BYU women’s basketball had its Big 12 tournament run end in the quarterfinals against No. 10 TCU.
The discussion after the game was if the Cougars' 5-1 end to the season was enough to punch their ticket to the NCAA tournament.
The Cougars have built up quite the resume to argue their position in the tournament this season, especially towards the end. They have a 22-11 overall record and are ranked No. 54 in the net rankings.
They have ended the regular season in an impressive way. They went on a 5-0 win streak and defeated teams that are on the bubble with them like Colorado, Arizona State, and Utah.
Sophomore guard Delaney Gibb commented on what this performance means for this team and the NCAA tournament standings in a press conference after the TCU game.
“The past five games before this one show what we can be and what we can achieve. Teams want to be their best in March and I think that we showed that.” Gibb said.
BYU performed well in the Big 12 Tournament. It had wins over Houston and Utah and advanced as far as the quarterfinals. The Cougars had a critical chance to prove themselves in the tournament when they faced the No. 1 seed, TCU.
BYU needed to win this matchup to secure a Quad 1 win to add to their resume. Instead the Cougars fell to the Horned Frogs and finished with a 0-5 record against Quad 1 teams on the season.
Despite their quarterfinal performance, the Cougars argued their performance proves they can compete.
“TCU’s a top 10 team and we beat them in two quarters,” Gibb said. “Every team can tweak things they can improve on, we are super young but we can really compete with the top.”
The Cougars have the most Quad 2 wins in the country, sitting at eight overall. Four of their five most recent wins were over the teams that are sitting on the bubble with them.
When making his pitch for his team, coach Lee Cummard said, “We’re a young team that started clicking late.”
This holds true in the statistics of the Cougars' game. The underclassmen account for 71.9% of BYU’s total points per game.
The question is, has this young team proved enough to be able to compete with the best?
“If you watch us, I believe we’re an NCAA tournament team,” Cummard said.
The Cougars currently sit at the First Four Out in Charlie Creme’s Bracketology. They sit behind fellow big 12 teams such as Iowa State, Colorado, Arizona State, and Utah. BYU has earned wins over those teams in the regular season.
The Cougars will wait more than a week for Selection Sunday to see where their fate falls.
Sophomore Brinley Cannon said, “I just hope we’ve done what we can do to show that we’re a good team and that we deserve to be in the tournament.”
Selection Sunday will be streamed on ESPN on Mar. 15 at 6 p.m.