Preseason both teams were considered to be in the middlish of the B12.
Non-con Cincinatti was a metrics darling, a poll favorite, and got a couple of solid wins: xavier and dayton.
as an aside, BYU playing instate competition could have vastly improved its strength of record too.
Cincinatti also started out ranked in the popularity polls and stayed ranked until the conference nose-dive.
They have a bunch of motivation to get their season back on track, another one or two losses in the first half of the conference season and they will be struggling for an NIT bid instead of a comfortable seed in the big dance they were expecting.
BYU is finally starting to string some solid games together and they tend to do well with the MAC crowd behind them so not much chance that Cincinatti pulls this out.
BYU has an improving defence: thank you KY for getting Mag more time on the floor. Cin has conference worst offense…
BYU has among the nations best offenses for 2s and 3s. Cin defence was the reason they were a metrics darling non-conference…but only middling in conference.
Rebounding and in the paint generally, BYU, thanks to Foos, Keita, and now Mag and hopefully Bosko, are among the best in the nation…
Of course the paint strength comes largely because KY has his boys shooting so much from 3land. Saunders and Knell leading the charge. Demin, Catchings, and Hall need to get some mojo here
Baker keeps earning his floor time: a team of Baker and Saunders with the upside of Demin and Catchings would be competing for the conference instead of for a decent seed in the conference.
My head says BYU for a low double digit win at minimum…though my emotions truly expect them to be pushing a 20 point blowout…