BYU's Kevin Young gets his March Madness debut, with a team that's been through a lot

PROVO — For more than 16 years, while Kevin Young was coaching in the NBA, the G League and even overseas with Shamrock Rovers in Ireland, the basketball coach from Salt Lake City who grew up in an Atlanta suburb was dialed into brackets and all-day basketball.

Some of that was a part of the job, as pro teams eye talent for the next level. But like most of the country, the NBA also obsesses about the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

Young, who made his coaching debut at 23 and was on Dick Hunsaker's staff at Utah Valley in 2005-06, also had another thought several times during those years, though: How fun would it be to coach in that tournament?

Now he gets his chance.

The 17th-ranked Cougars (24-9) heard their name called on Selection Sunday for the third time in five years, accepting a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament against No. 11 VCU (2:05 p.m. MDT, TNT).

For season veterans like Trevin Knell and Trey Stewart, this wasn't anything new.

Even the returning core of last year's team, from Dallin Hall and Richie Saunders to Dawson Baker, Fousseyni Traore and walk-ons Townsend Tripple and Jared McGregor, experienced the same thing a year ago when the then-sixth-seeded Cougars prepared to face No. 11 Duquesne.

But this time was different. Young experienced all of this was fresh eyes, which may explain why he simply leaned back and smiled in the Marriott Center Annex while his team stood up and applauded when they learned their draw during an early segment on the CBS selection special.

"I've been a huge fan of March Madness my whole life, as a kid, even as an adult," Young said during a Sunday evening video conference with mostly local media. "To be a part of it was kind of surreal, to be honest with you, to hear your name called and just to be a part of it.

"It was just excitement," he added of his first true March Madness experience, also describing it as "anxious." "It's just the one-and-done nature of it. It's so unique in that regard. As we get closer to game time and understand that's what you're playing, that it's everything on that night. That's what makes this tournament so fun."

Regardless of the experience factor — none for Young, plenty for a fifth-year senior like Knell — this year feels different, the graduate wing from North Salt Lake said.

"I feel like every guy on the team loves each other. The bench energy is great, on the court everyone is playing for each other; there's no agenda," he said. "It's awesome to be able to play for each other. And I'm pumped. It's my last time playing in March Madness, and it's a dream come true to be back on this stage."

Like last year, the Cougars drew a sixth seed and will face the A-10 champions with a coach who may be on his way out.

VCU's Ryan Odom, who coached at Utah State from 2021-23, has been heavily linked with the Virginia job after leading the Rams to a 52-20 record in two seasons including last year's NIT quarterfinals and 28-3 mark this past season.

The Rams are led by Max Shulga, the Utah State transfer from Kyiv, Ukraine, who averages 15.1 points per game including 18 to help VCU hold off George Mason in the A-10 title game Sunday to clinch their 20th invitation to the Big Dance.

VCU has played BYU just once in school history, an 81-77 loss Dec. 16, 1983 in the University of Kentucky Invitational in Lexington, Kentucky, but played a high-tempo, physical style of defense to go with three other double-digit scorers in Joe Bamisile (15.1 ppg), Philliop Russell (10.6 ppg) and Zeb Jackson (10.5 ppg).

The Rams rank 31st in the NET and 30th in KenPom to BYU's No. 25 and 24 rating, respectively. The Cougars are 15-34 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, 3-3 as a No. 6 seed, and searching for their first tournament win since 2012.

There are plenty of similarities with Duquesne, the upstart A-10 champions a year ago that defeated BYU in Mark Pope's final game as coach of the Cougars, and the last of Keith Dambrot's 116 wins in seven seasons with the Dukes.

But BYU insists this year's team is more battle-tested, with a 14-6 conference record and top-four finish in the Big 12 that included a nine-game winning streak before a 74-54 conference tournament semifinal loss to Houston — a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament after sweeping the Big 12 regular-season and tournament titles.

"We've been playing a lot of very good basketball teams,"Young said. "That's the great thing about playing in the Big 12, that night in and night out we've been playing against some of the best teams in the country. We feel like we're battle-tested, we feel like we've been through a lot, we have a lot of reference points and the momentum that we've had ... is something that we'll rely on."

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