PROVO - It’s not the NCAA Tournament, but it’s the next best thing, the NIT. But this isn’t just any NIT; this is the portion of the bracket titled, the “BYU quadrant.” Get on board Cougar Nation.
BYU has had a lot of success in the NIT over the years, most recently an appearance in the NIT Final Four at Madison Square Garden against Baylor in 2013.
BYU will host the University of Alabama-Birmingham tonight at 8 p.m. (MT) in the Marriott Center. The game can be seen on ESPNU.
The NIT field is pretty good this year compared to previous years. 15 teams locked up automatic bids to the NIT by winning their regular-season conference titles, a record for the tournament.
I’ve always endorsed the automatic bid for the smaller schools to the NIT, remember the old NIT selection process before the NCAA got involved? It was allegedly based on attendance, and I say allegedly because a capacity Marriott Center crowd with 22,000 fans against Southern Illinois wasn’t good enough to draw a home game in the quarterfinals over Notre Dame who only held 9,150-seats in the Joyce Center. Yes, Steve Cleveland, Mekeli Wesley, and Terrell “All Day” Lyday are probably still pretty bitter about that.
Enough of my ranting about the old NIT system, tonight’s game should be pretty good.
UAB is 26-6 and winners of the regular season Conference USA crown. The Blazers have won 23 of their last 26 games, and have had history of upsetting bigger programs in post-season tournaments.
BYU head coach Dave Rose had some interesting comparisons for this Blazer team. Rose compared UAB offense to that of the old UNLV Runnin’ Rebel squads from the Mountain West days, and defensively the Blazers remind Rose of Pacific & Pepperdine; two teams that defeated BYU this year in West Coast Conference play.
BYU will need to play well to come away with a victory in this one. True freshman guard Nick Emery who had the nation buzzing last week over his performance in the loss to Gonzaga, will need to have another big game, and I’d expect him to do so. Over the course of this season, Emery has developed into that go-to scorer that Dave Rose offenses tend to thrive with. Emery has a bright future ahead of him, and this NIT is a great opportunity for him to build some momentum into next year.
Seniors Kyle Collinsworth, Chase Fischer, and Nate Austin get another opportunity to play at home in front of BYU fans on the Marriott Center floor, which is a nice story when clearly the goal in any given year is to make it to the NCAA Tournament. If the Cougars make a run in the NIT, this trio of seniors could have a few more opportunities to play in front of their loyal fans.
BYU has had over a week to realize they weren’t going to the NCAA Tournament, and have made peace with the fact that they were headed to the NIT. In some regards, that’s a big deal for NIT participants. Sometimes you see upsets in this tournament because a team is checked out and disappointed that they didn’t make the big dance. Felt like that was the case last night when St. Mary’s was nearly upset by New Mexico State on their home floor.
Biggest key to victory for BYU in this one is controlling the tempo. When the Cougar Cagers get out in their run and gun offense at home, its pretty much game over for opponents. But if the Blazers slow down the Cougars, and force BYU to go into a half-court offense, Blazers could make this a game.
Prediction: BYU 84, UAB 77
Mitch Harper is the Publisher of Cougar Nation and the BYU reporter for 1320 KFAN. Follow him on Twitter @Mitch_Harper.
