Three Takeaways From BYU Basketball's Newly Released Conference Schedule

BYU basketball head coach Kevin Young | BYU Photo

BYU announced its Big 12 conference slate on Tuesday for the most anticipated season in program history. The Big 12 sent seven teams to the NCAA Tournament last season and could get even stronger this season after signing three of the top fpir recruiting classes. BYU’s non-conference schedule will certainly garner national attention with matchups against perennial powers Villanova, Wisconsin, and UConn, but the real fun begins in January when BYU begins its third season in the best conference in America. Here are three takeaways from BYU’s conference schedule.

1. BYU’s tournament seeding will be determined from January 17-February 21

BYU center Keba Keita throws down a dunk against Baylor | BYU Photo

From January 17-February 21, BYU will play 7 games in a 10-game stretch against teams that made the NCAA tournament last year, including games road games at Texas Tech, Kansas, Baylor, and Iowa State. All these games should reasonably be Quad 1-A games which are pivotal in determining high seeds in the NCAA tournament. Last year's 1-seeds went a combined 33-14 in Q1A games last season, inferring BYU needs to win 5 of those games and avoid losses to anyone else to have a shot at a 1-seed this season.

2. Not playing Kansas twice is a bummer

via AJ Dybantsa (IG)

When the top two recruits in the country last season are playing in the same conference, it feels like an oversight to not have them matchup twice in the regular season. Instead, BYU’s AJ Dybantsa and Kansas’s Darryn Peterson will matchup at Phog-Allen Fieldhouse in Kansas on January 31. If you haven’t looked into flights yet, now is the time.

3. BYU’s schedule has a nice ramp up and cool down to begin and end the year

BYU star Richie Saunders against Arizona State | BYU Photo

While the middle 10 of BYU’s conference schedule is a gauntlet, BYU plays one tournament team in the beginning and final four of its conference schedule. BYU will play at Kansas State and at Utah offset with home games vs. Arizona and TCU in between to start the conference slate. Then they finish with UCF, West Virginia, Cincinnati and Texas Tech. Seven of those eight teams finished outside the top 50 in NET last season with the first four being outside the top 70. Some of these will still likely be a quad one opportunity, as Cincinnati, and West Virginia will both be on the road, but BYU needs to avoid letdowns if they want to achieve their goals in terms of seeding.