If you're a college basketball fan, Sunday was a national holiday. It was "the new KenPom preseason rankings just dropped" day.
Like any preseason rankings, these rankings don't guarantee how a team will perform during the season. However, they give some context around how things could play out for programs and give a reference point going into the season.
In KenPom's 2026-27 preseason rankings, BYU comes in at No. 33 in the country. This is the lowest KenPom preseason ranking the Cougars have had in the Kevin Young era.
The last two seasons, BYU finished top 15 in offensive efficiency. In defensive efficiency, the Cougars ended each year at 82nd and 59th respectively. The KenPom 2026-27 preseason rankings align pretty well with history under Young and have BYU listed at 11th in offensive efficiency and 70th in defensive efficiency heading into the year.
Looking at the Big 12, the Cougars sit deep in the conference. Five Big 12 teams are ranked in the top 12, including three inside the top 10. The league boasts four of the top eight teams and five of the top 12. All 16 Big 12 programs are ranked in the top 100.
Within the conference, BYU is ranked 7th.
How Young's teams have finished against KenPom's preseason rankings
Young's first two seasons in Provo give some context for how BYU has performed against KenPom's preseason projections:
- Year 1: Preseason No. 21, finished No. 26
- Year 2: Preseason No. 18, finished No. 24
In both years, BYU finished a few spots below where it started. This time, the Cougars start lower following an offseason where Rob Wright is the only returning starter. The program lost AJ Dybantsa and Richie Saunders to the 2026 NBA Draft. Keba Keita also found his way onto an NBA roster and Kennard Davis transferred to Missouri.
KenPom projects that BYU will have a 20-10 overall record and 10-8 conference record during the upcoming regular season. Young has won at least 21 regular season games and nine conference games in each of his two years as head coach of the program.
What goes into the KenPom preseason rankings
Ken Pomeroy, the creator of KenPom, has said his model uses the following to calculate these rankings:
- Returning players
- Incoming transfers with Division 1 experience
- Top 100 recruits
- Recent program performance
Pomeroy's model also includes a coaching component, which measures how a coach's teams have consistently outperformed or underperformed their preseason projections over the years. It's meant to capture player development rather than recruiting, and the model is cautious with it, giving newer coaches a near-neutral rating until they coach long enough to have a strong track record.
There was a question as to whether Pomeroy's model would include players like Jaxon Kohler who are fighting to play a fifth season of college basketball. Pomeroy recently addressed this exact situation last month. He indicated if a player is listed on a team's official roster, the model assumes he will play.
That would imply BYU's No. 33 preseason ranking on KenPom factored in Kohler being on the roster.
With more uncertainty in college basketball than ever before, it is getting harder and harder to predict how a team will perform during the season, even with analytics. Regardless, the Cougars will hope to outperform their KenPom preseason ranking for the first time under Young.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/byu as BYU Lands at No. 33 in KenPom's 2026-27 Preseason Rankings.