Because the WCC schedule has so many weak games, I would prefer for BYU to use all 13 games of the non-conference to try to find challenging opponents. Maybe use in-state teams UVU and Weber St. as our warm-up games against weak teams.

However, the top NCAA basketball teams almost never go on the road in the non-conference. Maybe those top teams go 1 game for a neutral site.

I looked at Duke's non-conference schedule and it seems rather unappealing for them. They have 7 home games against unexciting teams. They play in a good tournament which would give them 2 more good games. Game at Indiana is cool as part of ACC-Big 10 challenge. Neutral sites against St. Johns and Michigan St.

If BYU just threw money into scheduling, could they get 13 challenging non-conference games? Would it take an extra million a year? An extra 5 million a year?

Of course, I understand that BYU is trying to obtain a sustainable business model for basketball, so perhaps that is unrealistic for them to throw money at a problem to try to fix it. If BYU can get 13,000 paying customers to come watch them play Niagara and Idaho St., then maybe financially they need to make sure to get games like that instead of playing more away games.

And BYU has not been good enough for awhile, so playing a more challenging schedule does not seem to be a priority. They seem to be happy with where they are at.