BYU basketball: Y. wants to increase strength of schedule

PROVO — The BYU men's basketball team has lost two of its last three games, but there's still no reason to believe Western Oregon can give the 11-2 Cougars much of a test when the teams meet tonight at the Marriott Center in a game rescheduled from Dec. 23.

It's almost certain that BYU, which had its 53-game home winning streak snapped with Saturday's 94-87 loss to then No. 6 but now No. 4 Wake Forest, will start a new streak against the Division II Wolves.

Western Oregon is 6-4 and split in a tournament at Dixie State University last week and recently lost by 10 to Pepperdine, a team BYU beat by 29. When the Cougars and Wolves met at the Marriott Center two years ago the Cougars blasted Western Oregon 102-40. The 62-point margin is a school record.

Every team schedules weak opponents, so playing Western Oregon should be no knock on the Cougars. However, BYU has been criticized for what some feel is a relatively weak schedule. But team officials feel the criticism is undeserving.

"Over the past few years we've played some of the best teams in the country and been able to give them really good games," Cougar coach Dave Rose said.

When teams put schedules together they often don't know how good the teams will be when they actually meet. Some of BYU's opponents (like Boise State and Long Beach State) happen to be down right now. But the Idaho State game in Pocatello was a tough matchup and Tulsa had an 18-game home winning streak until it was snapped by the Cougars.

"I think our schedule will really help us prepare for league, so that's how we look at it," Rose said.

Still, BYU officials are trying to schedule higher-quality opponents at the Marriott Center. Each spring and summer they send out e-mails and make telephone calls to other universities requesting home-and-home agreements. Most of those calls and e-mails, however, go unanswered.

"The response right now, to be honest, is not real positive ... it's difficult," Rose said.

The Cougars also do whatever they can to get invited to the prestigious national tournaments that feature the nation's top teams, but those invites are rare and in great demand.

Realistically, there's one dominant underlying reason why BYU can't schedule more of the nation's top teams to play in Provo — the Marriott Center. Opposing coaches know it's difficult to win in the 23,000-seat arena, and feel there's more to lose than gain when playing in Provo.

Following the Wake Forest loss Rose expressed hope that Deacons coach Dino Gaudio would tell other ACC teams that playing in the Marriott Center "was fun."

The Cougars and Rose, however, should expect no such endorsement. Gaudio, after his team snapped BYU's nation-best home winning streak, pronounced he'd had enough of the tough atmosphere and that the Deacons were "very fortunate" to get out of Provo with a win. Even after applauding the facility, the students and BYU's program — saying the Cougars are a team "that does things the right way" — he used the famous Apollo Creed quote from the Rocky movie to reinforce his point.

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