Impact of BYU Rule on Cougars After Latest NCAA Tournament Exit

The BYU basketball team is back in the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive year, securing a six-seed in this year’s bracket. The Cougars are notable because their religious beliefs can influence their seeding.

The BYU Rule is considered by the selection committee every time the school is included in the tournament field. This year is no exception, though the consequences seem minimal in March.

The rule itself is straightforward: The Cougars do not play on Sundays.

According to NCAA rules, if a university has a written policy prohibiting competition on a certain day for religious reasons, the tournament schedule must be adjusted to accommodate that school. Since BYU has a policy against playing on Sundays, their games are scheduled for Saturday or Monday, even if it means altering broadcast or televised events.

This can lead to challenges when scheduling postseason games, as the NCAA Tournament usually takes place on weekends. The opening round features Thursday/Saturday and Friday/Sunday rotations.

The BYU rule effectively removes half of the tournament bracket for the Cougars. They are excluded from any path that could lead to a Sunday game.

Last year, this adjustment proved problematic when the team was moved down a line in the bracket to accommodate the rule. Despite being viewed as a top-five seed, BYU landed in the six-seed spot.

That change quickly backfired when the Cougars lost to 11-seed Duquesne in the first round. This year, however, the impact appears to be less severe.

Although the selection committee had to modify the bracket to fit BYU’s needs, it did not affect their seed. The only consequence was that the Cougars were excluded from the South and Midwest regions.

Given the Thursday/Saturday rotation, BYU could only be placed in the East or West. This also ruled out a potential matchup with Auburn, the No. 1 overall seed.

BYU will play as the six-seed in the East region, with Duke as the top seed. They will face 11-seed VCU on Thursday, followed by a possible match against the winner of the Wisconsin-Montana game on Saturday.

This time, the BYU Rule will not negatively impact the Cougars. There will be no “what-ifs” if the team is eliminated early in the postseason.