Hello 20 Wins and Hello Top 25

By: Geoff J - February 19, 2007

The BYU Men’s Basketball team won its 20th game last week and this week finds itself firmly in the top 25 in both the AP (#21) and Coaches (#22) polls. Wow. I thought I was being overly optimistic when I predicted 22 wins in the regular season this year. With four games left that doesn’t seem like a stretch at all anymore.

But the Cougs will have a challenge staying in the top 25 because in the next four games they must face #13 Air Force in Colorado and defending conference champs SDSU in San Diego; not to mention a final game at home against arch rival Utah. (Yeah I know the Utes are hapless this year but you never know with rivalry games.) Losses to anyone but AFA would likely drop BYU back out of the top 25 again. Still, Cougar fans have to be thrilled to see BYU hoops and BYU football back in the top 25 in the same school year. It has been too long.

Rise and Shout!

12 Comments

  1. I’m not a basketball fan, but haven’t they been doing fairly well in away games as well?

    Comment by Clark Goble — February 19, 2007 @ 5:56 pm

  2. Yup, they’re doing better on the road. The team has won its last four away games and is in the midst of a seven game win streak right now. That streak probably helps account for the shiny new ranking.

    Comment by Geoff J — February 19, 2007 @ 6:08 pm

  3. Wow. I just read that BYU hasn’t cracked the top 25 since the ’92-93 season. That’s so long ago that I was a student at BYU that year. That makes today’s rankings even more momentous than I thought

    (Too bad nobody gets to see any BYU games on TV this year…)

    Comment by Geoff J — February 20, 2007 @ 1:38 am

  4. 3.

    Too bad nobody gets to see any BYU games on TV this year

    I’ve taken to calling the.mtn a faith network because BYU’s games here in SoCal are things hoped for and not seen.

    Comment by manaen — February 20, 2007 @ 2:04 pm

  5. BYU’s games here in SoCal are things hoped for and not seen.

    Hehehe. Nice. We have the same problem here in AZ. And of course Cougar fans in 99% of the country are in the same boat. At least we might get to see the NCAA tournament game(s). This may be the best BYU team that no one ever saw…

    Comment by Geoff J — February 20, 2007 @ 3:07 pm

  6. Well BYU got their butts handed to them tonight at SDSU. Hopefully it will serve as a humbling wake up call to the Cougs (rather than a harbinger of beatings to come).

    Comment by Geoff J — February 24, 2007 @ 10:54 pm

  7. Fortunately, Air Force lost to TCU as well, so the Cougs are still number one in the MWC (a game ahead of UNLV, a game and a half ahead of Air Force.) We’ll see what happens with the top 25 tomorrow. And yes, hopefully they don’t go on a slide a la the men’s volleyball team.

    Comment by a random cougar — February 25, 2007 @ 8:46 pm

  8. Well not surprisingly the Cougs fell out of both polls today. Odds are they will lose again this week at AFA too. Still, with a win at home over Utah the Cougs will at least earn a share of the MWC regular season title. They will likely be a lock for the big dance if that happens and just one MWC tourney win will sew things up for them for sure.

    Comment by Geoff J — February 26, 2007 @ 3:25 pm

  9. I’m just stopping by to denounce the misappropriation of my nick by a random zoobie.

    Comment by a random John — February 26, 2007 @ 4:47 pm

  10. Well how do you like that? BYU takes down #25 Air Force on the road. In so doing they ended the longest home winning streak in the nation and now own the longest streak themselves. Plus they are conference champs with the win and if they beat Utah Saturday they will be the sole conference champs (if they lose and UNLV wins out they would share the title). BYU will be the #1 seed in the MWC Tourney no matter what though. Congrats Cougs. I imagine another trip to the top 25 may be in the cards.

    Comment by Geoff J — February 27, 2007 @ 11:09 pm

  11. FYI — BYU thumped the Utes last night to take the regular season Men’s Hoops title outright for the first time since 87-88. It has been 27 years since BYU last won titles in both football and men’s hoops in the same year. Now that’s impressive.

    The MWC tournament is next week and the Big Dance starts the week after that. Go Cougs.

    Comment by Geoff J — March 4, 2007 @ 1:23 pm

  12. BYU Thumped the Utes on Saturday and finds itself back in the top 25 this week coming in at #23 in both polls. They play again on Thursday in the first round of the MWC tourney.

    Comment by Geoff J — March 5, 2007 @ 6:27 pm