So far the Cougars are 10-1 with two non-conference games remaining (Abilene Christian and Eastern Washington). Currently, BYU is No. 6 in the NET rankings, a crucial data points for the NCAA Tournament committee as it considers seeding assignments in March.

Entering Big 12 play last season, the Cougars were 9-2 but only No. 45 in the NET rankings.

So, better.

The scheduling was spearheaded by assistant coach Chris Burgess and patterned after what league foe Arizona and other top programs have done recently.

“When I’m in New York City, If New Yorker crosses the street, I’m crossing with them, because they know what they’re doing, right?” Young said. “Same thing with this. A lot of good teams schedule up so that’s what we’re trying to be. This year was what the blueprint can be moving forward.”

BYU has a 3-1 record in Quad 1 games, 3-0 vs. Quad 2 programs, 1-0 in Quad 3 and 3-0 in Quad 4. The Quad 1 games include a loss against UConn (No. 7 NET). Although preseason results aren’t including in the NET rankings, the Cougars tested themselves anyway at Nebraska (No. 11 NET) and against North Carolina (No. 16 NET) at the Delta Center.

There are further complications to setting a good schedule. Power conference opponents that agree to play in Provo will be few and far between. In addition, the Cougars have to be out of the Marriott Center during “Christmas Around the World” and players take finals in December as well.

“Obviously, we wanted to beef it up and just make it more challenging, which I think we’ve done a decent job of,” Young said. “I think we probably could have done more, honestly. It’s interesting on my staff, because I have kind of a split of guys who have coached in college for a long time and guys that haven’t. So a lot of it’s new to me and some other coaches. We’ve had a lot of internal discussion about could we play more Quad 1-type games than we even did this year?”

Another objective is learning as much as you can about your team in a dozen contests leading into the Big 12 schedule, which provides numerous opportunities for Quad 1 and Quad 2 games.

Last year, the Cougars started Big 12 play 1-3, so Young is hoping the tougher schedule has prepared his team better.

“It’s huge,” Young said. “It’s a good point about the context of what does it mean to beef it up and what do you learn? The amount of stuff we’ve learned compared to last year is night and day, and it’s not even close.”

He said it

BYU sophomore guard Robert Wright III was asked how his life has changed since hitting the buzzer-beating, game-winning shot against Clemson at

Madison Square Garden last week.

“I still had to take my finals,” Wright said. “So life’s been the same.”

Scouting Report

Abilene Christian (16-16 overall in 2024-25) was picked to finish seventh (out of nine teams) in the Western Athletic Conference this season.

The Wildcats are 7-4 in the non-conference, with three straight wins against Jarvis Christian (87-55), at Pepperdine (71-63) and against New Mexico State (77-69) before getting blasted at No. 1 Arizona 96-62 in Tucson on Tuesday. The top-ranked Wildcats shot 67% from the field in the victory and made 30 of 38 from the foul line.

Senior Bradyn Hubbard (6-7 F) leads Abilene Christian in scoring with 15.7 points per game and is shooting 33% from the 3-point line (13 of 39).

ACU is 211th in NET ranking.