Diamond Head Classic Bracket Released; BYU to Open Versus South Florida

ESPN released the 8-Team Diamond Head Classic Bracket Thursday afternoon. The event will run December 22-25 in Honolulu, Hawaii. BYU will open versus South Florida and play either Hawaii or Vanderbilt in the next round. Official bracket is below.

BYU’s tip off time and exact channel are TBD, but every game of the tournament will be on either ESPNU or ESPN2.

We don’t know exactly how good each team will be, but BYU’s ideal path at this point is to beat USF and then draw Vanderbilt in the semifinals and Stanford in the finals. Vanderbilt is improving under Head Coach Jerry Stackhouse and Stanford finished 57 in KenPom last year and should be a solid matchup.

BYU’s first round opponent, South Florida, finished 9-13 last season and #170 in KenPom. They’ve had only one winning season in the last nine seasons, so BYU should be able to handle them in the first round. BYU also plays USF in football September 25 in Provo.

BYU and Liberty are the only teams in the field that made the NCAA Tournament last season. BYU has a solid core returning, so they should be considered the favorite to win the Diamond Head Classic.