BYU basketball: Cougars have hit rock bottom in the WCC

BYU basketball was down by as much as 20 points in the loss to Gonzaga, ending what’s been a miserable WCC season. At this point, there’s nowhere to go but up.

In the 2012-13 season, BYU went 10-6 in the WCC. It was the only time when the Cougars lost all four games to Gonzaga and Saint Mary’s, finishing in a clear third place in the conference. A quarterfinal loss to San Diego in the conference tournament sent them straight to the NIT.

Boy how history repeats itself.

It wasn’t supposed to be this way this season. There was a new commitment to defense and playing above the competition, no towards the same level. BYU was even a made three-pointer by Zac Seljaas away from beating Saint Mary’s in regulation and potentially competing for a WCC title.

Then the bad losses occurred. The near buzzer beating loss to an improved Pacific is one thing, but getting blown out by a previous one win Loyola Marymount proved that things were the same as the previous six years in the WCC.

It was clear what the problem was for this year’s team. Outside of Yoeli Childs, Elijah Bryant and sometimes TJ Haws, none of the other players would be guarantee starters for the other seven WCC teams. The offense has become predictable and stagnant at times, allowing inferior teams to outscore them.

More from Busting Brackets

The three losses this season to non-Saint Mary’s or Gonzaga teams, which is what they do on average. The four extra losses to the top-two teams makes it a record seven, after the 79-65 loss to the Zags in the regular season finale.

What makes things that is that out of the seven seasons in the WCC, BYU never once was in contention to win the regular season title towards the end. Same goes for the conference tournament, where even in the finals, the Cougars weren’t in a good position to win.

Even worse, Dave Rose’s team will be facing San Diego, who blitzed them a little over a week ago 75-62, leading basically the entire way. It’s a bad matchup for the Cougars, who can barely shoot the ball going up against a Toreros squad who is one of the better defenses in the country.

Next: Does Utah have a shot at the NCAA Tournament?

BYU has little to no chance of winning the WCC Conference Tournament, and an opening loss could even put their NIT hopes in danger. I could say that there’s always next year, but that would be the seventh time saying time for a program that was supposed to be on the same level as Gonzaga. Now they’re inching closer to the “others” unless things change quickly.