Shortly after the No. 6-seeded BYU men’s basketball capped its solid 80-71 win over No. 11-seed VCU at Bell Arena in Denver in the first round of the NCAA tournament on Thursday, I saw the team’s X feed, @BYUmbb, post a photo of 22 celebrities who had picked the Cougars to lose to the Rams with the caption “sorry to bust your brackets.”

Those celebrities — which included former president Barak Obama and basketball analysts Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson — weren’t the only ones to think BYU would end up going down.

So why were the Cougars such a trendy pick to be upset by VCU?

In retrospect, it’s easy to see that it was a little bit silly.

Many folks certainly got caught up in recency bias, so the thought process was “BYU just got crushed by Houston in the Big 12 tournament and VCU plays the same style of defense Houston does, so therefore the Rams will also win.”

I wonder if anyone took the time to examine the holes in that argument, including that Houston might be the very best in the country at that style and that BYU also played a good Iowa State team that is also aggressive defensively and beat them twice (on the road and at a neutral site).

Another line of reasoning might have been the traditional struggles the Cougars have had in the Big Dance, having failed to win a game since a First Four win over Iona in 2012.

Of course, that theory has some pretty big flaws too, when you think about it.

BYU has only made it to the NCAA tournament four times since 2012 and only one current Cougar has played in more than one of those games (senior Trevin Knell was 0-1 shooting in 11 minutes against UCLA in 2021 as well as playing in the 2024 loss to Duquesne).

So many of the BYU athletes had nothing at all to do with what happened in past years, and neither did first-year head coach Kevin Young.

Why would what the 2015 or 2008 or any of the other Cougar tournament teams did or didn’t do make any difference to them?

Perhaps observers didn’t have much faith in BYU’s talent and ability.

Sure, Cougar freshman Egor Demin is a fringe NBA lottery pick but many felt like he didn’t shine like they expected this year. Another BYU player with NBA buzz, Kamon Catchings, has also had ups and downs and has been limited by injury.

The Cougars also don’t have a superstar, per se. Richie Saunders has had a great year and is solid with a 16 points per game average, but he isn’t likely to just take over a game.

Of course, that viewpoint ignores how deep and versatile BYU is as a team.

Need ballhandling? Demin or junior Dallin Hall are ready to go.

Need inside play? Junior Keba Keita or senior Fousseyni Traore can be dominant.

Need aggressive perimeter defense? Graduate Mawot Mag and senior Trey Stewart will be all over it.

Need shooting? Catchings, graduate Trevin Knell, junior Dawson Baker and junior Mihailo Boskovic will let it fly with confidence.

Young can mix and match a lot of different pieces to help BYU win in a lot of different ways.

On Thursday, I loved how the Cougars countered VCU’s aggressiveness by getting the ball inside and getting to the offensive boards.

Traore and Keita were massive on a day where BYU was decent but not spectacular from beyond the arc (7-of-20, 35%), resulting in the Cougars having an 18-point edge on points in the paint.

As I watched BYU maintain a steady lead for the entire second half and never really let the Rams threaten despite VCU making 15 3-pointers, I had to acknowledge that this Cougar team has a different vibe than in other years.

It came in ready and never let the moment get too big.

That’s why I think it’s time to lay the past BYU disappointments to rest and just focus on enjoying what this team is doing.

So far, it’s just one win.

The run may end on Saturday against a good No. 3-seed in Wisconsin.

If the Cougars get past the Badgers, it may end next week when the Cougars have to travel across the country to Newark, N.J., to play in the Sweet 16.

That would be a great accomplishment, one that would only be bettered by getting a win there and making it to the Elite Eight.

Then there would be a shot at seeing the Cougars in their first Final Four, which would be a fantastic run indeed.

Will it happen?

Who knows?

It comes down to a bunch of young men doing the best they can against another bunch of young men with the same goal.

But to even get the shot, BYU had to clear the first hurdle.

Now the Cougars have done that and the next one gets a little harder.

But they have a chance and that’s what matters.