BYU Basketball: Cougars are building an NCAA Tournament schedule
By Adam Gibby
Last season, Saint Mary’s basketball was held out of the NCAA Tournament despite having a 29-5 record and being ranked No. 18 in the nation. Most blame that on a weak non-conference schedule, and the Cougars have taken note.
Last season, I remember seeing the release of the 2017-2018 BYU basketball season and being pretty disappointed. Outside of Utah and Alabama, there were not really any games that stuck out as good games that would help build a resume. Ultimately, BYU only played two teams in their non-conference schedule (Alabama and Texas Southern) that went on to the NCAA tournament.
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Going into next season however, there appear to much better games and more opportunities to build a resume before starting conference play. The Cougars potentially could play five teams who were in the NCAA Tournament last season, and there are still games left to be scheduled.
Last season, the Cougars non-conference opponents’ RPI average was 152, whereas this season so far it’s 89, which already is a huge boost to an NCAA Tournament resume.
Here is a complete (way too early) ranking of all of BYU’s non-conference games that are scheduled so far. These are ranked on how much they will help boost BYU’s non-conference resume, not on rivalry or affiliation.
The bottom tier- Wins won’t really help, losses would be devastating
No. 9 Weber State: RPI-158
Last season the Wildcats finished with a BPI of 151, which honesty is not that bad considering their conference. Weber State scared BYU last year, with the Cougars having to put some late second half magic together to pull off the 74-68 win. The Wildcats also return four out of their five starters, meaning that this team could be a challenge for BYU and would be a terrible loss for the Cougars.
No. 8 UNLV: RPI- 132
UNLV was not very good last season, and they don’t appear to be setting up to get much better next season. They are losing their best player, Brandon McCoy, to the NBA draft and are graduating their second best player. The Rebels finished seventh in the Mountain West Conference. There just is not a lot looking good for next season and a loss was be devastating for the Cougars.
No. 7 Illinois State: RPI – 83
Technically, this is the worst D-1 team from last season that the Cougars will play. However, historically Illinois State has been a solid team. In recent years, the Redbirds have found a way to win around 20 games per season. They are returning all five starters so having another twenty win season is a very likely outcome.