Chris Burgess can finally breathe a bit easier.
The most important task of the summer for BYU’s veteran assistant coach is complete: leading the effort to assemble the Cougars’ upcoming nonconference schedule, which was officially announced earlier this week by the program.
Putting together a nonconference slate is a lengthy, complicated endeavor. It requires intense coordination, research, analysis and logistical attention, along with satisfying whatever goals or vision the program has for its first 14 games before starting Big 12 play.
“We look at the wins above the bubble (WAB), the NET and KenPom, and all these different things, so we tried to look at those metrics as best we could when we were looking at buy games and marquee games,” Burgess said during a recent appearance on ‘BYU Sports Nation.’
“We tried to do the best we could to find some Quad 1, Quad 2 or wins above the bubble that were a certain number, and we’re doing the best we can to stay away from Quad 4s. We’d love to keep our buy games in the Quad 3 area.
“... It was important for us to be very, very intentional with how we looked at it. And then we’re trying to find teams too where our strengths are maybe their weaknesses, right?”
BYU had arguably its most ambitious nonconference schedule ever last season, playing in a number of different showcase events across the country and facing high-profile opponents such as UConn, Villanova and Clemson.
This resulted in six Quad 1 games for the Cougars — winning five of them — which, according to Burgess, “really saved us to get to a 6 seed (in the NCAA Tournament)” after finishing 9-9 in the Big 12.
The 2026-27 nonconference docket doesn’t appear to be quite as daunting, especially in terms of travel, but it still features a solid group of intriguing matchups and résumé-building opportunities for BYU:
- Nov. 2 — Ohio State | Delta Center
- Nov. 6 — Omaha | Marriott Center
- Nov. 10 — Queens | Marriott Center
- Nov. 12 — Montana State | Marriott Center
- Nov. 18 — Northern Colorado | Marriott Center
- Nov. 23-25 — Maui Invitational | Maui, Hawaii
- Three games against Arizona, Clemson, Ole Miss, Providence, Washington, VCU or Colorado State
- Dec. 5 — Northwestern | Delta Center
- Dec. 9 — Utah State | Marriott Center
- Dec. 12 — Cal State Fullerton | Marriott Center
- Dec. 15 — Weber State | Marriott Center
- Dec. 19 — San Diego State | Palm Springs, California
- Dec. 22 — La Salle | Marriott Center
BYU is set to face two Big Ten squads (Ohio State and Northwestern), a consistent mid-major power (San Diego State), two in-state rivals (Utah State and Weber State) and a reigning conference champion (Queens) — and that’s all without including the Cougars’ three-game trip to Maui over Thanksgiving week, where five power programs and two recently-excellent mid-majors will be waiting.
“We wanted to go 50% buy games and 50% teams like Utah State, Northwestern, Ohio State. I know Maui was going to provide us three (quality games) right there, and then San Diego State,” Burgess said.
“We wanted to get more in-state (opponents), and so that was bringing Utah State back into the mix, and of course Weber State. Then the rivalry with San Diego State, that one really popped to us, because we felt like that’s a good old Mountain West foe, obviously they’re going to the new Pac-12, and they’re always really good, right?”
Of course, the transfer-heavy new landscape of college basketball has presented challenges in scheduling, as teams with significant roster turnover are more difficult to project within the quad system.
In these situations, where personnel may be uncertain, Burgess says he evaluates potential opponents by the following: “What philosophically do they do from a five-year historical standpoint?”
Based on this five-year principle, 14 of BYU’s 18 confirmed/potential nonconference opponents have reached the NCAA Tournament since 2022, and 10 of them have done it multiple times.
“We like our schedule, we think it’s going to be challenging, man. We think it’s a good schedule,” Burgess said.
“We love that we get to play some neutral sites here in the Delta (Center) because we think that’s a fun venue to play in, and teams want to come out here and play us, right? Because they’re going to get a quality opponent as well.”
Being responsible for making your own nonconference schedule has been one of the biggest changes for Kevin Young in jumping from the NBA to the college game, but Burgess said Young has trusted his staff to steer them in the right direction as he continues to learn about the process.
“All he really, really cares about is sitting down with him and giving him context,” Burgess said. “Not just coming in like, ‘Hey, we’re going to play a two-game series with San Diego State,’ he wants context behind why that game is important from a metric standpoint, from a WAB standpoint, from a KenPom standpoint. He loved the fact that there was a rivalry, right?
“He wants to know all this stuff. That’s the biggest thing for him, is he just wants to know the context about what we’re doing and why we’re doing it.”
Burgess continued, “Until you do scheduling, you don’t quite understand how difficult and annoying it can be sometimes. (Young) knows I’m trying to do as best we can based on the team coming in and historically the team that we’re trying to bring in. And he’s always happy when we get some Delta (Center) games, he’s always happy about that.”
