BYU Basketball ‘Aggressively’ Pursuing Potential Game To Boost NCAA Résumé

PROVO, Utah – BYU basketball needs a boost to its NCAA Tournament resume. At 19-9 overall, 7-6 in WCC, BYU is on the outside looking in for many Bracketology projections.

With only a pair of games remaining on the regular-season schedule against “Quad Four” teams in the NET ratings, BYU has to rely on a run in the WCC Tournament to try to punch their ticket back into the field of 68.

#BYU Basketball coach Mark Pope says that his program has “reached out to around 20 teams” for a possible non-conference game next week.#BYUHoops #GoCougs pic.twitter.com/0I1W4HVu9P

— KSL Sports (@kslsports) February 22, 2022

The one path in the regular season to potentially boost the resume is scheduling a pop-up non-conference game. BYU can schedule one more game with the Portland game from New Year’s Day being postponed and never rescheduled. Teams that play in up to three games in multi-team-events (MTEs) can play 31 regular-season games. So, after BYU hosts LMU on Thursday, February 24, and Pepperdine on Saturday, February 26, they will be at 30 regular-season games on the year.

That leaves one spot to potentially land a non-conference game against a NET rating “Quad One” team. A “quad one” team on the road is rated No. 1 through No. 75. If it’s a neutral court game, it would be a team from one to 50.

When asked by KSL Sports if his program was exploring that option of getting another non-conference game, Mark Pope acknowledged they are looking into that.

BYU basketball looking at adding a non-conference game

“Those conversations have been going on in earnest for the last three or four days. We’ve reached out to about 20 different teams. I think decisions are probably going to be made when everybody gets through the weekend,” Pope said after practice on Tuesday.

As of right now, BYU basketball is the fifth seed for the WCC Tournament, which would mean they start their league tourney on Friday, March 4, leaving the early part of next week as potential landing spots for a game.

“We have some teams that can play Tuesday (March 1), a lot that can play Wednesday (March 2). Most of them would need to be on the road to make it a quad one,” said Pope. “I think if the WCC Tournament started today, we would play Friday. So, a Wednesday game on the road and then fly to Las Vegas and then hopefully –if things go well– play Friday, Saturday before we get a break. All of that is in limbo right now. We’re just trying to evaluate and see. But yeah, we’re actively pursuing potential opportunities.”

The goal for finding another possible game

The goal of finding this game would be to deliver a resume-building opportunity to the winner. Last month, BYU’s WCC running mate and potential NCAA At-Large team, San Francisco, played a pop-up resume-building game against Loyola Chicago at Salt Lake Community College. Loyola Chicago won that game over the Dons.

“So it’s teams that are kind of occupying the same space as us where it can be a difference-maker,” Pope said. “Some teams just getting another win would be important. It would be a quality win for both teams, kind of anywhere we play the game. So that’s the idea. And that’s all in theory. Everybody is talking about it right now, but like, talking about it to actually getting a contract signed and getting a game is a super small step, but it’s a massive step.”

First things first, let this weekend play itself out. BYU learned two weeks ago that LMU and Pepperdine are likely not going to be pushovers as both teams took Pope’s team to the wire. But for a group exploring all avenues to bounce back and get on the right side of the bubble, BYU isn’t letting any opportunity go unturned.

Mitch Harper is a BYU Insider for sports.ksl.com and host of the Cougar Tracks Podcast (SUBSCRIBE) and Cougar Sports Saturday (Saturday from 12–3 p.m.) on KSL Newsradio. Follow him on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.

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