BYU Basketball released its 13-game non-conference schedule Tuesday.
NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE ️ pic.twitter.com/UkrZcMYoXN
— BYU Men's Basketball (@BYUMBB) July 22, 2025
If you’ve been reading my stuff and following me, you’ve known pretty much the whole non-conference schedule since May. The lone change from my May article was that South Dakota backed out of a game and BYU replaced them with Abilene Christian.
The idea for BYU was to get two quality exhibition games where they could tweak with lineups early on without risking a loss hurting them,
headline the schedule with quality Quad One opportunities, and then filling out the schedule with buy games. BYU’s strength of schedule last year rated 313 nationally in NET, which is why they were a 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament despite good wins in Big 12 play. This year’s non-conference SOS will be significantly better and gives BYU a chance at a top 3 seed in the NCAA Tourney.
How Tough is BYU’s Schedule?
The schedule is good. It’s not a non-conference schedule that is top 25 nationally, but that’s not a knock at all. BYU doesn’t need to schedule that tough. The schedule should be a top 75 type schedule depending on how teams finish. Arizona’s non-conference SOS was 34th last year, and I think this will be similar or slightly below that. BYU will have more Quad 4 games than Arizona did. The Wildcats were a 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament despite a similar Big 12 profile to BYU due to their non-conference strength of schedule.
BYU has more high quality games than they have ever gotten. The headline is two quality exhibitions and six games that will be Quad One or Quad Two. BYU wanted two quality exhibition games that would allow them to tinker with lineups and concepts early on without the fear of a dropping a game that counted. Nebraska will give them a road test and I expect North Carolina to be a sell out or close to it since BYU is playing a blue blood and it will be the chance for most fans to see the new team in person.
For the six Quad one/two games, UConn is a likely top 10 team, Wisconsin is a borderline preseason top 25 team, Clemson is a likely tourney team, Villanova is a name brand but is an unknown with a new coach, and BYU will be heavy favorites to win the Thanksgiving tourney in Orlando over Dayton, Miami, and Georgetown.
UConn will likely be the only game BYU is an underdog. BYU has a good chance to rack up some nice wins in non-conference and set them up for a high seed heading into Big 12 Tournament play. A win over UConn would give BYU a premier win in non-conference and let BYU dream about the possibility of chasing a top seed in the NCAA Tourney and running the table in non-conference. Below is how I rank the difficulty of BYU’s top non-conference games.
- UConn (Boston)
- Wisconsin (SLC)
- Clemson (NYC)
- Villanova (Vegas)
- Orlando Tourney — Dayton/Miami/Georgetown
- Orlando Tourney — Dayton/Miami/Georgetown
Other Thoughts on the Schedule
- Delta Center Games: BYU has 3 games in SLC. North Carolina will be the first chance most fans get to see AJ Dybantsa and crew in person, Wisconsin will be a Quad One game, and Cal Baptist is the third one. I’ve seen many fans confused why the heck BYU is playing Cal Baptist in the Delta Center and not in Provo. This will be the fourth consecutive season BYU is playing a lower-tier opponent in the Delta Center. BYU has wanted to get more northern Utah residents a chance to see an affordable game closer to their area.
Sources tell me BYU tried to get a more local team like Weber State, Utah Tech, SUU, and others, but details couldn’t be ironed out. BYU settled on a western region team. One silver lining is that since this is a neutral site game, it will have a chance to be a Quad Three game rather than Quad Four. That likely won’t move the needle with seeding, but reducing the amount of Quad Four games on the resume isn’t a bad thing.
- BYU vs Duke: Two sources told me that BYU and Duke discussed a game December 13 at Dickies Arena in Forth Worth, Texas. One source told me discussions broke down, in part, due to Duke assistant Jai Lucas taking the head coach job at Miami. Lucas had a connection between the Boozers and Dybantsas and was driving the talks, and things never took off after he went to Miami.
More from vanquishthefoe.com:
- BYU vs. Cincinnati: Odds, betting lines and computer predictions
- Tom Holmoe Announcement: BYU Sports are great and cool and fun, so don’t worry
- What you need to know: BYU vs Cincinnati
- BYU Basketball: Steven Beo to change numbers after retired jersey oversight
- Why is BYU basketball freshman Steven Beo wearing a retired jersey number?
- Cougs on Cougs: Do Cincy like a local when BYU takes on the Cincinnati Bearcats
- Dave Rose announces 2016-17 BYU Basketball captains
