BYU Basketball Misses out on Major Opportunity in Baylor Loss

BYU basketball has been a perennial NCAA tournament team, and even holds the dubious distinction of having the most tournament appearances of any team that has never made it to the Final Four. 

Even when failing to secure the automatic berth given to the winner of the Mountain West Conference tournament, the Cougars have easily made it into the tournament as a sure-fire at-large team.

This season, an at-large berth for the Cougars isn't such a sure thing.  They lost reigning National Player of the Year Jimmer Fredette to graduation, and with him went a whole lot of the name recognition that BYU has enjoyed over the past several seasons. 

Look no further than media coverage to see how much of a negative impact Jimmer's graduation has had on national perception of BYU basketball. 

Last season, the Cougars were in SportsCenter highlights almost nightly.  Newspapers and television stations across the country had all manner of articles on Jimmer and BYU basketball.

This season, it is difficult to find media coverage of BYU basketball outside the state of Utah.  Even the nail-biting finish against No. 7 Baylor barely got any mention on national sports networks.

BYU also faces another challenge in its transition form the Mountain West Conference to the West Coast Conference.  While WCC team Gonzaga is a powerful nationally recognized team, the only other team in the conference with any sort of recent success is St. Mary's. 

The Mountain West regularly sent four or more teams to the NCAA tournament.  The West Coast Conference is lucky if it sends two teams to the tournament.

The harsh realities of life without Jimmer and life in the West Coast Conference make it all the more important for BYU to pull off some major victories in its out-of-conference schedule if the Cougars want to be confident they can receive an at-large berth should they fail to win the WCC tournament.

On Saturday, the Cougars had just such an opportunity to make a statement victory and garner national attention and respect, with No. 7 Baylor coming to Provo to play at the notoriously tough Marriott Center.

The Cougars dominated almost every facet of the game, and jumped out to a big first half lead.  They completely out-rebounded the Bears, and made Baylor look like a mediocre team for much of the game.

Then, the Cougars collapsed.  Baylor caught some momentum and roared back with gritty, determined play.  In the final minutes of the game, the Bears managed to catch up and eventually take the lead.  BYU couldn't respond and lost by three points.

BYU's disappointing loss to Baylor was more than just another L on the schedule—it was also a missed opportunity to make a solid case for an at-large berth.