Let’s all step away from watching March Madness and take a brief moment to welcome Brigham Young University to the round of 32.
Yep, the Cougars survived and advanced.
That might seem like an innocuous achievement, but the 80-71 victory over VCU on Thursday marked the first time the Cougars have won a first-round game since 2011, when they competed in the Mountain West and were led by Jimmer Fredette.
They had lost five tournament games in a row, often to double-digit seeds.
Compared to the Cougars, San Diego State is Duke.
But let’s dispense with the past and turn our focus to what comes next: The next game, the next week and the next … six years.
Can the sixth-seeded Cougars, despite the unfamiliar terrain of the second round, advance to the second weekend?
They are slight underdogs against No. 3 Wisconsin on Saturday afternoon and, according to the predictive metrics, will have more trouble stopping the Badgers than the Badgers will have stopping BYU.
The Badgers are well coached and prefer a moderate pace. They beat Arizona early in the season, UCLA late in the season and Michigan State in the Big Ten tournament.
They have a second-team AP All-American, guard John Tonje, loads of experience and plenty of size. They are terrific from the foul line and had little trouble with Montana in the first round.
But there were several encouraging signs for the Cougars on Thursday afternoon, including:
— BYU led by double digits for most of the second half and scored 80 points even though guard Richie Saunders struggled from 3-point range (1-of-6).
— Star freshman Egor Demin looked comfortable with the tournament pressure, with 15 points on 11 shots.
— Big men Keba Keita and Fousseyni Traore combined for 22 points, 18 rebounds and four blocks.
Combine those 40 impressive minutes with the stellar performances down the stretch of the regular season and there’s every reason to believe the Cougars will win Saturday — we expect a victory, in fact — and then survive their opponent in the Sweet 16. (Yes, even second-seeded Alabama.)
But whatever happens, the Cougars have made a positive contribution to the Big 12’s bank account.
Each game played in the tournament equals one unit in the NCAA’s revenue distribution model (except for the championship).
This year, the units are worth approximately $350,000 apiece. The units accumulated by BYU will be paid out to the Big 12 over the course of six years, starting next spring.
Put another way: Every unit earned this spring is worth $2.1 million over time.
The Cougars will play a minimum of two games, meaning they have secured $4.2 million for the conference that will be split equally.
Yes, the Cougars are partial-share members for two years, along with Cincinnati, Houston and USF.
But by the time these NCAA units are paid out in the spring of 2026, the four schools will be full-share members and receive the same distributions as the eight longstanding schools and the four Pac-12 transplants.
In other words, the Cougars will avoid their worst nightmare:
Whether they lose this weekend or charge to the Final Four, they won’t make more money for Utah than they will for themselves.
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