BYU hoops schedule a mixed bag

PROVO — There might not be many national powers on BYU's 2009-10 non-conference men's basketball schedule, but there's plenty of variety.

Coach Dave Rose, after releasing the schedule Thursday morning, said it's that variety that he hopes will prepare the Cougars for Mountain West Conference play.

"We're playing teams that play all different styles," Rose said. "We'll get zoned; we'll have teams that will man us; some will get extremely physical while others will try to race the ball up the floor.

"Some will try to run 30 seconds off the clock before they shoot. All of that will be really good to get us prepared for our league."

The 16-game slate has only four true road games — Nov. 20 at Hawaii, Dec. 2 at Utah State, Dec. 28 at Arizona and Jan. 9 at UTEP — and that El Paso game is the farthest east BYU will travel. The Cougars do play Fresno State on the road Dec. 12, but that game is in Los Angeles at the Galen Center. On Dec. 22 and 23, BYU will play two games in the Las Vegas Classic at the Orleans Arena, where the field also will include Nebraska, Tulsa and Nevada.

The marquee game on the schedule is the road contest at Arizona, a perennial Pac-10 power. The Wildcats lost several starters from a team that advanced to the Sweet 16 last year, but they have a strong recruiting class coming in.

"They'll be a Top 25 team before the year is over," Rose said.

The top home game should be when Arizona State comes to Provo for a rematch of last year's thriller at the University of Phoenix Stadium. The home-opener against Bradley is the first installment of the Mountain West Conference/Missouri Valley Conference challenge. BYU will play an MVC team on the road next year.

The Fresno State game will be a reunion of sorts with former Cougar coach Steve Cleveland, who now guides the Bulldogs.

Idaho State and Weber State both pay visits to the Marriott Center, while the Cougars will host San Francisco on Dec. 5 at EnergySolutions Arena — the week the Marriott Center is busy hosting Christmas Around the World.

Utah State, UTEP and Hawaii will all play return games next season in Provo, while Arizona will give BYU a rematch next season as well — at EnergySolutions Arena.

While praising the variety of the schedule, Rose was also disappointed that he couldn't get a team from any of the power conferences to fill a date that was open on the schedule as recently as last week.