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Fans spell out BYU on their T-shirts at a Big 12 men's basketball game against Utah at the Marriott Center on Saturday, March 8, 2025.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU men's basketball coach Kevin Young gives instructions during a 96-92 victory against Iowa State in the Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals at T-Mobile Arena in Kansas City on Thursday, March 13, 2025.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU's Dallin Hall (30) celebrates with teammates after making a 3-pointer to end the first half in a Big 12 men's basketball game against Utah at the Marriott Center on Saturday, March 8, 2025.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU's Dallin Hall (right), Richie Saunders (center) and Fousseyni Traore celebrate a basket in a Big 12 men's basketball game against West Virginia at the Marriott Center on Saturday, March 1, 2025.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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BYU junior defensive lineman Bodie Schoonover tried to get past an offensive lineman during spring camp at the indoor practice facility in Provo on Monday, March 3, 2025.

Courtesy BYU Photo

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Daily Herald sports writers Darnell Dickson and Jared Lloyd give their opinions on the hot BYU sports topics this week:

1. Was the BYU men’s basketball team seeded properly in the NCAAs?

DICKSON: What, you think I have gigabytes of statistics and ratings off the top of my head? How in the world would I know? BYU Director of Athletics Tom Holmoe was a member of the selection committee at one point and Senior Associate Athletic Director Liz Darger was on the women’s committee this year. So we should ask them, right?

I do think BYU is in the right general area, where a No. 5 would have been nice but No. 6 seems about right. The Cougars’ nine-game winning streak got everything thinking this team was destined to do something special and then … Houston happened.

I’ve always felt like there was a pretty big gap between a good BYU team and an elite, Top 5 program. It just seems as if they play a different type of basketball.

BYU had me believing it was worthy of competing at that level, at least until the Houston game. I think the red Cougars have the best defense in the country but that beatdown in the Big 12 Tournament semifinals was pretty brutal. The Cougars have to recover from that and most of this season they’ve bounced back from disappointment pretty well.

They should beat VCU, but I thought BYU should have beaten Duquesne last year. That’s the NCAA Tournament. Weird stuff happens.

LLOYD: This was where I predicted the Cougars would end up and there are certainly good reasons for it. It’s easy to get distracted by what BYU accomplished in the last few weeks and not look at the entire picture.

The reality is that the Cougars did pretty much nothing of note in the preseason, then lost to some mediocre teams early in Big 12 conference play. There was a time not too long ago where BYU appeared destined for the NIT.

Instead, the Cougars came together, figured some things out, beat some good teams and now here they are. All things considered, getting a No. 6 seed isn’t a bad result for BYU, particularly given that they get to play in Denver.

Seeding is overrated anyway. Just go prove you are better than the team you are facing. Do that enough and you will win the national title. Fail and you just need to acknowledge someone else was better that day.

2. The Cougars are matched up with the Atlantic 10 champions … again. Last year BYU lost to Duquesne. What do you make of this year’s opponent, VCU?

LLOYD: I like how this Rams team plays defense. VCU is aggressive and tenacious, trying to force opponents into making mistakes and not getting comfortable. They also like to shoot 3-pointers, something that has been the undoing for the Cougars at times in 2024-25.

This is a team that has played well throughout the year. It never lost by more than nine points and four of its six defeats were by three points or fewer.

But there also isn’t a lot of meat to the Ram schedule. The best win for VCU was against Colorado State (NET ranking: 47) back in December. BYU has certainly had a lot more challenges on its slate than the Rams have had.

I think this VCU team is similar to Duquesne in that it has the talent and experience to beat the Cougars if BYU is sloppy or undisciplined. If both teams play at the same level, though, I think the Cougars are the better squad.

DICKSON: I think my biggest mistake last year (and maybe BYU’s biggest mistake, too) was underestimating the big guys for Duquesne.

The Dukes had two nice scoring guards (Dae Dae Grant and Jimmy Clark III) and nobody else really stood out statistically. None of their other players had great offensive numbers but they were tough and athletic. And, they totally outplayed BYU’s bigs, which surprised me.

Now BYU has VCU, which has two high-scoring guards (Max Shulga and Joe Bamisile) and some others whose numbers don’t pop out. But the Rams have three dudes 6-foot-10 (Luke Bangboye, Jack Clark and Christian Fermin) that protect the rim and make it difficult for opponents to score.

I believe BYU’s big are better this year and they will have to prove it for the Cougars to get a win on Thursday.

Duquesne, by the way, finished 13-19 this year and 8-10 in the A-10 (9th). In case you were wondering.

3. What is the key to BYU picking up a first-round victory for the first time since 2011?

DICKSON: The Cougars got off to a terrible start last year against Duquesne, falling behind 12-2 and had to play from behind almost the entire game. Last week in the Big 12 Tournament, BYU was razor sharp to start in a win against Iowa State and began in mud in the loss to Houston.

VCU’s defense is getting a lot of accolades and perhaps it will be a puzzle the Cougars have to solve, which may take a while. But I believe BYU will be focused on execution and starting well is at the top of my list for a good result. Or at the very least, not falling behind by double digits in the first five minutes.

LLOYD: The Cougars have figured out a lot of things over the past couple of months but the NCAA tournament is a different challenge. The stakes are much higher, of course, and everyone knows it.

That’s why I think the most important things for BYU is to play smart basketball. This is a talented Cougar squad that can win in different ways. It doesn’t need to go crazy shooting threes or trying to play hero ball.

When BYU settles in and makes the right passes, it almost always results in good opportunities. When the Cougars start rushing things or trying to force the action, they often find themselves in trouble.

I want to see BYU get to the rim in the early going and then get some good inside-out shooting. On defense, the Cougars can’t lose track of VCU’s best shooters. Allowing them to get hot could be disastrous and lead to another BYU first-round exit.

4. Sort of a BYU-related question, but not really: Who will win the NCAA Tournament this season?

LLOYD: How about I go with a bad cop-out answer and say the team who wins six in a row? Someone is going to do it … but figuring out who can be an interesting proposition.

The top seeds are always the clear favorites and usually get the job done, but they can always run into a bad matchup or have an off night.

I think the most consistent teams this year have been Duke, Houston and Auburn, any of which could finish off the season as champs. I’m going to go with the Tigers, since I think they had the best campaign before getting a little disinterested down the stretch.

I also think the bracket sets up well for Auburn and for the first time in a long time the Tigers have fewer expectations. Look for them to take advantage and make a run.

DICKSON: Can I pick the Cougars? Nah, I’m just playin’. BYU has to win a game in the tournament before I would even consider anything beyond.

The team I’ve been most impressed with this season is Houston. The red Cougars have excellent guard play and their bigs create havoc in the paint defensively. Plus, they’ve got Kelvin Sampson, who’s a really good coach. I like Houston at least making it to the Final Four and getting a good shot at a national title.

I’ll admit, recency bias may have me believing in the red Cougars a little bit too much, but man, that defense was so impressive against BYU. The blue Cougars were putting up great offensive numbers and then SCREECH! That came to a grinding halt. BYU’s lowest output of the season was in that game (54 points) and its second-lowest output was the first time against Houston (55).

5. It is spring football, so one pigskin related question: Have you learned anything interesting from BYU spring football?

DICKSON: You know me. I think spring football is pretty boring. But I did hear something interesting from BYU offensive coordinator Aaron Roderick the other day.

To paraphrase, he said they install a lot of the offense in spring and if it doesn’t get installed, there isn’t really a lot of time to get it in during fall camp. So the offense the players learn is pretty much all on the table during spring ball. That makes spring pretty important for the coordinators and for the players working on position mastery.

See, I knew if I looked hard enough I could find something really cool about spring football.

LLOYD: I like how the Cougars are approaching their practice time. Observers got to see some time at the end of practice when the team was doing some four-minute drill work where the BYU offense was trying to run out the clock and the Cougar defense was trying to stop them.

When I asked about the method, Aaron Roderick described how they do a lot of situational work that resonates with the competitive nature of the athletes. That allows BYU to improve for the upcoming season, bring plenty of energy to every practice and have fun while doing it.

It reminds me of how parents (including mine) can get a competitive kid to do chores by timing them and seeing how fast they can do it. Add a little juice and work can become a lot more interesting and enjoyable.