BYU coach Kevin Young yells to his players from the sidelines during a victory over Kansas at the Marriott Center on the campus of BYU in Provo on Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. Brice Tucker, Deseret News
Jay has covered sports in Utah for more than 30 years and has been writing for the Deseret News since 2019.
After sitting on the thought all season, BYU basketball coach Kevin Young finally let it out in the postgame news conference from the dais in Newark, New Jersey, and again to a smaller group of reporters in the hallway at Prudential Center after the Cougars were eliminated from the NCAA Tournament by Alabama’s otherworldly 3-point shooting.
Noting that he didn’t want to “speak out of both sides of my mouth” after saying all season that he was “not a big expectations guy,” Young decided it was the right time to acknowledge that, indeed, the 2024-25 Cougars did surpass what was expected of them.
“I told them in there I was proud of them,” Young said, pointing in the direction of BYU’s locker room last Thursday night. “This was a team that was picked ninth in the Big 12. And we end up being one of the last 16 teams in the entire country standing.”
Certainly, making the Sweet 16 for only the third time in BYU basketball history qualifies as a step in the right direction for the program that just two years ago finished No. 85 in the NET rankings and posted its first losing conference record since 2004-05.
A huge step, really.
Building upon the groundwork laid by Mark Pope before he departed for Kentucky, Young delivered on the promises he made in April 2024 that he would make BYU fans proud of their program again by winning NCAA Tournament games, attracting some of the top players in the country, and getting them ready for the NBA.
Check, check and check.
“I have been pretty clear that we are trying to establish something that is big time at BYU, building on the very successful program they have had for many years,” Young said. “This was a step in the right direction as far as trying to elevate it. So for that I am proud of our players and our staff.”
As has been well-documented, there were plenty of ups and downs along the way, most notably on Dec. 3 when BYU was pummeled 83-64 by unranked Providence in the Big 12-Big East Battle, on Jan. 4 when the Cougars were barely competitive in a 31-point loss at Houston and on Jan. 18 when BYU was pulverized inside by rival Utah in a 73-72 overtime setback in Salt Lake City, a loss that dropped the Cougars’ record to 2-4 in conference play.
Beginning with an 83-67 win at Colorado on Jan. 21, a win that came after BYU trailed 32-22 in the first half, the finish was spectacular, and as memorable as any finish ever at BYU.
There were a few stumbles after that — losses at home to Arizona and on the road at Cincinnati — but the corner had been turned, and it became obvious that Young and his staff knew what they were doing.
BYU reeled off a nine-game winning streak after the 84-66 loss at Cincinnati, beating the likes of nationally ranked Kansas, Arizona and Iowa State, the latter two on the road, before rolling past the Cyclones in the Big 12 quarterfinals.
How the players described the 2024-25 season
“It was a roller-coaster season with an incredible ending,” said backup point guard Dallin Hall in a somber BYU locker room after the 113-88 loss to the Crimson Tide. “Lots of twists and turns, but all in all it has been super special.”
The Cougars said one of the turning points was during halftime at UCF, when they decided they were “tired of BYU being punked,” in Hall’s words, and vowed to get tougher and more fierce. They took an 81-75 win in Orlando, and although they would lose their next two games, a tighter bond had been developed.
“These are my brothers, and that is why my eyes are a little red right now,” Hall said, wiping away tears. “Obviously we set out to do a lot of big things, and we proved a lot of people wrong, and we came up short of what we wanted to do in the end. But an unforgettable season with the brotherhood that we will cherish for life.”
Noted fellow junior guard Dawson Baker, who, like Hall, said he has not decided yet if he will return to BYU in 2025-26 or transfer to another school where he can play a bigger role: “It was an incredible season, a roller coaster of emotions. The last 10 or so games have just been so fun with this group of guys. We bonded a lot over the wins, and did a lot of cool things that a lot of fans here will remember.”