By Dane Miller, SuperWest Sports
BYU has met the external expectations surrounding the program. Advancing to the Sweet 16 was pivotal for both their regional and national reputation.
Credit Kevin Young, his staff, and his players for getting the job done.
Some teams choke in the First or Second Rounds. Getting to the second weekend of the Tournament in Young’s first year shows how high the ceiling is in Provo moving forward.
And they might not be done yet.
I preview BYU’s Sweet 16 matchup with 2-seed Alabama below.
No. 6 BYU vs No. 2 Alabama
Thursday, March 27
4:09 pm PT, CBS
Sweet 16, East Region, Newark
Nate Oats is the most talented coach BYU has faced in this Tournament.
Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne is well-known for his ability to evaluate coaches and hire the right guy for any particular job.
Byrne hired Oats away from Buffalo in 2019 and he has been on a tear since. Leading Bama to the Final Four last season, Oats runs an elite offense and lets his players play with freedom.
The Tide are No. 4 in KenPom’s offensive efficiency metric while running the No. 1 overall tempo. That’s a truly scary combination. For most teams, at least.
BYU is not one of those teams.
Young’s offensive scheme is similar in potency and should be able to keep pace. Alabama’s defense is No. 29 in KenPom, which would put it seventh in the Big 12.
In other words, the Cougars are used to the quality of defense that Bama puts on the court.
The game, then, could come down to the play of BYU’s own “D.” And that’s where the problem lies.
At No. 72 in KenPom’s defensive metric, the Cougars defense is the worst of the remaining teams in the Sweet 16.
They allow 71.4 points per game, which ranks 155th nationally. The key to pulling off the upset might be to force turnovers and convert them into points.
The Tide are No. 271 in the country with 12.7 turnovers per game. That would put them 13th in the Big 12 with only Colorado and Oklahoma State committing more per contest.
The opportunity is there for the taking.
If BYU can generate live-ball turnovers and convert them into transition buckets, the Cougars might pull off the upset.
The three-point shooting will need to be efficient and the duo of Keba Keita and Fousseyni Traore will need to dominate the glass.
But there’s a reason why the Cougars have made it this far.
They are playing better than almost everyone else in the country and they have been doing it consistently for the last month and a half.
The Tide looked shaky in their first two games, too, opening the door even further.
It’s now up to the BYU players to seize the moment.
Miller covers College Basketball and College Football as well as Formula 1 racing as a Senior Writer and Assistant Editor for SuperWest Sports.
