BYU will be dancing in the Midwest.
The selection committee gave the Cougars a six-seed and placed them in Omaha for the first and second rounds.
They will play 11-seed Duquesne on Thursday. With a win, BYU could see three-seed Illinois or play Morehead State out of the Ohio Valley Conference.
The No. 1 seed in the region is UConn.
This is head coach Mark Pope’s second official NCAA Tournament bid and first in three years. He would have made the tournament his first season in Provo if it hadn’t been canceled due to COVID-19.
This season’s run has been his most improbable. Last year, BYU finished 7-9 in the West Coast Conference and looked miles away from a tournament bid. Going into the Big 12, the coaching staff kept nearly the same roster — adding playmaking center Aly Khalifa and relying on an analytics-based strategy.
Yet, the Cougars soared to fifth in the Big 12 this season. BYU finished No. 16 in KenPom, its highest ranking since 2020.
