Now that you know my excitement for March Madness and how amazing it is typing those words alone, this past week was packed full of news. BYU had its conference tournaments, we had the Selection Sunday yesterday to reveal the bracket for March Madness, and conference expansion all played their part this week.

BYU Sports Update

Women’s Sports

• Golf: BYU finished the Juli Inkster Meadow Club Invitational 6th out of 13 teams. Allysha Mateo finished tied for 11th. The Cougars will be back in action in a couple of weeks in Lahaina, Hawaii.
• Swimming and Diving: The women’s team didn’t have anyone qualify in the swimming or diving areas for the NCAA Championships but finished out a successful season finishing in the top 50.
• Basketball: BYU took on #16 Gonzaga in the WCC tournament semifinals where they fell 64-79. The ladies finished the season 16-16. They didn’t get invited to the NCAA tournament but they did get invited to the NIT. The full bracket with times will be released later today.
• Tennis: The Cougars took on Boise St and Utah this last weekend. The ladies won both matches 6-1 against the Broncos and 4-0 against the Utes. BYU now travels to San Luis Obispo to take on Harvard and Cal Poly this weekend. They are 7-3 on the season.
• Track and Field: The #17 women’s team closed their indoor season with the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships where they had 10 All-American honors with 6 first-teamers. The team now turns to the outdoor season with its first meet at Stanford this weekend.
• Gymnastics: The team had their final meet of the regular season where they scored 196.050 losing to Arizona. The Cougars will now compete in their final meet, the Mountain Rim Championships, this weekend, before moving over to the Big 12 conference.

Men’s Sports

• Golf: The #35 men’s team played in the Lamkin Invitational last week in San Diego. They finished 10th out of 15 teams with Zac Jones finishing 7th. The Cougars will return to action in a couple of weeks at the Stanford Golf Course.
• Swimming and Diving: Mickey Strauss led the way for the Cougars in the Zone E Championships Dive, qualifying for the NCAA Championships. He will represent BYU later this month. Brad Polo qualified for the NCAA Championships as well, leading BYU in swimming.
• Basketball: The Cougars played #16 St Mary’s in the semifinals and fell 69-76. BYU finished their season 19-15 and wasn’t invited to March Madness or the NIT.
• Baseball: BYU took on Utah Tech this week but fell 9-10. Utah Tech had multiple run home runs propelling them to the win. The Cougars then traveled to Omaha this weekend where they took on Creighton. The first game of the series was canceled and the Cougars ended up losing the 2 other games, 6-8 and 5-15. BYU will take on Utah tomorrow in Provo followed by LMU in California. They are now 4-10 on the year.
• Track and Field: The men’s team closed their indoor season as well with the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. They had 8 All-American honors with 7 first-teamers. Casey Clinger also finished 4th in the 3,000 meters. BYU will now start its outdoor season this weekend at Stanford.
• Volleyball: The #8 men’s volleyball team took on #15 Ohio St in Provo last weekend where BYU took both matches. In the first match, the Cougars won in 4 sets. In the second match, the Cougars hung on in 5 sets. They are now 12-6 and will take on Pepperdine in Provo this weekend.
• Tennis: BYU took on #72-ranked Utah last weekend in Salt Lake with the Cougars losing 0-4. They are currently 3-7 on the season. They now travel to Eugene, Oregon where they will take on #50 Texas Tech and #55 Oregon.

Offseason for BYU Basketball

Well, all of our hope for a great ending to the season faded last Monday with our very slim March Madness hopes, and any slight glimmer of hope of going to the NIT on Sunday faded yesterday when the NIT teams were revealed. BYU now heads into the offseason looking to grow on the slight down season they had this year. Next blog I will talk about the checklist that BYU should use for their offseason. But, in the mean time, know that we are only losing 2 guys from this year’s team (so far) and BYU will probably look to add some players (hopefully frontcourt players) to their roster for next year.

On a slightly related note, the transfer portal for college basketball has officially opened today. So look for possible players to put their names into the transfer portal. Maybe Stewart? Waterman? Moore? The GIF below is my current feeling of BYU Basketball. Sad, because it wasnt a great season, but I think we definitely improve next year and have hope in the offseason program with improving players and getting a few key transfers.

March Madness

Its here, its finally here. The GREATEST time of the year! We have a bracket and March Madness starts this week. Lets be honest, the two greatest days of the year are this Thursday and Friday. You dont have to argue with me, we all know its true. When you have college basketball in the NCAA Tournament from 10am to 10pm for two days straight, there is no arguring. Just nice relaxation, taking fake sick days, and watching basketball ALL DAY. Here is the bracket if you want to check it out! Also, if you would like to join me, my family, and my friends in a March Madness group, feel free to! Its completely free and comes with huge bragging rights. Here is the link for it!

If you are looking for any advice or suggestions, just know that I have no idea. Houston looks good. Alabama looks good. Kansas looks good. Thats probably the most confident I feel right now. My initial final four is Alabama, Marquette, Texas, and Kansas. That is Big 12 heavy and I get it, but hey when youre the best conference, you play the best and are ready for March Madness! That prediction is also subject to change.

Conference Expansion News

In other news, it looks like Colorado regents for the school had a special session this last week where they examined the Pac 12 and the conference. The Big 12 was “anxiously” waiting to hear the outcome of that meeting and what happened. Nothing further has broke, so we dont know what has happened but Colorado is looking into the Big 12 more seriously. If that domino falls, who knows what will happen to the other four corner schools; Arizona, Arizona St, and Utah, and if they follow suit.

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