BYU's New Tourney Chances

BYU has certainly been getting lots of press time this season.  It all started with Jimmer leading his team to a top 3 ranking in the NCAA Basketball standings.  The press time then went from positive to negative as Brandon Davies got dismissed for an Honor Code violation.  But it has been interesting to see how the analysts and experts have responding.  It has been a nearly unanimous approval of BYU's decision to uphold its standards.  They all realize it's difficult and asking a lot, but everyone has appreciated how they've chosen principles over sports.

But that being said, how does this affect BYU's chances in the tournament?  Davies was probably the second most influential player on the teams as far as ability and stats.

I've always felt that it would be difficult for BYU to compete with the bigger, more physical, and more athletic teams in the NCAA even with the interior presence of Davies.  UNM showed that a good game plan of attacking the paint makes BYU vulnerable.  But was last night an aberration or a sign of things to come?  It's a little hard to tell.  I think a lot of that loss can be chalked up to the emotions of losing a teammate in a hard situation.  Jimmer certainly won't shoot that bad again.  But the lack of a dominant player can't be ignored.

But even without Davies, I think BYU can make it to the final or semi final of the MWC tournament.  And if they do, they should get at least a 3 seed in the NCAA tournament.  That would mean they have a high likelihood of playing a mid-major in the tournament for the first round.  That would be a good matchup for BYU.  Then, after that, you never know what a good 3-point shooting team can do in the tournament.  And BYU shoots lights out.  My prediction is that BYU will one-up their performance from last year and win 2 games to make it to the Sweet 16.  But I think that's probably as far as they go.

The dismissal of Davies will hurt BYU as a Basketball team.  It's hard to make a big splash without a good player inside and outside.  But while the Basketball team may suffer from this, the school is earning a lot of respect for its decision.