Charity is not a dead practice in the modern age of competition. Sure, parents will pour thousands of hours and dollars into their children's youth development programs. Sure, donors will drain their bank accounts to collect a few more Ws on their favorite team's schedule. And sure, there will be tears shed, profanities expelled, and faces reddened as said teams fail to meet preseason expectations.
And yet, BYU's track record in the NCAA Tournament can be defined by one simple virtue: charity.
The Texas Longhorns, an 11-seed and the first-round matchup of the 6-seed BYU Cougars, weathered the storm of AJ Dybantsa's 35-point barrage to survive 79-71 and advance to the round of 32, an impressive accomplishment for a team that had already competed for in a gutsy First Four matchup against NC State.
But then something incredible happened in the subsequent round of 32 -- the 11-seed Longhorns vanquished the 3-seed Bulldogs of Gonzaga.
BYU fans may see UT's upset as an indicator that the Cougars could have shared a similar fate against the WCC titans if they had escaped the Longhorns in the first round. Beat Texas, and Gonzaga was vulnerable, right?
But we're looking at this in the wrong way. Perhaps instead of a disappointing early exit, this team could be remembered as another example of BYU's charitable giving?
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Follow me on this one. Can you remember the 2021 NCAA Tournament? Still stabilizing after the Covid-19-shortened 2020 season, Mark Pope's BYU squad managed to earn an at-large 6-seed out of the West Coast Conference, and a first-round matchup against a different 11-seed opponent from the First Four, UCLA.
UCLA upset the 6-seed Cougs in that game, just like Duquesne in BYU's following postseason appearance and Texas this year. But that UCLA team managed to climb their way to the Final Four, where they lost on a Jalen Suggs half-court heave against -- ironically enough -- Gonzaga.
So, is this year's BYU-slayer bound for a deep tournament run as the 11-seed a la 2021 UCLA, 2011 VCU, or 2023 NC State? If so, BYU could claim the NCAA Tournament generosity award for playing launchpad for Cinderella runs?
Probably not, but we all cope differently, don't we?