Game 33 - BYU and Texas A&M in NCAA First Round

BYU GAME #33 FAST FACTS

BYU Cougars (25-7, 12-4 MWC) vs. Texas A&M (23-9, 9-7 Big 12)

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Wachovia Center (21,600)

Philadelphia

12:30 p.m. EST

Coaches

BYU, Dave Rose (97-33 in fourth season; same overall)

Texas A&M, Mark Turgeon (48-20 in second season; 201-139 in 11 years overall)

SeriesTied, 1-1, BYU won 83-81 in 1972 and Texas A&M won 67-62 in 2008, both on neutral floors

TV

CBS (TBA)

Radio

KSL Newsradio (102.7 FM/1160 AM) and the Cougar Sports Network (11:30 a.m. EST pregame show — Greg Wrubell, play-by-play; Mark Durrant, game analysis)

Web

Live audio and live stats links are available at www.byucougars.com/basketball_m/

BYU vs. Texas A&M In NCAA Tournament

BYU men’s basketball has received an at-large invitation to the 2009 NCAA Tournament and will face Texas A&M on Thursday, March 19, at 12:30 p.m. EST in the West Region at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia. Thursday’s game is a rematch of last season’s first round game when the Aggies of the Big 12 defeated the Cougars 67-62 in Anaheim, Calif. BYU is the No. 8 seed for the third-straight season and will be looking for its first NCAA Tournament victory since 1993. The Cougars advanced to the semifinals of the MWC tournament before falling to San Diego State while Texas A&M fell to Texas Tech in the first round of the Big 12 tournament. Thursday’s game will be televised live on CBS while the radio broadcast can be heard live on KSL Newsradio 102.7 FM and 1160 AM out of Salt Lake City beginning with the pregame show at 11:30 a.m. EST (9:30 a.m. MST).

Up Next

The winner of the No. 8 BYU - No. 9 Texas A&M game will advance to the second round of the NCAA Tournament and face the winner of the No. 1 Connecticut - No. 16 Chattanooga game on Saturday, March 21, in Philadelphia.

Cougar Quick Hits

— With a 12-4 record in MWC, play BYU earned a share of the 2009 conference championship, becoming the first team in the history of the league to win three-straight conference titles.

— BYU won its league-high fifth MWC regular season title with its 54-49 home win over Air Force on March 7. The Cougars share the 2009 title with New Mexico and Utah. BYU also shared the title in 2001 and 2003 and took the title outright in 2007 and 2008.

— With a 9-1 finish to the 2008-09 regular season BYU has now finished at least 9-1 in four years under Dave Rose.

— At 25-7 overall and 12-4 in MWC play BYU is 51-13 (.797) in conference play under Coach Dave Rose. His .797 winning percentage is best all-time in the MWC. Rose is now 97-33 (.746) overall in four seasons, giving him the best winning percentage for a BYU coach through four seasons. Rose has led BYU to four-straight 20-win seasons including 20-9 and a trip to the NIT in his first season. In his second campaign he guided the Cougars to the outright MWC title, a top-25 ranking, a trip to the NCAA Tournament and a 25-9 overall record. Last season he led BYU to a 27-8 overall record, a second-straight outright league title and a trip to the NCAA Tournament. Rose was named MWC coach of the year in 2006 and 2007.

— Lee Cummard and Jimmer Fredette were named first-team All-MWC while Jonathan Tavernari received third-team recognition. Jackson Emery was named to the All-Defensive Team. Cummard is a repeat first-team honoree and Tavernari is a repeat third-team honoree. Cummard and Fredette have also earned all-district honors. Last season Cummard was the MWC Co-Player of the Year and an honorable mention All-American.

MEDIA INTERVIEWS

All interviews with BYU players or coaches must be scheduled through a BYU Athletic Communications contact. Postgame interviews will take place as noted below. Other interview requests, such as live television shots after a game, should be arranged in advance through a BYU Athletic Communications contact. News conferences will be conducted on the day before each game (see the schedule of events at left) and also immediately after each game. The host media coordinator will have the authority to designate and require any student-athlete to attend any news conference, but should work with the participating institutions’ head coach and SID, as well as a designated member of the United States Basketball Writers Association, to select postgame press conference participants. Each participating institution shall make student-athletes available at all scheduled news conferences. All interviews at the facility shall occur in the media interview room or the locker room area.

Cameras, Recorders

All electronic media desiring to record the proceedings in the interview room will be required to use the connecting devices supplied by the NCAA designee, Hammond Communications. No individual filming of the interviews will be permitted.

Telephone Interviews

Neither coaches nor student-athletes may conduct interviews via telephone until 30 minutes after the cooling-off period ends, or until after their postgame obligations to all media have been met, whichever comes later.

Locker Rooms

The locker rooms will be open to the media for a minimum of 30 minutes after the cooling-off period ends, provided media representatives are present the entire time. Student-athletes who do not play in the game may depart earlier. At the institution’s discretion, the locker room can remain open for individual interviews with players who were held in the holding area prior to going on the dais and thus were unavailable while other players were interviewed in the locker room.

Media Interviews, Day Before Games

Each coach and a minimum of two first-team student-athletes will participate in each news conference.

Each team’s top seven student-athletes who are not in the media interview room and any others requested by the media shall be available to the media in the locker room during the time the coach and selected student-athletes are participating in the news conference. A representative of each institution’s sports information staff shall be in the area and will coordinate these interview requests.

News Conference, Post-Game

Cooling-Off Period: A “cooling-off period” has been set aside for a coach to be with the student-athletes in the locker room after each game. The period begins when the coach enters the locker room immediately after the game or after his interview with CBS or the radio network. The period will be 10 minutes for the winning team, 15 minutes for the losing team. A coach may shorten the cooling-off period, but may not extend it. The coach and student-athletes must report to the interview room after the cooling-off period ends. No interviews may take place during the cooling-off period, nor may representatives of the institution shoot video or conduct radio interviews on behalf of a media agency.

News Conference Format

Two minutes (maximum) – Overview by head coach

Eight minutes (maximum) – Questions to student-athletes (dismiss student-athletes at conclusion)

Ten minutes – Questions to head coach

BLOGGING

Each credential holder (including television, Internet, new media, and print publications) has the privilege to blog (e.g.,real-time or time delayed journal entries) during competition if approved for a credential. Any blog representing an NCAA Championship must submit the appropriate link to NCAA.com Blog Central. To submit your link, please send an e-mail to blogs@ncaa.com with the subject of Blog Central Submission. In return, all media entities entering a blog must post the NCAA.com logo/link on the page hosting their blog as a reciprocal link. All blogs must be free of charge to readers andmust adhere to the conditions and limitations of this NCAA Blogging Policy.A blog description includes in-competition updates on score and time remaining in competition as well as a description ofthe championship and competition taking place during the given time that the competition is in progress. The NCAA and its designated championship personnel shall be the final authority over whether a credential holder or credential entity is following the NCAA Blogging Policy. The following is the NCAA’s policy for the number of blog posts allowed during a men’s and women’s basketball championship competition or session (i.e., where more than one contest takes place under the same admission ticket): Five times per half, once at halftime and two times per overtime period.

Cougars in the NCAA

— This is BYU’s 24th NCAA Tournament appearance. The Cougars advanced to the NCAA Tournament last season as a No. 8 seed, losing 67-62 in the first round to Texas A&M at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. BYU is in the tournament for the third-straight season. In 2007 BYU, the No. 8 seed, lost 79-77 to Xavier in Lexington, Ky.

— The Cougars have an 11-26 record in the NCAA Tournament.

— This will be BYU’s first NCAA Tournament appearance in Philadelphia.

— BYU has gone to the NCAA Tournament six out of the last nine seasons (2001, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008 and 2009). BYU has earned a postseason tournament invite in nine of the last 10 years (NIT in 2000, 2002, 2006).

— Since seedings were started, BYU has been seeded as high as a No. 3 seed in 1980. BYU was a No. 4 seed in 1988. Other single-digit seeds included being a No. 5 seed in 1979, a No. 6 seed in 1981 (the year it advanced to the Elite Eight), a No. 7 seed in 1993 (the last year BYU was ranked during the season prior to this year), and No. 8 seeds in 1984, 1995, 2007, 2008 and 2009. BYU has been a No. 12 seed in 2001, 2003 and 2004.

— BYU has lost in the first round in its last six NCAA appearances. BYU’s last NCAA win was in 1993 as a No. 7 seed in Chicago when the Cougars defeated SMU, 80-71. BYU lost to No. 2-seed Kansas, 90-76, in the second round that year.

— BYU is 7-16 in its opening round games in NCAA Tournament play.

— The last time BYU advanced out of the second round was in 1981 when the Cougars (as a No. 6 seed), defeated Princeton, 60-51 before upsetting No. 3-seed UCLA 78-55. BYU went on to defeat No. 2-seed Notre Dame on Danny Ainge’s last-second, length-of-the-court dash, 51-50, to advance to the Regional Finals before losing to Ralph Sampson and No. 1-seed Virginia, 74-60.

— Current Cougar head coach Dave Rose is 0-2 all-time in NCAA Tournament play with last year’s 67-62 loss to Texas A&M and a 79-77 loss to Xavier in 2007. Legendary BYU coach Stan Watts has the most NCAA Tournament with a 4-10 record in seven appearances followed by Frank Arnold (3-3 in three appearances), Ladell Andersen (2-3 in three appearances), Roger Reid (2-5 in five appearances) and Steve Cleveland (0-3 in three appearances).

— BYU head coach Dave Rose played in the NCAA Championship game for Houston’s “Phi Slamma Jamma” team that lost to North Carolina State at the final buzzer in 1983. BYU assistant coach Dave Rice was a

member of UNLV’s 1990 National Championship and 1991 Final Four teams that won a school record 45 consecutive games.

Looking at Texas A&M

Texas A&M enters the NCAA Tournament as the No. 9 seed in the West Region. The Aggies are 23-9 on the season and finished 9-7 in the Big 12, for a four-way tie for fourth with Oklahoma State, Texas and Kansas State. The Aggies were upset in the first round of the Big 12 tournament by Texas Tech. They are one of six Big 12 teams to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. Texas A&M starts four juniors and one senior. Three starters return from last season’s squad that defeated BYU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Bryan Davis, Josh Carter and Donald Sloan. Carter leads the team in scoring at 14.1 points per game while adding 4.5 boards per game while hitting 40.9 percent from downtown. He leads the team with 74 threes. Sloan (11.7), Davis (10.4) and Chinemelu (10.1) also average double figures for the Aggies. Eminu leads the team in rebounding at 7.4 rpg while Davis is second at 6.4 per game. Eminu is also the team’s leading shot blocker with 50 while Davis has 40. Sloan leads the squad in assists per game at 3.0 per game. B.J. Holmes comes off the bench to average 8.8 points per game. He shoots a team-best .425 from long range. As a team Texas A&M averages 71.7 points per game while shooting .446 from the field. The Aggies yield 66.3 points per game while allowing their opponents to shoot .431 from the field. Texas A&M averages 25.6 free throw attempts per game, nine more per game than their opponents. The Aggies also dominate the glass, out-rebounding their opponents by 5.3 per game. Texas A&M is coached by Mark Turgeon (48-20 in his second season; 201-139 in 11 years overall), who has led the Aggies to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances.

Texas A&M’s Last Outing — Aggies Can’t Hold Off Red Raider Rally, Fall 88-83

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP)--Mike Singletary single-handedly led the biggest comeback in Big 12 tournament history, scoring all 29 of Texas Tech’s points during a second-half surge that pushed the Red Raiders to a 88-83 win against Texas A&M on Wednesday night. Singletary finished with 43 points to break the tournament scoring record of 38 set by Iowa State’s Marcus Fizer in 2000 against Baylor. The last basket in Singletary’s amazing stretch was a driving layup past Bryan Davis that put the Red Raiders (17-15) up 79-78 with 39.4 seconds left and erased the last part of a 21-point deficit. Alan Voskuil and John Roberson followed that with a pair of free throws apiece to push the lead to five. Donald Sloan led the Aggies (23-9) with 22 points and Josh Carter added 15. Davis opened the second half with a pair of free throws to put A&M ahead 50-29. Darko Cohadarevic hit back-to-back baskets to get Tech’s offense off to a better start than the first half, when the Red Raiders missed their first 10 shots to fall into a 15-2 hole. But the rally really got started once Singletary--who didn’t even start the game--got rolling. He converted Michael Prince’s steal into a right-handed jam that cut the deficit to 56-44 with 13:02 remaining and soon after added a driving layup that got Tech back within single digits for the first time since the opening drought. He had a personal 7-0 run that got the lead down to 65-59 on a 3-pointer from the right wing with 6:08 left, and he had a chance to tie it at 67 before missing a free throw on the back end of a bonus situation. The Red Raiders kept going back to him, though, and he finally tied the score at 75 on a 3-pointer from right in front of the bench with 1:36. That brought his teammates to their feet immediately, and it wasn’t long before they had the lead to celebrate, too.

Series Notes

Thursday’s NCAA Tournament matchup will be the third meeting between BYU and Texas A&M and the second in two years. Last season Texas A&M defeated BYU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Cougars were the eight seed and the Aggies were the nine seed. Texas A&M won 67-62 in Anaheim. BYU won the first meeting, 83-81, in 1972.

Cougars Finish Second in Tournament According to Inside Higher Ed

Article from Insidehighered.com

by David Moltz

When it comes to the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Division I men’s basketball tournament, everyone is an expert. Nearly every observer, from average fan to seasoned sports commentator, has his or her own tried-and-true method of filling out the 65-team bracket and predicting the national champion. Still, most televised predictions and entries to the average office pool are not even close. After all, it would not be March Madness without an upset or two. Back by popular demand, Inside Higher Ed proudly presents its 4th Annual Academic Performance Tournament. As in years past, we have broken down the entire men’s tournament bracket and advanced those teams with the better performance in the classroom.

To select the winners, we used the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate -- a nationally comparable score that gives points to teams whose athletes stay in good standing academically and stay enrolled from semester to semester. (Last year, the NCAA began using the scores to impose penalties on teams that underperform academically.) In instances where matched-up teams had the same Academic Progress Rate, we broke ties using the NCAA’s Graduation Success Rate -- which, unlike the federal graduation rate, considers transfers and subtracts athletes who leave college prior to graduation “as long as they would have been academically eligible to compete had they remained.”

Often, this method selects some unlikely teams as national champions. For example, the first two years we played out such a tournament, the winners were both from the Patriot League -- Bucknell University and the College of Holy Cross. In the actual tournament, Bucknell lost in the second round in 2006, and Holy Cross lost in the first round in 2007. Last year, Davidson College won our Academic Performance Tournament. Though the Wildcats did not win the actual tournament last year, they fared better than any of our past champions. Davidson lost in the Elite Eight, after an unlikely run.

This year, our Academic Performance Tournament has its fair share of upsets. No. 16 East Tennessee St. beats No. 1 Pittsburgh, and No. 15 Morgan St. beats No. 2 Oklahoma in the first round. Both of these Cinderella teams advance to our Sweet 16. At the end of the day, however, only one team can be champion. This year, our winner is actually quite plausible. North Carolina finished ahead of BYU in the title game.