Cougars boil the kettle at the right time

Bring water to a boil on a hot stove only takes five to 10 minutes. Bringing a basketball team to its boiling point sometimes takes an entire season – but once it is there, the team is ready to cook.

The hope of Kevin Young has throughout the hope that Byu was playing his best basketball in March and his cougars n ° 17 enter the Big 12 tournament of this week in Kansas City as one of the hottest teams in the country.

Not only did Byu shot well after his pre-season prediction of ninth place to finish equally in the third row of Big 12, but he is the second longer victory (eight games) in the League behind Houston 2 (10 games).

It was Houston who gave Byu a verification of reality on January 4 when the Red Cougars hit the Blue Cougars on Visit – 86-55. The defeat of 31 points was the worst of the season of Byu, and the mouth of wood focused during consecutive defeats against Texas Tech in Provo and TCU on the road.

By Boigning at 10-5, Young’s staff dug and the team responded in the way a team from the NCAA tournament would do it-winning 13 of the 16 games, making the top 20, winning a double-Bye in the conference tournament and brandishing a first team of 12 teams (Richie Saunders).

To continue the kitchen’s sentence, Young boil the kettle at the right time – the time of the tournament, and it is optimistic.

“Available teams are teams that arise every day and improve every day,” Young told his group in the victorious locker room on Saturday evening after Byu beat Utah 85-74 to conclude the regular season.

Byu will train in Provo Tuesday morning before flying to Kansas City. The cougars will be confronted with State 12 of Iowa, the state of Cincinnati or Oklahoma in the quarterfinals on Thursday (10:30 am MDT, ESPN or ESPN2).

A victory Thursday would probably face Byu against Houston in the semi-finals.

“I know it’s a cliché, but it’s our mantra to take him game per game and day after day,” said Young on Monday. “This team has managed to keep a singular orientation.”

Saunders is one of the 10 players of the conference winning the honors of the first team. He was also appointed the most improved player in the Big 12.

“He has an incredible work ethics and engine,” said Young. “With the way we like to play and its strength, it was a transparent adjustment. He took full advantage of this opportunity. »»

EGOR DEMIN has received honorable distinctions as well as the placement in the Big 12 All-Freshman team. Young said Kanon first-year captures were still “daily” after injuring the left knee against Virginia-Western on March 1.

Dave McCann is a sports editor and columnist for the Deseret News and is a Play-By-Play advertiser and show host for Byutv / ESPN +. He co-anima “y’s guys” at ysguys.com And is the author of the children’s book “C is for cougar”, available at Deseretbook.com. Here