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The West Coast Convention formally launched Sunday the bracket, with seedings and schedule, for this week’s match at Orleans Area in Las Vegas that included the Ken Pomeroy Convention Adjusted Profitable Proportion.
As anticipated, BYU (21-9, 9-6) would be the No. 5 seed. Going into the season, the Cougars had by no means had a seed worse than No. 3 within the WCC Match.
BYU will face the winner of Thursday’s first-round matchup between No. 8 Loyola Marymount and No. 9 Pacific in a second-round recreation Friday (7 p.m., MST, BYUtv) at Orleans Area.
The Lions (4-13) truly completed behind the Tigers (4-11) within the standings, however LMU earned the higher seed as a result of adjusted successful proportion algorithm.
San Francisco (10-6), which sits at No. 28 within the NCAA’s NET rankings, acquired the No. 4 seed, behind No. 3 Santa Clara (10-5), in line with the adjusted successful proportion.
The Broncos are No. 72 within the NET.
That’s excellent news for the Cougars as a result of it means a possible showdown with the Dons in Saturday’s quarterfinals. That might be a Quad 1 recreation for each BYU and USF.
The winner would meet top-ranked Gonzaga, which misplaced its solely WCC recreation Saturday evening to Saint Mary’s, in subsequent Monday’s semifinals.
In the meantime, BYU coach Mark Pope and his workers have been speaking with greater than 20 groups this previous week about the opportunity of scheduling a street recreation that will provide the Cougars a possibility to play a Quad 1 contest to doubtlessly bolster their NCAA Match resume.
However with that Quad 1 recreation risk within the match towards USF, will BYU proceed to hunt a non-conference Quad 1 street recreation earlier than then? That might exchange the sport at Portland that was scheduled for New Yr’s Day.
The Pilots needed to postpone that recreation on account of COVID points inside their program and it was not rescheduled.
After the Cougars’ 75-59 victory over Pepperdine Saturday on Senior Night time, Pope and the teaching workers stated they'd hold wanting into potentialities for potential non-conference Quad 1 video games.
However there’s rather a lot to think about.
If a recreation a substantial distance away grew to become out there, reminiscent of towards a crew like Loyola Chicago, which could even be in search of a resume-building recreation, would it not be price it to journey that far simply days earlier than taking part in Friday evening in Las Vegas?
The Cougars would possibly run the danger of turning into worn out earlier than the match even begins.
Pope desires to do all the things in his energy to present his crew the most effective alternative to place it in place to earn an at-large NCAA Match bid.
“These conversations have gone in earnest the final three to 4 days. We’ve reached out to about 20 totally different groups. Choices on that may in all probability be made after all people will get by way of the weekend,” Pope stated final Tuesday.
“Now we have some groups that might play (subsequent) Tuesday. Loads that might play Wednesday. Most of them we’d should be on the street to make it a Quad 1. ... It could be a resume-builder for the winner. That’s the thought … All that's in limbo proper now. We’re simply attempting to judge. We’re actually aggressively, actively pursuing potential alternatives. A lot must come collectively to make it occur. That’s one thing we’re speaking about.”
What do his gamers consider scheduling one other recreation earlier than the match?
“We belief our coaches to make the correct name. They’re figuring video games out, whether or not we’re going to play or if we’re not going to play,” guard Alex Barcello stated Saturday evening.
“However we’re going to be ready, we’re going to be prepared, and we’re going to know as quickly as we are able to if a crew desires to play us. We’re prepared for no matter. We’re able to struggle. We’ve received loads of struggle left in us. We don’t see our season ending anytime quickly … That is it. We wish to exit with a bang, and I believe all people on our roster desires to as effectively.”
As of Sunday, BYU is No. 50 within the NCAA’s NET rankings.
“I’m fairly positive we’ll do what’s greatest for us. Plenty of the video games that we performed early on are holding fairly strong for us to be in competition to make the match,” stated guard Te’Jon Lucas.
“If the sport’s going to assist us, I’m fairly positive the coaches will attempt to get one, but when it’s not going to do something for us, I’m fairly positive we gained’t play one other one. I go away that as much as the coaches and allow them to determine that stuff out. I’ll simply be able to play.”
The Cougars perceive that their NCAA hopes are dangling precariously, however in addition they know, regardless of ending in the midst of the WCC standings, the significance of successful no matter recreation presents itself.
“Touchdown in fifth is clearly not the place we needed to be, however we’re going to go in and take one recreation at a time, truthfully,” Lucas stated. “I believe we’ll in all probability be one of many scariest fifth-place groups within the convention — in any convention.
“We’ll assault it how we are able to and put together for one recreation at a time now. It’s Season Three. We had non-conference after which convention and so that is Season Three now. Everyone seems to be 0-0. Win or go residence. The benefit of it's, we’ve taking part in like that the final couple of weeks. Some groups have to begin doing that like, ‘Hey, it’s win or go residence now.’ Truthfully, we’ve been like our lives are on the road for the final couple of weeks, so that is nothing new for us, and I believe we’re going to hold that edge over to Vegas.”
This WCC defined Sunday in a launch why it used the adjusted successful proportion to find out the seedings.
“With interruptions throughout the 2021-22 season as a result of COVID-19 pandemic, the WCC didn't absolutely full these convention schedules, leaving some disparity within the variety of convention video games accomplished amongst member applications. In whole, six girls’s basketball video games and 5 males’s basketball video games have been declared non-contests by the Convention throughout the 2021-22 convention common season,” it learn.
“With an unequal variety of video games, the WCC partnered with Ken Pomeroy to develop a mannequin that makes use of a proprietary algorithm that greatest displays convention video games accomplished and yields a convention adjusted successful proportion for every males’s and ladies’s basketball crew.
“The convention adjusted successful proportion accounts for the power of the opponent and the situation (residence/away) of the sport performed. The offensive and defensive effectivity metric just isn't utilized within the algorithm to find out a crew’s convention adjusted successful proportion.”