For example, BYU's home court advantage is worth 3.8 points per game. Utes' home court is worth 3.7 points, so a 7.5 point swing.
This BYU team is as fearless as any team I have ever seen, absolutely not less likely to do as well on the road as most other teams.
After only 12 games, we do need more data to narrow the range of outcomes with a high degree of confidence, but SOS and road games are already factored in as much as other variables. We have decades of data backtested to prove it.
We have enough now to project with a high degree of confidence that BYU will end the season somewhere in the top 25. More likely 1-5 than 20-25, but probably somewhere in between. We will learn more over the next month. But kenpom currently projects BYU to go 13-5 in B12. They likely finish in the top 20 with 11-7, perhaps even 10-8.
Certainly we won't be hearing anymore from those CBer alleged statisticians who asserted that Pope's BYU teams are hopelessly trapped in a 4-year downward spiral. Of course, that could reassert itself in future years if BYU makes it to Phoenix to play in the FF next April. 🙂
Cougs have a decent chance to become the best BYU basketball team since 1980.
Go Cougs!