Under head coach Mark Pope, the BYU Cougars men's basketball team has grown from a team selected 13th out of 14 teams in the Big 12 to a 6 seed in the NCAA in the 2023-24 season, and many people shocked. tournament.
Can the Cougars repeat that success in 2024-25?
On the night or day after the annual national championship game, many national media outlets release their “early Top 25 rankings” lists for next season, and BYU certainly appears on many of them.
Most notably, the Cougars are No. 10 in USA Today's rankings, with three other teams in the top 15. A total of nine major national media outlets have BYU in their rankings, with Sporting News being the only one to exclude the Cougars.
USA Today's Paul Meyerberg, Eric Smith, and Eddie Timanas wrote, “The Cougars easily established themselves in the Big 12 in their first season and are poised to handle increased competition with the addition of four teams from the Pac-12.'' “It looks like it,” he wrote.
“How well they can do will depend on the status of top scorer Jackson Robinson (14.2 points). Returning with key players along with Husseini Traore and Trevin Nel will see Mark Pope's side in the top spot domestically. We will be one of the best teams in the toughest conference.”
Robinson's future was a common topic brought up by various news outlets to determine how good or not BYU will be next season. Robinson, who was named the Big 12's Sixth Man of the Year this season, could return to the Cougars, but he could also turn pro.
“Jackson Robinson could return, but he's in the top 60 of ESPN's NBA Draft rankings. (Even without him) Pope has the core to win games in March,” ESPN's Jeff said. -Borzello ranked the Cougars 14th.
Of course, that assumes Pope returns as head coach. His name has surfaced in a number of job openings elsewhere this offseason, and while he will remain at BYU, his alma mater, the University of Kentucky, is currently in the mix following the departure of John Calipari to Arkansas. We are currently looking for a new coach.
“The only obvious thing that could knock BYU out of the preseason top 25 and one is if Kentucky's job goes to Pope, a UK native and member of the 1996 national championship team coached by Rick Pitino. “In case,” he wrote. CBS Sports' Gary Parrish ranks the Cougars 13th.
Finally, the arrival of former elite recruit Colin Chandler from Farmington High School was a big hit. Chandler is a national consensus top 50 freshman in the Class of 2022 and signed with BYU out of Utah before serving a mission with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Chandler is scheduled to return home in a few weeks.
“BYU has more roster continuity than anyone in this top 25, and the long-awaited arrival of Chandler is finally here,” The Athletic's CJ Moore and Sam Bethenny rank the Cougars 13th. wrote.
“Chandler is a four-star prospect in the 2022 class who is on a two-year assignment and was the highest-rated rookie ever signed by the Cougars. He could be an instant attacker off the bench. Robinson still has one year of eligibility left, but we expect him to leave.”
Here's the full list of how 10 outlets across the country rank BYU for next season:
USA Today: 10.
CBS: 13.
The Athletic: 13.
ESPN: 14.
247 Sports: 16.
Yahoo: 20.
Fox Sports: 21.
On 3:22.
Sports Illustrated: 25.
Sporting News: Not ranked.