BYU is back in the NCAA Tournament, with a high seed and a tough draw

Brigham Young Cougars head coach Mark Pope talks with the team in Provo on Thursday, Feb. 25, 2021. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

The Cougars were awarded a 6-seed and will take on the winner between the Spartans and Bruins.

The BYU Cougars are headed to the NCAA Tournament as a 6-seed, but their first-round opponent on Saturday is to be determined.

The NCAA announced the field for this year’s tournament on Sunday, and the Cougars will face the winner of the First Four matchup on Thursday between the Michigan State Spartans and UCLA Bruins, who are 11 seeds.

Head coach Mark Pope has the Cougars back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2015. BYU was a likely NCAA Tournament team last year, when the event was canceled due to growing coronavirus threat.

BYU enters the tournament with a 20-6 record and was runner-up in the West Coast Conference to the Gonzaga Bulldogs, the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament. Gonzaga will play the winner of Norfolk State and Appalachian State in the First Four.

The game that will determine BYU’s opponent features two elite basketball schools with long histories of championships and NCAA Tournament success.

UCLA is 17-9 and gave up a 16-point lead to Oregon State in a loss in the Pac-12 conference tournament. The Bruins finished fourth in the Pac-12 with a 13-6 league record and enter the NCAA Tournament on a four-game losing streak.

Michigan State (15-12 overall) had a 9-11 record in the Big Ten, which put nine teams in the NCAA field. The Spartans had three impressive victories down the stretch, beating two teams that received No. 1 seeds in the tournament (Illinois and Michigan) and a No. 2 seed (Ohio State).

This story will be updated.

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