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Gonzaga basketball coach Mark Few's comments to The Spokesman-Review of Spokane that seven teams in the West Coast Conference are "dragging the top three [teams] down" reverberated in Utah on Monday.

Few said the WCC "needs to really step back and take notice" after the Zags drew an 11 seed in the Midwest Region and a bubble team, Saint Mary's, was left out of the Big Dance. The Gaels got a No. 2 seed in the NIT, just as BYU did.

Monday, BYU coach Dave Rose held a press briefing after the Cougars practiced at the Marriott Center in preparation for Wednesday's NIT first-round game against Alabama-Birmingham.

I asked Rose for his thoughts about Few's comments.

"I would say that Mark has been in the league long enough, and has been successful enough, that he can have an opinion on that," Rose said. "And if that is his opinion, then I think we all ought to listen to him and see what we can do to maybe change it."

Matt Norlander of CBSsports.com listed every NCAA Tournament coach's favorite band or musician in this fun feature today, so I asked Rose about his.

He said probably Aerosmith or Led Zeppelin. Had the Cougars made the Big Dance, he would have been the only coach to pick either of those two bands.

He also mentioned the Eagles, which is also the favorite band of West Virginia coach Bob Huggins.

"One of the best concerts I ever went to was a year ago, in Salt Lake, their tour," he said of the Eagles. "I couldn't name a band in the last five years, though. That's all I listen to is [old stuff]. My wife accuses me of being frozen in the late 70s, early 80s, as far as my music selection."

Yes, Rose was also asked about Wednesday's game against the Blazers, Conference USA's regular season champion. He said the visitors probably should have been awarded a better seed than a seven.

"This is a really good team. I think that [UAB coach] Jared [Haase]' team had an unbelievable season. They won 14 games in a row, started out 3-3 and now he is 26-6. The last 26 games, he's won 23 of them, so he's on a nice little roll with this group. And it is a young team. They only have one senior, and it is really balanced, scoring wise. Four or five guys score the ball really well.

It reminds me a lot of the old Vegas teams [UNLV] that we used to play: long, athletic, good-shooting team with a steady, smart point guard. So I think that we are excited to play again, the most important thing, and I think that it is a really good opponent. So if fans want to watch a really good team, and some really good basketball I think it will be a great night in here on Wednesday if we can get some people in here."

Rose said the Cougars practiced twice last week, but the workouts weren't really spirited. That changed after BYU learned its opponent Sunday night, because Monday's practice was good.

"We are excited to be in the tournament, and we are looking forward to a really competitive game on Wednesday, and I think one of the things that as a coach you look forward to, and a coaching staff, is how your team reacts out of your league grind. You have just gone through an 18-game league grind, and your conference tournament, which is two, sometimes three games, playing the same teams that know you, and you know them, and now you get kinda released from that back into the free world of basketball again, and see how your team responds to that," he said. "And I am excited for our group. I think that the practices last week were a little bit not real emotional, but the guys went hard. They pushed themselves pretty good. But today I felt really good about our practice. I thought there was a good feel, good competition, and we went after each other pretty good. I think that's how we all felt once we got a game.

We thought we would get another game. We didn't know where it was going to be, or who it was going to be against, but once you actually get, I think it has breathed a lot of life into this group. Hopefully you will see that on Wednesday."