Brigham Young Cougars
From Hoopedia
Brigham Young University (BYU), located in Provo, Utah, is the flagship university of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS or Mormon Church).
About 98% of the students at BYU are Mormon and two-thirds of the students come from outside the state of Utah. BYU students are required to adhere to a strict honor code that forbids extramarital sexual relations, alcohol or drug consumption, and cheating. The honor code also requires that students be religiously active, wear modest clothing, and avoid outlandish hairstyles.
Men's Basketball
The Brigham Young University (BYU) Cougars men's basketball program competes in the Mountain West Conference in NCAA Division I. The Cougars have been a relatively successful program, winning a total of 26 conference championships as a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference, Skyline Conference, Western Athletic Conference, and the MWC. They have made 22 appearances in the NCAA Tournament, with the most recent coming in 2007. The Cougars are tied with the University of Missouri for the distinction of having the most NCAA Tournament appearances without having ever played in the Final Four. In addition, the Cougars have won the National Invitation Tournament twice.
BYU's basketball team is notable for its refusal to play games on Sundays, in accordance with LDS Church policy. This is almost never an issue for the football team, as college football teams almost never play on Sundays in order not to compete with the NFL; however, BYU's basketball team requires special consideration in the NCAA Tournament on Selection Sunday so that the team will not have to play a game on a Sunday. This became an issue in 2003 when the Selection Committee slotted the Cougars such that they would play a Sunday game were they to reach the Elite Eight. BYU is also notable due to the fact that its players are often older than most college players due to their service on LDS missions, which do not count against the maximum four years of college eligibility granted by the NCAA.
