High up in the rafters of the Marriott Center is a large, empty space between a pair of Naismith Hall of Fame banners. Just five retired numbers flank the two dark blue emblems celebrating the induction of BYU head coach Stan Watts, who led the team from 1949 to ’72, and former star player Kresimir Cosic, who graduated in 1973.
Nestled under a picturesque mountain backdrop, the nondescript building that Watts and Cosic are said to have helped build is a place full of history—just not all of it distinguished. The Cougars sit firmly atop the list of programs with the most NCAA tournament appearances without having made it to the Final Four. And it takes some creative accounting, with all due respect to Converse Yearbook fourth-teamers, to find the 27 players who earned some form of an All-American nod in more than a century’s worth of play.
