Neither dream of BYU’s or Utah State’s to open the men’s NCAA Tournament in Salt Lake City came true, but that’s a small complaint for both teams who earned top-eight seeds when the bracket was revealed Sunday evening.

On the strength of a nonconference schedule featuring extreme blowouts of lesser teams and a 10-8 inaugural Big 12 campaign, BYU (23-10) was assigned a No. 6 seed and will travel to Omaha, Nebraska, to face No. 11 Duquesne (24-11) at 10:40 a.m. MDT Thursday on TruTV. Duquesne won the Atlantic 10 tournament Sunday to clinch its first Big Dance bid in 47 years.

With a win, BYU would face the winner of No. 3 Illinois (26-8) and No. 14 Morehead State (26-8) on Saturday.

Utah State (27-6) was one of several Mountain West teams national pundits considered underseeded but still landed a No. 8 seed, heading to Indianapolis to face No. 9 TCU (21-12). That game is scheduled for 7:55 p.m. Friday on TBS. A win would likely pit the Aggies against No. 1 Purdue (29-4) on Sunday.

At the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, the schedule Thursday is: No. 2 Arizona vs. No. 15 Long Beach State (noon), No. 7 Dayton vs. No. 10 Nevada (2:30 p.m.), No. 5 Gonzaga vs. No. 12 McNeese (5:25 p.m.) and No. 4 Kansas vs. No. 13 Samford (7:55 p.m.). Winners play again Saturday.

Elsewhere, Montana State (17-17) becomes the first Big Sky Conference team to appear in the First Four as a No. 16 seed, giving the Bobcats a chance to pick up the league’s first NCAA Tournament win since 2006. MSU will face No. 16 Grambling (20-14), making its first-ever appearance in the Big Dance, at 4:40 p.m. Wednesday in Dayton, Ohio, airing on TruTV. A win sends MSU to Indianapolis to face Purdue.

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