Those of you who still use physical calendars received a pleasant surprise as you turned the month of February over to reveal the greatest month in the life of a basketball enjoyer. March is upon us, and with it: March Madness.
The postseason slate of college basketball is the annual home of heart-stopping buzzer-beaters and bracket-shredding upsets. Champions are crowned. Tears are shed. An unsustainable sum of chicken wings are consumed. And the world is all the better because of it.
With BYU basketball rapidly ascending to the higher plane of hardwood hype, the now 23rd-ranked Cougars are on a six-game winning flow as Kevin Young and his roster are gelling at the precise moment for overinflated belief in a basketball program that historically has only delivered heartbreak to its supporters.
Something about this season feels different, however. Like a nearly-empty freeway in the middle of the day, something surely must be wrong as too much is going too right for BYU basketball. An upset victory over Iowa State may just affirm the delirium: things are not the same. To quote The Japanese House, a band that I simply can't shut up about, "I don't know what's right anymore, I don't want to fight anymore."
BYU basketball is good once more -- scary good -- and the rest of the college basketball world is beginning to take notice.
NBA Draft Lottery prospect, Egor Demin, has been a polarizing figure in the landscape of college basketball this season with the Cougs. The Moscow native has the NBA size and playmaking capability to make NBA front offices float through a dreamscape of possibilities, while displaying the inconsistent shooting touch of a toddler with a fistful of mashed peas.
Demin's scoring woes are beginning to subside, however, as the 6-foot-9 point guard has proved capable of attacking the basket when the opposing side dares to sell out in the passing lanes. Demin cooked West Virginia for doubting his stroke from beyond the arc.
Richie Saunders is a deity in basketball shoes -- none dare blaspheme by protesting this universal truth -- and with his divinity he has elevated the floor of this basketball team.
The entire squad is beginning to mesh as first year head coach Kevin Young initially intended, and the nation has been put on notice.
The incoming bombshell of the Big 12 Conference tournament promises an elite challenge. A brutal slate that promises to match the Cougars up with some of the best basketball teams Division I can produce and a final boss battle against the likes of Houston, Arizona, and Iowa State.
A program that hasn't won a conference tournament championship since 2001 doesn't inspire tremendous confidence in the capabilities of said program in 2025, but some outside observers think this year could be different.
"I am going to go with BYU, the hottest team in the Big 12. They have now won six in a row. They've won 10 of their last 12. They have a lottery pick on their roster. Richie Saunders is playing his best."
“I am going with BYU. The hottest team in the Big-12.”
— Church Ball: A BYU Hoops Pod (@churchballpod) March 2, 2025
- @RobDauster gives his Big-12 Tournament Champ pick on @TheFieldOf68 After Dark pic.twitter.com/nW9cGYn7PC
Rob Dauster of the Field of 68 podcast dropped his vote for the Cougars to dash through the Big 12 Conference tournament thanks to their recent play. He noted a three-game stretch where they scored more than 90 points, shot 50% from the field (including at least a dozen three-pointers), and gave away fewer than 12 turnovers. No college basketball team has ever achieved this ESPN-esque specific statistic.
"I am going with BYU to win the Big 12 tournament."
So is BYU a legitimate threat to take home the league trophy by the end of the Big 12 bracket, or is this squad just in the midst of a brief flash in the pan? Confidence is rising about this BYU team -- could they be one of basketball's very best in the month of March?