The Tuesday after the men’s college basketball championship might as well be known as some variation of “Way Too Early Day,” as publications around the country already look forward to how next season might pan out, even as the transfer portal will widely reshape teams over the next few weeks and months.
BYU, as has been well-chronicled, entered the 2025-26 season with incredibly high hopes and were delivering on those hopes the first half of the season before largely crumbling down the stretch and losing in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
So how are prognosticators feeling about a 2026-27 Cougars team that will almost surely be losing its two best players from this season in AJ Dybantsa and Richie Saunders, as well as starting center Keba Keita?
Seldom-used big man Xavion Staton has already announced his intention to transfer.
Eleven national outlets released way-too-early rankings either late Monday after the title game or on Tuesday. Of those, seven have BYU in their top-25 rankings and four do not.
Longtime college basketball analyst Seth Davis’ rankings have the Cougars at No. 13, while Jon Rothstein has them sneaking in at No. 25. The remaining five have BYU ranked between No. 15 and No. 22.
Some of the various publications have written blurbs about each team ranked, while others just have teams listed or notes about projected rotations.
Like several publications, Davis highlighted incoming elite freshman Bruce Branch III as a reason to be excited about the Cougars next season, writing “Branch is not quite as good as Dybantsa, but he is a one-and-done talent who will make an instant impact.”
Others noted question marks about point guard Robert Wright III potentially departing and the need for BYU to get better in the frontcourt.
Wrote Bleacher Report’s Kerry Miller, “... if Robert Wright III comes back to join third-generation forces with Bruce Branch III, the Cougars should still be in darn good shape.”
Here’s a rundown of where all 11 publications have BYU ranked: