BYU Cougars men's basketball

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BYU Cougars men's basketball
2023–24 BYU Cougars men's basketball team
UniversityBrigham Young University
First season1902
All-time record1,781–1,091 (.620)
Athletic directorTom Holmoe
Head coachMark Pope (5th season)
ConferenceBig 12 Conference
LocationProvo, Utah
ArenaMarriott Center
(Capacity: 19,000)
NicknameCougars
Student sectionThe ROC
ColorsBlue and white[1]
   
Uniforms
Home jersey
Team colours
Home
Away jersey
Team colours
Away


NCAA tournament Elite Eight
1950, 1951, 1981
NCAA tournament Sweet Sixteen
1950, 1951, 1957, 1965, 1971, 1981, 2011
NCAA tournament round of 32
1979, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1988, 1991, 1993, 2010, 2011
NCAA tournament appearances
1950, 1951, 1957, 1965, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2021, 2024
Conference tournament champions
1991, 1992, 2001
Conference regular season champions
1924, 1925, 1932, 1933, 1934, 1948, 1950, 1951, 1957, 1965, 1967, 1969, 1971, 1972, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1993, 2001, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011

The BYU Cougars men's basketball team represents

NCAA tournaments. It currently competes in the Big 12 Conference. From 1999 to 2011, the team competed in the Mountain West Conference, followed by 12 seasons in the West Coast Conference. On September 10, 2021, the Big 12 Conference unanimously accepted BYU's application for membership,[2] and BYU officially joined the conference for the 2023–24 season.[3]

History

BYU fielded its first basketball team in 1903. In 1906, the Cougars played their first game against Utah State University. In 1909, the team first played against the University of Utah. These two rivalries continue to this day. In its 108-year history, BYU's basketball program has won 1,786 games, ranking 12th among all Division I programs. The Cougars won the first of their 27 conference championships in 1922 as a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference led by star point guard River Jeffcoat.

The Cougars made the first of their 29 NCAA tournament appearances in 1950 under head coach

NCAA appearances of any men's team not to make the Final Four, having made thirty NCAA tournaments. BYU, alongside Xavier, Saint Joseph's, Boston College, Arizona State, and Davidson are each tied for second most in Elite Eight appearances without a Final Four with three (Missouri has the most with five).[citation needed][when?
]

Under Watts, BYU also became the first U.S. college basketball program to include an international player on its roster, as Finland native Timo Lampen debuted in the 1958–59 season. Later, BYU's Krešimir Ćosić, born in Yugoslavia (modern-day Croatia), became the first international player to be named an All-American. His jersey was retired in the Marriott Center in March 2006 in the last home game of the season against the New Mexico Lobos.[4] Watts retired as the winningest coach in BYU history.

Danny Ainge was the first Cougar to win national Player of the Year honors.

After Watts' retirement following the 1972 season, the program experienced five consecutive losing seasons from 1974 through 1978 before returning to the NCAA tournament in 1979 behind Danny Ainge and coach Frank Arnold. The Cougars reached the Elite Eight, one game short of the Final Four, in 1981, Ainge's senior season. That season, Ainge won the Wooden Award as the nation's most outstanding player.

Arnold left following the 1983 season and was replaced by LaDell Andersen, who had several successful seasons in the 1980s, including the 1987–88 season when the Cougars rose as high as #3 in the national rankings on their way to a 26–6 season.[5] Andersen then resigned following a 14–15 season in 1989.[6] He was replaced by Roger Reid, who guided the Cougars to 20-win seasons in each of his first six years and five NCAA tournament appearances.[5]

Reid was fired in the middle of the 1996–97 season after a 1–6 start. Part of his firing had to do with a private comment Reid made to Chris Burgess, then considered the top high school player in the nation and a Latter-day Saint whose father had attended BYU; Reid suggested that Burgess had let down the entire church by choosing to attend Duke rather than BYU.[7][8] Assistant coach Tony Ingle coached the team on an interim basis for the rest of the season and did not win a game; the Cougars' 1–25 record was the first time the school failed to reach 5 wins in a season.[5]

Following the season,

Dave Rose
.

Iona Gaels 78–72.[11]

Following Tyler Haws' departure for an overseas professional career, Kyle Collinsworth became the Cougars' recognized leader, setting the NCAA record for career triple doubles and earning WCC Player of the Year honors as a senior. Since Collinsworth's departure, the Cougars have struggled, especially in the postseason. The program was dealt an additional blow when the NCAA announced penalties against the Cougars due to an alleged benefits scandal surrounding shooting guard Nick Emery. As part of those sanctions, BYU was ordered to vacate all victories where Nick Emery played over two seasons (a total of 47 wins).[12] The BYU athletics department has appealed the decision. An official BYU athletics department statement (not attributed to a specific employee) read in part, “The vacation-of-records penalty is extremely harsh and unprecedented given the details of the case. For more than two decades, the NCAA has not required an institution to vacate games in similar cases where the COI found there was no institutional knowledge of or involvement in the violation by either the coaching staff or other university personnel. In fact, this sanction includes the most severe vacation-of-record penalty ever imposed in the history of NCAA Division I basketball for infractions that included no institutional knowledge or involvement. In addition, in the case most similar to this situation, appropriate penalties were imposed, but no wins were vacated. BYU believes the vacating of its game record penalty is unfair and not consistent with recent NCAA precedent.”[12]

On March 26, 2019, after thirteen seasons as head coach at BYU, Dave Rose announced his retirement.[13] On April 10, 2019, BYU athletics director Tom Holmoe announced that Mark Pope, a former assistant at BYU under Rose and head coach of the Utah Valley University men's basketball team, had been hired as Rose's replacement.[14]

On July 23, 2019, Nick Emery announced that he was retiring from college basketball. He cited unspecified challenges in his career that led to the decision.[15]

Pope led a turnaround for the program in his first two seasons, with his inaugural season led by a trio of seniors in

T.J. Haws (younger brother of Tyler), and Jake Toolson. The team finished that season 24–8 and was projected to be a lock for the NCAA tournament as a single-digit seed before all postseason play was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2020–21 season was projected to be a rebuilding year due to the loss of Childs, Haws, and Toolson to graduation, but Pope revamped the team in the offseason. Joining returning senior guard Alex Barcello was graduate transfers Brandon Averette and Matt Haarms. The 2020–21 team finished the regular season 20–6 and made the NCAA tournament as a No. 6 seed, the first appearance in the tournament since the 2014–15 season.[5]

Coaches

The Cougars play home games at the Marriott Center.
Name Career Record Pct.
W.A. Colton 1902-1905 16-11 .593
C.T. Teetzel
1905–08 22–6 .786
Fred Bennion 1908–10 16–6 .727
Henry Rose 1910–11 8–0 1.000
E.L. Roberts 1911–20, 1925–27 87–49 .640
Alvin Twitchell 1920–25 50–20 .714
G. Ott Romney 1927–35 139–71 .662
Edwin R. Kimball
1935–36, 1938–41 59–38 .608
Fred "Buck" Dixon 1936–38 25–23 .521
Floyd Millet 1941–49 104–77 .575
Stan Watts 1949–72 371–254 .594
Glenn Potter 1972–75 42–36 .538
Frank Arnold 1975–83 137–94 .593
LaDell Andersen 1983–89 114–71 .616
Roger Reid 1989–96 152–77 .664
Tony Ingle (Interim) 1996–97 0–19 .000
Steve Cleveland 1997–2005 138–108 .561
Dave Rose
2005–2019 301-131 .697
Mark Pope 2019– 68–26 .723

Season-by-season results

Under Mark Pope:

Statistics overview
Season Coach Overall Conference Standing Postseason
Mark Pope (West Coast Conference) (2019–2023)
2019–20 Mark Pope 24–0 13–0 2nd No postseason held
2020–21 Mark Pope 25–0 11–0 2nd NCAA Division I First Round
2021–22 Mark Pope 26–0 9–0 5th NIT Quarterfinals
2022–23 Mark Pope 19–0 6–0 T-5th
Mark Pope (Big 12 Conference) (2023–present)
2023–24 Mark Pope 27-0
Total: 121–0(.680)

      National champion         Postseason invitational champion  
      Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion
      Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion
      Conference tournament champion

Postseason

NCAA tournament

BYU has made the NCAA tournament 30 times, with the Cougars having a record of 15–34.

Year Seed Round Opponent Result
1950 Elite Eight
West Regional Third Place
Baylor
UCLA
L 55–56
W 83–62
1951 First Round
Elite Eight
West Regional Third Place
San Jose State
Kansas State
Washington
W 68–61
L 54–64
L 67–80
1957 Sweet Sixteen
West Regional Third Place
California
Idaho State
L 59–86
W 65–54
1965 Sweet Sixteen
West Regional Third Place
UCLA
Oklahoma City
L 76–100
L 102–112
1969 Quarterfinals New Mexico State L 62–74
1971 Quarterfinals
Sweet Sixteen
West Regional Third Place
Utah State
UCLA
Pacific
W 91–82
L 73–91
L 81–84
1972 Quarterfinals Long Beach State L 90–95 (OT)
1979 #5 Second Round #4 San Francisco L 63–86
1980 #3 Second Round #6 Clemson L 66–71
1981 #6 First Round
Second Round
Sweet Sixteen
Elite Eight
#11 Princeton
#3 UCLA
#2 Notre Dame
#1 Virginia
W 60–51
W 78–55
W 51–50
L 60–74
1984 #8 First Round
Second Round
#9 UAB
#1 Kentucky
W 84–68
L 68–93
1987 #10 First Round #7 New Orleans L 79–83
1988 #4 First Round
Second Round
#13 Charlotte
#5 Louisville
W 98–92 (OT)
L 76–97
1990 #12 First Round #5 Clemson L 47–49
1991 #10 First Round
Second Round
#7 Virginia
#2 Arizona
W 61–48
L 61–76
1992 #10 First Round #7 LSU L 83–94
1993 #7 First Round
Second Round
#10 SMU
#2 Kansas
W 80–71
L 76–90
1995 #8 First Round #9 Tulane L 70–76
2001 #12 First Round #5 Cincinnati L 59–84
2003 #12 First Round #5 Connecticut L 53–58
2004 #12 First Round #5 Syracuse L 75–80
2007 #8 First Round #9 Xavier L 77–79
2008 #8 First Round #9 Texas A&M L 62–67
2009 #9 First Round #8 Texas A&M L 66–79
2010 #7 First Round
Second Round
#10 Florida
#2 Kansas State
W 99–92 (2OT)
L 72–84
2011 #3 First Round
Second Round
Sweet Sixteen
#14 Wofford
#11 Gonzaga
#2 Florida
W 74–66
W 89–67
L 74–83 (OT)
2012 #14 First Four
First Round
#14 Iona
#3 Marquette
W 78–72
L 68–88
2014 #10 Round of 64 #7 Oregon L 68–87
2015 #11 First Four #11 Ole Miss L 90–94
2021 #6 First Round #11 UCLA L 62–73
2024 #6 First Round #11 Duquesne L 67-71

NIT

BYU has made the National Invitation Tournament fifteen times, going 19–13. The Cougars were champions in 1951 and 1966.

Year Round Opponent Result
1951 Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Final
Saint Louis
Seton Hall
Dayton
W 75–68
W 69–59
W 62–43
1953 First Round Niagara L 76–82
1954 First Round Saint Francis L 68–81
1966 Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Final
Temple
Army
NYU
W 90–78
W 66–60
W 97–84
1982 First Round Washington L 63–66
1986 First Round
Second Round
Quarterfinals
SMU
UC Irvine
Ohio State
W 67–63
W 93–80
L 68–79
1994 First Round
Second Round
Arizona State
Fresno State
W 74–67
L 66–68
2000 First Round
Second Round
Quarterfinals
Bowling Green
Southern Illinois
Notre Dame
W 81–54
W 82–57
L 52–64
2002 First Round
Second Round
UC Irvine
Memphis
W 78–55
L 69–80
2006 First Round Houston L 67–77
2013 First Round
Second Round
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
Washington
Mercer
Southern Miss
Baylor
W 90–79
W 90–71
W 79–62
L 70–76
2016 First Round
Second Round
Quarterfinals
Semifinals
UAB
Virginia Tech
Creighton
Valparaiso
W 97–79
W 80–77
W 88–82
L 70–72
2017 First Round UT Arlington L 89–105
2018 First Round Stanford L 83–86
2022 First Round
Second Round
Quarterfinals
Long Beach State
Northern Iowa
Washington State
W 93–72
W 90–71
L 58-77

NAIA Tournament

BYU made two appearances in the NAIA Tournament, going 2–2.

Year Round Opponent Result
1948
First Round
Second Round
Delta State
Indiana State
W 66–61 (OT)
L 68–82
1949 First Round
Second Round
Northwestern Oklahoma State
Northwestern State
W 79–50
L 57–59

Individual honors

Retired numbers

The Cougars have retired the numbers of four players in their history, with the most recent being the jerseys of Hutchins and Minson on February 16, 2013.

BYU Cougars retired numbers
No. Player Position Career No. ret. Ref.
11 Krešimir Ćosić C 1970–1973 2006 [16]
Roland Minson SF 1948–1951 2013 [17]
14 Mel Hutchins
PF / C
1947–1951 2013 [17]
22 Danny Ainge SG 1977–1981 2003 [18]

National Players of the Year

All-Americans

Conference Players of the Year

Individual records

Notable players

References

  1. ^ "Colors". Brigham Young University Publications and Graphics. Retrieved October 11, 2021.
  2. ^ "Big 12 Extends Membership Invitations". Big 12 Conference. September 10, 2021. Archived from the original on March 22, 2022. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
  3. ^ Lundquist, Casey (September 10, 2021). "BYU Athletics to Join the Big 12 in 2023". SI.com. Archived from the original on September 28, 2021. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
  4. ^ Chilton, Kyle (November 2, 2010). "Remember When... BYU Retired Kresimir Cosic's Jersey?". Brigham Young University. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Brigham Young Cougars Index". Sports-Reference. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
  6. ^ "Anderson Resigns As Coach at B.Y.U." New York Times. Associated Press. March 18, 1989. Archived from the original on July 27, 2018. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
  7. ^ "Reid Apologizes For Comments". Deseret News. November 19, 1996. Archived from the original on March 31, 2022. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
  8. ^ Mangum, Adam (October 26, 1998). "Choosing Duke over BYU good for Burgess". Brigham Young University. Archived from the original on October 13, 2015. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
  9. ^ Katz, Andy (June 25, 2009). "BYU's Rose getting healthy". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on January 20, 2021. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
  10. ^ Rayburn, Jim (March 19, 2010). "BYU basketball: Cougars outlast Gators in double overtime". Deseret News. Archived from the original on April 26, 2020. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
  11. ^ "BYU rallies from 25-point deficit to shock Iona". ESPN.com. Associated Press. March 13, 2012. Archived from the original on October 28, 2020. Retrieved 31 March 2022.
  12. ^ a b Harmon, Dick (November 9, 2018). "NCAA penalizes BYU men's basketball program after investigation reveals that boosters gave Nick Emery $12K in benefits". Deseret News. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
  13. Salt Lake Tribune. Archived
    from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
  14. ^ Harmon, Dick (April 10, 2019). "BYU names Mark Pope its new head basketball coach". Deseret News. Archived from the original on January 10, 2022. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
  15. USATODAY.com. Associated Press. July 23, 2019. Archived
    from the original on March 14, 2021. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
  16. ^ REMEMBER WHEN... BYU RETIRED KRESIMIR COSIC'S JERSEY? at BYU.com
  17. ^ a b "BYU to retire the jerseys of Mel Hutchins and Roland Minson". Daily Herald. January 14, 2013. Archived from the original on March 31, 2022. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
  18. ^ A Lofty Honor for Ainge at BYU Magazine, Spring 2003

External links