LAS VEGAS — BYU is headed into its first season as a member of the Big 12 Conference, yet the school came up during Wednesday’s Pac-12 basketball media day at the Park MGM.
There’s a good reason for it.
When Arizona State coach Bobby Hurley was asked about the Sun Devils’ nonconference schedule, BYU was mentioned among a handful of other teams like TCU, SMU and San Francisco.
The Cougars will play Arizona State in the Vegas Showdown over Thanksgiving weekend — BYU and the Sun Devils play on Thanksgiving night, a 10 p.m. MST tipoff on ESPN2 — then will face either NC State or Vanderbilt on the second day of the tournament.
“I just think the neutral-site games, we’ve really focused on that this year and how we’ve built our nonconference schedule to play some NCAA Tournament teams on a neutral site from multiple conferences, power conferences. I think that’s where everything happens,” Hurley said.
“When we get to Vegas and the season’s on the line at the Pac-12 tournament or the NCAA tournament, it all goes down on a neutral site. So we want to train and practice and try to excel in nonconference playing those games against very good teams on a neutral site.”
The Sun Devils went 23-13 last season and played in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in four seasons. Arizona State won a First Four matchup against Nevada before losing a two-point game to TCU.
BYU is coming off a 19-15 season where the Cougars did not play in a postseason tournament.
A mention of BYU to ASU coaches at basketball media day next season wouldn’t be as uncommon, with Arizona State, Arizona, Utah and Colorado joining the Big 12 next season.