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For the eighth time in nine years, the BYU Cougars are dancing. Coach Dave Rose's team got an invitation to the NCAA Tournament on Sunday afternoon and will play in a First Four game on Tuesday against Ole Miss in Dayton.

Of course, the Cougars were there just three years ago, beating Iona in Dayton before moving on to Louisville.

Rose and players Tyler Haws, Kyle Collinsworth, Chase Fischer and Skyler Halford met with reporters Sunday evening and discussed the No. 11 seed the Cougars received.

Perhaps it was because BYU was one of the last teams listed during the Selection Show, but the Cougars seemed generally pleased with outcome — despite having to play their way in to the general portion of the tournament.

Here's my first report from Provo on how the Cougars (25-9) took the bid.

The best stuff from Rose and the Cougars on Sunday night were the tales of agony as school after school popped up on the big screen before BYU.

"It was terrible," said Tyler Haws.

For those with Twitter, news broke early in the show that BYU would be playing Ole Miss in a First Four game, but it sounds like nobody in the studio at the BYU Broadcast Building was aware of the leak.

"That would not be me," Rose said of the leak. "And so when we got to the last couple of brackets, I think it was the last one … I thought that there were some really good teams left, that I knew then were going to be left out. I mean, obviously Richmond — Chris [Mooney] is a good friend of mine, and Larry [Eustachy, coach of CSU], and the Temple team is good. I just figured, my goodness, there are some pretty good teams, including us, that hopefully we just get a shot at it. We did. So it turned out good."

Kyle Collinsworth said he never doubted.

"Yeah, it was literally the last bracket," Collinsworth said. "But I figured we would get in, at least a play-in game. But you try not to think about it and you realize it is not in your hands. You just wait. And we are just excited we got in."

Collinsworth reminded reporters that many of us doubted with our questions after the Pepperdine loss in the very same interview room that BYU would make the Big Dance.

"We were just excited, because like Chase said, three weeks ago no one [believed]," he said. "I remember Ty and I were in here and we had an interview after we lost. And everyone was like, 'what are you guys going to do now?' I said, 'we are going to make a run and we are going to make it into the tournament.' And that's exactly what happened. So we are excited to be in here, and we have been playing great, and we are playing great at the right time. So we hope to continue that on Tuesday."

As has been said and written often the past month, it would have been a shame if Collinsworth and Tyler Haws had not gotten into the tournament after the years that they have had.

"It is really special, Haws said. "Everyone in that locker room has worked really hard to put us in that spot. I mean, yeah, there was a time during the year when times were not good. A lot of people counted us out, but everyone stuck together and still believed in each other and we finished on a good note. I think we are playing the right way and hopefully we can continue to have that edge and win a few games."

It will be the first NCAA Tournament game for Chase Fischer, the transfer from Wake Forest. He spoke at length Sunday about the turnaround, the expectations in Provo to make the Big Dance, and how the team stuck together when many would have went sideways.

A sampling:

"I think it is special. I think everybody here in Provo and at BYU and Cougar Nation, everybody is like, we should make the tournament every year," Fischer said. "Things weren't falling our way this season, and I think a lot of people were counting us out. It takes a special group, with a special staff, and everyone that is kinda around us to make this run. And I wish everyone outside could see, every game we were winning and the momentum we were getting, and winning at Gonzaga and making the championship in the tournament could see kinda what was going on behind the scenes and how we came together as a team. I just think we have a special group of kinds that just like each other. We are just friends off the court, and I think that's more important than anything on the court, because that created the chemistry and made everything happen. It is just a special group of guys, playing for each other and kinda getting outside of ourselves and caring about the team more.

I know it is a cliche concept, but that's really what we've done.