With Coach Rose finishing up his 10th year, I thought I’d dig in to the numbers a bit to see how his first 10 years stack up against the previous 5 decades.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AsoXzrkkdQYudEVzZTFsOVl4VjMxWXdybklNV1JySnc&usp=drive_web#gid=6

I pulled out as many key metrics as I could think of. I couldn’t find series results against rivals, but that would be another interesting cut. We’ve probably fared better against Utah than most other decades as well.

Metrics in which the past 10 years have been the best ever…

*Most wins
*Fewest losses
*Ergo, highest winning %
*Most 20 win, 25 win, and 30 win seasons
*Most NCAA tourney bids (tied, with this year TBD of course)
*Most appearances in top 25 (40 weeks)
*Most seasons with an appearance in the top 25 (5 seasons)
*Most conference player of the year awards (4)
*Highest average points per game (79.3 ppg); the stats don’t go beyond 1997, but I’m sure this is tops

Metrics in which some other decade has the best…

*NCAA win percentage (4-2 in the 50’s/60’s)
*Players sent to the NBA (60’s/70’s era)
*Conference championships and tourney championships (80’s/90’s): note, appears BYU has only one 3 tourney championships ever
*Best NCAA finish – Elite 8 the Ainge year
*All Americans (60’s/70’s)

Main conclusion: these last 10 years crush any other period in BYU basketball history. This has been our peak as a program in the modern era (perhaps an old timer could argue for the Mel Hutchins 50's NIT Champs era). The last 3 years specifically have been a decline from years 2-7 of Rose's tenure, but that stretch of 6 years was absolutely our best run ever as a program.

I’m excited that the next 6 years could be just as great as that stretch from 2006 to 2011.

Coach Rose’s teams always have imperfections and flaws, like all teams, but the fact he’s averaged 25 wins a year when we only eclipsed 25 wins 9 times in the previous 50 years, is pretty amazing. My POV is as a fanbase we don’t appreciate this enough. Plus, in my opinion it's a more entertaining brand of basketball than what I remember from my childhood (I was born in early 80's, so I never saw the Ainge, Mike Smith teams).

I feel we’re right on the cusp of another NCAA invite, just need a breakthrough against the Zags either tomorrow or next week in Vegas. I believe we’re good enough to be a tourney team, but currently on paper the Pepperdine/USD losses keep us out. If I had to predict today, I say we get in. Count me as someone on the tourney train .

Beat the Zags!