BYU to Play Texas A&M in First Round

On Sunday the basketball team's players, coaches and staff and their family members gathered at the Student Athlete Building on campus as they awaited the announcement of the NCAA Tournament seedings, what opponent the Cougars would face in the first round, and where they would be playing that game.

Everyone waited and waited for BYU's name to be announced. Speculation, nervous anticipation, and audible reactions to surprising teams and matchups were all present in the room.

At one point, one of the No. 4 seeds was announced as the Cougars ... of Washington State. BYU was not expecting to get a seed that good, but there was nevertheless laughter around the room as everyone realized that they weren't the Cougars being spoken of, and that they briefly got their hopes up.

It took all the way until the final region, but BYU finally found out it received a No. 8 seed, and will play No. 9 seed Texas A&M on Thursday, March 20 in Anaheim during the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The winner of that game will go on to play the winner of the game between No. 1 seed UCLA and No. 16 seed Mississippi Valley State.

Texas A&M finished the regular season with a record of 24-10 (8-8 in the Big 12 regular season, good for sixth place). The Aggies were ranked as high as No. 9 in the country during the season, but finished unranked. Their best win of the season was an 80-63 victory over Texas when the Longhorns were ranked No. 10. Texas ended up as a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament.

This is the second year in a row that the Cougars received a No. 8 seed in the tournament.