practice at the Spokane Arena the day before they met UConn in the first round of the 2003 NCAA Tournament in Spokane. | Stuart Johnson, Deseret News

“First of all, it’s hard to win games at that time of the year, OK? And, you know, seedings do make a difference,” said Cleveland. “So does experience.”

Cleveland said against No. 5 seed Cincinnati in 2001, his No. 12-seeded team was facing a team with more experience and depth. “We played them really well in the first half. It was an experience that really helped us get better, but we were kind of blown away in the second half.”

Same thing with UConn.

“We were prepared. I really believe we were ready and prepared for that game and our players played hard and were into it. The game was competitive, just like the Cincy game.”

But Cleveland admitted that his Cougar teams did not have the same depth. Where he had two or three guys who could compete, the other teams had five or six or seven, so when foul trouble came, BYU couldn’t match what the opponent had coming off the bench.

“I realize the first time we went there, there were things I could have done differently, things our staff could have improved on. But I really think in the other games, we were as prepared as we could be.

“That Syracuse game that McNamara went off in was a game we played very well in and could have won.”

NIL money and point guards

There are two other observations that might stick in examining this issue of advancing in the NCAAs.

It is no secret some of the NCAA’s most successful programs have been paying athletes for decades. That advantage has been watered down to some extent and it will be interesting to see how things even out now that everyone can attract recruits with money. BYU is no exception.

Then there is the thought that point guards are the secret sauce. Find a guy who can control a game with the ball in his hands and you have gold.

0301bkccougars.spt_IH_1078.jpg — BYU guard Egor Demin (3) is guarded by West Virginia Mountaineers guard Javon Small (7) as Demin drives the ball around a screen set by center Keba Keita (13) during an NCAA men’s basketball game held at the Marriott Center in Provo on Saturday, March 1, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News

In my opinion, the NCAA is all about momentum and matchups, and there is no bigger factor most of the time than guard play, especially at the point.

Guards who can penetrate, score, make plays with the shot clock going down and step up big in the final seconds are invaluable.

It is no secret two of BYU’s best forays into the NCAA Tournament in the modern era came when the Cougars put two Naismith Award winners in the backcourt, Ainge and Fredette.

Now, for the Cougars against another defensive-minded VCU team, the avoidance of a repeat of the Houston and Providence games is imperative. Those were games where guard play took the Cougars out of what they do best — shoot 3s.

When the Cougars and VCU meet Thursday, it will be a fantastic matchup of strengths and this time BYU has depth on its side.

It will be interesting to see what Young and his staff have in the bag, and what his team’s motivation is after leaving Kansas City with an end to a remarkable nine-game win streak in the Big 12 over some of the country’s best, including two games over No. 3 seed Iowa State.

This is what makes March Madness a can’t-miss affair.

And BYU’s challenge is to keep dancing.