2020 BYU completed its season ending surge with two double digit wins late last February, one at home and one on the road, resulting in BYU's kenpom ranking jumping from #21 to #12. Amid punditry that BYU was an increasingly plausible Final Four candidate, the season ended with BYU at #13 after a one point loss to SMC and the Covid shutdown. BTW, that BYU team didn't crack the top 50 until mid December after 13 games.

Now in 2021, surging #21 BYU has at least an 80% chance to compete in games once again against the similarly ranked same two teams, Pepperdine and Gonzaga, this time in reverse order in Las Vegas, with little prospect of facing SMC and this time with the WCC tourney title on the line. This 2021 BYU team didn't crack the top 50 until late January, after 15 games.

A pair of huge double digit wins in Las Vegas could once again elevate BYU to #12, this time with a chance to prove its worthiness at the Big Dance.

While these two teams have style differences, what they have in common is they are both BYU basketball teams, which is awe-inspiring!

As they say it often does, let history rhyme!