Rose marveled about the crowd, and there's no doubt the Cougars enjoyed a home-court advantage in qualifying for a trip to New York next week. What's interesting about NIT attendance is that a 15,000-plus count means more than usual, because there's no built-in number of season tickets already sold and the people in the building really want to be there.
Fans "embraced this team," Rose said appreciatively, but the truth is the support was conditional. BYU's attendance increased steadily during the three games. As of Tuesday, the Marriott Center was more than 80 percent full, and the volume was as loud as any sellout crowd could produce.