Pomeroy rankings of upcoming OOC opponents

[BlueK]

For reference, BYU: 43

Valpo: 75
Utah Valley: 313
USU: 96
USC: 56
Weber St.: 175
Colorado: 53
Illinois: 74
Idaho St: 270
CSU Bakersfield: 124

BYU is ranked above everyone we have left. None of these are true road games. I like how we're playing, and despite the level of the last three opponents, I think a reasonably knowledgeable fan can already see the differences between this year and the teams we've had the last 3 or 4 years. What we have in the post is way better than the last 4-5 years. Mika is an absolute terror, and he'd still be a tough player for a good opponent. Davis and Childs and now even Aytes are pretty effective in their roles in large part because of Mika's presence. The outside shooting will come around. We know Emery will make shots, and Haws is already around 40% from three. Rose is a cool, steady, calming, patient influence on the entire offense that makes everyone else better.

That said, looking at the upcoming opponents, the vast improvement of this team over last year makes me think it's extremely unlikely we lose at home to UVU, Weber or ISU, and not likely against CSU Bakersfield who is actually not bad.

Then the higher tier of upcoming opponents is Valpo tomorrow on a neutral court, USU on a neutral court where they've actually never beaten us, USC in LA, but not a true road game where we will probably have a good amount of BYU fans show up, Colorado in Provo and Illinois on a neutral court in Chicago. We'll probably not win every single one of those, but I think we win all but one or two. It's going to be a fun season.

[BYULV]

I wouldn't count on a huge BYU crowd for the USC game, only because they've overpriced the tix into Staples center - Cheap seats are $70. Hopefully the Zags fans will stick around for the BYU v USC game and help cheer us on to victory. (surprisingly, tickets onStubHub are cheaper than directly thorugh staples center -around $55)