BYU Basketball: With Loss to New Mexico, Is Their Season Over?

To put it simply, NO!

BYU fell at home by only two points to conference foe New Mexico, effectively losing the regular season conference title to the Lobos, who have now won 13 straight.

The 23,000 fans in attendance were all witnesses to why the Pomeroy ratings have New Mexico rated as the "luckiest" team in all of college basketball.

New Mexico has a perfect 12-0 record in games decided by six points or less. But at a certain point, you can't call it luck. The Lobos just don't lose close games.

Despite Jimmer Fredette sitting out most of the game with a stomach ailment, BYU still almost pulled off the victory over a top 10 team. To me, that is impressive.

Despite BYU's loss, a legend was born today. The legend of Michael Lloyd Jr. Seemingly every time BYU needed to get a bucket, he drove to the hole and got a layup or a dunk.

He just has a knack for getting to the rim. He had 19 points, all in the second half, and single-handedly gave BYU a chance to beat a top 10 team. When BYU trailed by four with a minute and half to go, he had back-to-back buckets to tie the game.

This is definitely a game that could've gone either way. New Mexico was just too hot from beyond the arc. They outscored BYU at the three-point line by 12 points, and that was the difference.

This game revealed that when BYU gets punched in the stomach, they punch right back. After trailing by eight points at half time, Lloyd led the Cougars back into the lead with his spectacular play.

It's a shame that someone had to lose that game—it was very clear that those were two top 10 caliber teams out there on the floor.

But this isn't college football. The regular season title, in all reality, means very little. BYU had won three straight prior to this season, yet still really wasn't on the national radar.

It's all about the postseason. The conference tournament, and the NCAA tournament.

And this Cougars team will have success in both. They will get a good seed. As long as they perform reasonably well, they should end up with a five or a six seed at least.

This BYU team will advance to the second round of the NCAA tournament. Even if Jimmer Fredette isn't healthy. Michael Lloyd Jr. had the best second half performance I've ever seen from a BYU PG, ever .

Kudos to New Mexico for pulling off a sweep of BYU. Will the Lobos luck ever run out?

They seemingly cannot lose a close game—if there's any chance for them to win, then they end up winning.

The Lobos are set up for a deep run in the NCAA tournament, but their chances of winning the conference tournament, are not as good. New Mexico would have to beat Air Force, San Diego State, and UNLV/BYU in three straight days in Las Vegas to do so. Sorry, but I'll take the field over New Mexico winning the conference tourney.

Despite their seeming inability to win a game convincingly, the Lobos are now in strong consideration for a two or three seed. And deservedly so. You play to win the game, not run up the score.

New Mexico fans should celebrate. This might be the biggest victory in the history of their program. But don't celebrate too much. There is still way too much basketball to be played, which will be much more important in determining the outcome of both of these teams seasons.

In the biggest game in Mountain West Conference regular season history, the Cougars came up just short—with their National Player of the year candidate, Jimmer Fredette, sitting out most of the game because of a stomach ailment. But that's okay.

BYU is still on track to make a run in the NCAA tournament. And anything can happen in the Big Dance.