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BYU could be one of March's most hotly debated bubble teams

BYU could be one of March's most hotly debated bubble teams

Before BYU snapped third-ranked Gonzaga's 41-game home winning streak on Saturday night, the Cougars were an NCAA tournament-caliber team without an NCAA tournament-caliber résumé.

They had zero victories against RPI top 50 opponents. They had a pair of sub-100 RPI losses to Pepperdine and a third at San Diego. The most notable wins they had attained all season were at home against fellow bubble team Stanford and at home against likely NIT teams UMass and Saint Mary's.

One monumental road win in Spokane isn't a quick fix for those flaws in BYU's résumé, but it will force the selection committee to take a closer look at the Cougars. What they'll find is a profile that will test their philosophies and a team the eye test and computer numbers agree is probably better than its lack of notable victories suggests.

BYU is No. 26 in the KenPom rankings mostly because the use of margin of victory as a tool to determine a team's strength favors the Cougars.

Seventeen of BYU's 23 victories have come by 10 or more points this season and all eight of its losses have been by seven or less. They've dropped excruciatingly close games to some of the best teams they have faced, from overtime heartbreakers against NCAA tournament-bound San Diego State and Purdue in Maui, to a four-point loss to 13th-ranked Utah on Dec. 10, to a seven-point loss to Gonzaga in their first meeting on Dec. 27.

Will a strong KenPom ranking help BYU when the selection committee convenes? It can't hurt. The predictive tool is not part of the data on the team sheets handed to committee members, but they're free to bring it up when discussing the merits of bubble teams.

The ranking system that is used most often when the committee convenes also views BYU favorably. The Cougars are a solid No. 35 in the RPI primarily because they played one of the 20 strongest non-conference schedules in the nation and they're 8-3 in road games.

It's also worth noting BYU just looks like an NCAA tournament team when you watch them, an admittedly totally subjective statement that nonetheless probably counts for something to committee members tasked with making a basketball decision.

BYU boasts one of the nation's top scorers in Tyler Haws, triple-double record holder Kyle Collinsworth, good size in the paint and and an array of shooters on the perimeter. An indifference to defense and keeping opponents off the glass is the biggest reason the Cougars are a bubble team in spite of that wealth of talent, yet they've shown the ability to be competent defensively for stretches, most notably in holding Gonzaga to 43.9 percent shooting on Saturday night.

Ultimately, if the selection committee decides to reward teams with more quality wins, BYU should have no gripe. The Cougars had chances to help themselves in Maui or to beat Utah and Gonzaga on their home floor, and they lost. Close or not, that matters.

If bubble teams like Temple or Tulsa get in over BYU, however, thats where the Cougars would be justified in complaining.

The Owls have a very similar resume to BYU except their one RPI top 50 win came at home against Kansas back in December and their margin of defeat in their other six changes suggests that outcome was very much an outlier. Fellow American Athletic Conference contender Tulsa has two RPI top 50 wins, and you know who they're both against? Temple.

The WCC tournament will present BYU one chance to render all this discussion moot.

At best, the Cougars win three games, secure an automatic bid and spend a relaxing Selection Sunday wondering only what seed they'll get. At worse, the Cougars fall early, add a bad loss they can't afford to their résumé and hurt their chances of hearing their name called the following weekend.

And then there's the most plausible scenario, the one in which they reach the title game but fall to Gonzaga just like they did last year.

If that happens, let the great BYU debate begin.

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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!