BYU students, fans travel to Denver to watch the Cougars play

SALT LAKE CITY — On a clear Sunday afternoon, the long road from St. George to Provo can sometimes feel like it drags on for much longer than four hours.

But it wasn’t dragging along in the Jones’ car.

KSL Sports’ Jeremiah Jensen is talking brackets and the NCAA!

 

They were listening intently to Selection Sunday on ESPN, just waiting to see where, when, and what seed the BYU Cougars would earn in the tournament.

“My dad had previously said wherever they go we’ll go watch them. But then … he said we’ll only get tickets if they go to Denver … It was just a crazy moment when they announced they were going to Denver,” said BYU freshman Bridger Jones.

“Right then and there we pulled off the freeway and bought the tickets.”

Bridger, his dad and two cousins flew into Denver Wednesday night and will be sitting in the tenth row behind the Cougar’s bench Thursday as they take on the 11 seed VCU.

“It is going to be just one of the best moments of my life. I’ve never seen BYU in a March Madness (tournament),” he said.

BYU’s odds from a student’s perspective

This is the third year in a row that BYU has been seeded number 6 in the NCAA tournament.

Despite making the tournament three times in the past five years, the last time the Cougars made it past the first round of the tournament was in 2012, overcoming a 25-point comeback against Iona.

It’s hard for BYU fans to hold on to hope that the Cougars won’t fall under pressure like they have the past three years.

But Bridger remains optimistic because of one big difference between this year and the past two.

“What I think is going to be different this year is Kevin Young. He’s a great coach, but what I like about him most is he’s really good at making half-time adjustments and adjusting to the team that we’re playing,” he said. “… Because we’ve never played a majority of these teams, he’s going to have to rely on those mid-game half-time adjustments.”

Read more: Utah Hockey Club fans rally with letters of support for Connor Ingram

BYU is still recovering from a 20-point loss to Houston in the semi-finals of the Big 12 tournament last week.

Rather than lamenting a loss of momentum, some students believe it’s giving the team more motivation.

“I think that was a good wake-up call for us going into this game against VCU. I think we’ll come out and really handle the pressure,” Bridger said. “… Both teams are going to be really physical, but I’m excited to see the adjustments we made after the first half of Houston and use those to our advantage against VCU.”

Expectations are hard to manage with BYU’s recent run, winning their last 9 of 10 games, yet never performing well on the national tournament stage. Nevertheless, Bridger is keeping his expectations high.

“I’m kind of all over the place. I obviously have the expectation to win round one. I even have the expectation that we could get to the Elite Eight,” he said.

If the Cougars keep winning, Bridger and thousands of fans will keep watching.

“If we won the first game and then potentially the second game, I would be willing to pay almost any amount of money to go watch them.”

Tipoff for the Cougar’s first round against the VCU Rams is Thursday afternoon at 2 p.m.

Read more: BYU has parted ways with women’s basketball coach Amber Whiting after 3 years