BYU Basketball Left Out Of 2023 Big East-Big 12 Battle
Apr 5, 2023, 4:38 PM | Updated: Apr 6, 2023, 10:08 am
PROVO, Utah – You won’t see BYU basketball participating in the 2023 Big East-Big 12 Battle.
The Big 12 and the Big East released the schedule for the upcoming battle. It was first reported by CBS Sports’ Jon Rothstein. Noticeably absent was BYU.
2023 Big East x Big 12 Battle
Winter 2023. 🏀#Big12MBB x @BIGEAST
— Big 12 Conference (@Big12Conference) April 6, 2023
The Big East Conference has 11 programs, so it was always known that three of the 14 Big 12 teams would be left out of the battle for the 2023-24 season. Along with BYU, Big 12 newcomers UCF and Cincinnati are on the outside looking in.
The lone Big 12 newcomer to make the cut is Houston, fresh off a season where they were a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Last season, the Big East and Big 12 split the 2022 battle 5-5 when the Big 12 only had 10 members.
Per Rothstein’s report, the Big East-Big 12 battle matchups will include national champion UConn traveling to Phog Allen Fieldhouse to take on the 2022 champs, Kansas. Other matchups include Texas taking on former Longhorns head coach Shaka Smart and the Marquette Golden Eagles.
Houston will travel to Xavier, and Elite 8 participant Kansas State hosting Villanova are among the headline games.
The Big 12 Conference has not yet released the 2023-24 basketball schedule. But the expectation is that it will be an 18-game schedule.
BYU basketball gearing up for year one in the Big 12
BYU will continue to piece together its non-conference schedule as it prepares for its first season in the Big 12. The Cougars will host national runner-up San Diego State at the Marriott Center as one of the games.
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BYU coach Mark Pope has previously stated that he wants to continue scheduling rival Utah on the non-conference schedule.
The Big 12 Conference produced seven teams to the NCAA Tournament, eight if you count Houston. They finished the 2022-23 season as the number-one rated conference in KenPom’s ratings. It’s the eighth time in the last ten years the Big 12 finished as the top conference in Pomeroy’s metrics.
BYU officially joins the Big 12 Conference on July 1, 2023.
This past season, BYU finished 19-15 overall with no postseason. It was only the third time since 2000 that BYU finished a season not participating in one of the top two postseason tournaments (NCAA, NIT).
Big East-Big 12 Battle games for the 2023 season
- November 30: Texas Tech at Butler
- November 30: Creighton at Oklahoma State
- December 1: Iowa State at DePaul
- December 1: Houston at Xavier
- December 1: UConn at Kansas
- December 1: St. John’s at West Virginia
- December 2: TCU at Georgetown
- December 5: Texas at Marquette
- December 5: Providence at Oklahoma
- December 5: Villanova at Kansas State
- December 5: Seton Hall at Baylor
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 Mitch’s coverage of BYU moving to the Big 12 Conference on Twitter: @Mitch_Harper.
