ESPN put BYU at No. 20 in its preseason men’s basketball ranking. The more revealing number on the same page is 23.
ESPN also ranked each team under a second scenario that removes fifth-year players whose eligibility remains tied to court action. BYU falls only three places without Jaxon Kohler, from No. 20 to No. 23. The center matters. A three-place drop says ESPN does not think he is the entire case.
That distinction fits this BYU roster better than a normal preseason label. Rob Wright III is the known creator. Collin Chandler and Bruce Branch III give him larger perimeter partners. Jake Wahlin and Tyler Betsey offer two different answers at power forward. Kohler can change the spacing and the glass if his legal protection lasts into the regular season.
No. 20 is not a prediction that all of those pieces will fit. It is a bet that Wright gives Kevin Young enough structure to keep the experiment from falling apart while he learns which pieces belong together.
ESPN’s two rankings separate the floor from the ceiling
ESPN’s Jeff Borzello published the updated Top 25 on Oct. 7 and explained the unusual method at the top. Because hundreds of players remain in eligibility disputes after the NCAA’s five-for-five rule excluded outgoing seniors, ESPN ranked teams once with those players and once without them.
For BYU, the two lines are compact:
| ESPN preseason scenario | BYU rank | Change |
|---|---|---|
| Best case, including fifth-year litigants | No. 20 | Baseline |
| Without fifth-year players | No. 23 | Down 3 |
ESPN moved BYU down one place from its previous ranking, No. 19, after the offseason picture became clearer. It still kept the Cougars ahead of Alabama, Michigan, Vanderbilt, UCLA and Kentucky in the main list.
The three-place Kohler gap needs careful reading. It does not measure three wins. It does not guarantee BYU would remain an NCAA Tournament team without him, and it does not say his 12.5 points or 8.9 rebounds are replaceable by committee. It says ESPN’s national roster comparison still finds a ranked case after removing him.
That case begins with Wright.
ESPN projects the junior point guard at 18.1 points per game and calls his withdrawal from the transfer portal massive. BYU does not have to discover who should organize the first action or take the difficult late-clock possessions. Wright already carried those jobs last season, including consecutive career highs of 36 and 39 points against Baylor and Colorado.
The roster problem is not finding a center of gravity. It is building enough useful movement around that center that Wright does not have to become the entire offense.
The projected five is a theory, not a settled answer
ESPN projects Wright, Chandler, Branch, Wahlin and Kohler as BYU’s starters. That group makes sense on paper because it gives Young a point guard, three tall perimeter or forward options and a proven high-major center.
| Projected starter | ESPN-listed baseline | Main BYU job |
|---|---|---|
| Rob Wright III | 18.1 PPG | Create the first advantage and control late clocks |
| Collin Chandler | 9.7 PPG at Kentucky | Supply size, shooting and a second downhill guard |
| Bruce Branch III | No. 6 in SC Next 100 | Turn freshman talent into two-way wing minutes |
| Jake Wahlin | 5.3 PPG at Clemson | Connect lineups without stopping the ball |
| Jaxon Kohler | 12.5 PPG at Michigan State | Rebound, space the five and stabilize the paint |
The table is useful because it also shows where projection can become wishful thinking.
Wright is the only player in that five returning from BYU’s regular rotation. Chandler, Wahlin and Kohler arrive from other programs. Branch is a freshman. Even if every name is available, five individually sensible players still need a shared defensive language and a shot hierarchy.
Chandler may be the cleanest fit beside Wright. At 6-foot-6, he gives BYU another guard-sized decision-maker without forcing Wright off the ball full time. ESPN lists his Kentucky scoring at 9.7 points per game. His job in Provo should be broader than replacing a departed scorer one shot at a time. BYU needs him to attack the second side after Wright bends the first and to keep a possession alive when the first action is covered.
Branch brings the highest upside and the least college evidence. ESPN lists him as the No. 6 prospect in its SC Next 100 and describes him as a possible third consecutive BYU lottery pick. That is an exciting development pitch. It is not yet a rotation receipt. The Cougars need his length and athleticism to survive Big 12 wings before any draft projection helps them.
Wahlin is the quietest part of ESPN’s projected five. His 5.3 points at Clemson do not announce a featured role. They suggest connective work: screen, move, defend, rebound and make the open decision before the defense resets. A roster with Wright and Branch does not need every forward to demand touches. It does need those touches to end somewhere useful.
Betsey is the first challenge to ESPN’s lineup
Tyler Betsey is not in ESPN’s projected starting five. He may be the best reason not to treat that five as fixed.
BYU’s official roster lists Betsey at 6-foot-9 after stops at Cincinnati and Syracuse. BYU Cougars Wire reported that he averaged 6.7 points and 2.8 rebounds last season while making 40.7 percent of four 3-point attempts per game. The same report cited preseason word about his shot-making and placed him in the competition for the starting four spot.
That shooting changes the question around Wahlin. The choice is not simply which forward is better. It is which forward gives a particular lineup the skill it lacks.
With Kohler on the floor, BYU can already put a shooting threat at center. Wahlin’s movement, size and connective passing may help the group more than another stationary spacer. Without Kohler, Betsey’s shooting could become harder to remove because BYU would need another way to pull a frontcourt defender out of the lane.
The combinations lead to different basketball:
- Wahlin with Kohler: More size and connective play around Wright, with Kohler providing the center shooting threat.
- Betsey with Kohler: Maximum frontcourt spacing, but a larger demand on both forwards to defend and finish possessions on the glass.
- Wahlin without Kohler: More structure around an inexperienced replacement center, though less proven shooting from the frontcourt.
- Betsey without Kohler: A way to preserve five-out space while asking another big to handle screens, rim protection and rebounding.
None of those groups has played a real game together. That is the point. ESPN’s ranking offers a useful national baseline, while the Wahlin-Betsey choice shows why BYU still has to earn it in lineup form.
The men’s basketball roster contains enough variety to make the competition real. That is better than entering October with only one plausible answer. It also gives Young more ways to choose the wrong one.
Kohler still owns the hardest-to-replace work
A three-place rankings drop can make Kohler sound optional. His basketball profile says otherwise.
Michigan State’s official record lists Kohler at 6-foot-10 and 245 pounds. He started all 35 games last season, averaged 12.5 points and 8.9 rebounds, made 58 of 149 3-pointers and recorded 12 double-doubles. His 312 rebounds ranked 24th nationally.
BYU can replace some of his shooting with Betsey. It cannot ask a wing to become a proven Big Ten rebounder by moving him one spot down the lineup.
Kohler gives Young three jobs in one body. He can drag a center away from the rim, punish a switch near the paint and end defensive possessions. The first two help Wright. The third helps everybody, because guards can leave for transition rather than collapsing toward every miss.
His eligibility remains unsettled. The California hearing in Glancey v. NCAA is scheduled to continue Oct. 20, and the temporary order covering Kohler remains in effect in the meantime. Our eligibility timeline separates what is protected now from what the next hearing may decide.
That means Kohler can play in BYU’s Friday exhibition against Nebraska, according to the current order. The exhibition should not become a referendum on one player’s lawsuit. It should become a basketball audit.
How often does BYU need Kohler’s shooting to open Wright’s driving lane? Who rebounds when Kohler is pulled into ball-screen defense? Can a lineup with Betsey or Wahlin at the four finish the same possessions? What happens when Kohler sits and an opposing center stays near the rim?
ESPN has already run the paper version of that test. BYU needs the court version.
Wright’s burden is to make several new players look connected
Wright’s return is the reason a rebuilt roster can begin at No. 20 instead of outside the page.
That status comes with a less flattering obligation. The point guard will be responsible for introducing four new starters to one another while still producing like an all-conference scorer.
The easy version of Wright’s season is more points. He averaged 18.1 last year and showed he can take over a game. The harder, more valuable version is better distribution of difficulty.
Chandler should not have to create every touch from a standstill. Branch should not receive the ball only when a possession has already broken. Wahlin should be rewarded for a useful screen or cut. Betsey’s shooting should force a defender to make a choice before Wright reaches the paint. Kohler should touch the ball in places that punish a switch rather than merely decorate the perimeter.
Those outcomes depend on Wright’s pace and Young’s design, but they also require the new players to read the same advantage. One extra pass looks unselfish when it creates a shot. It looks hesitant when it gives the defense time to recover.
BYU’s staff promotions matter here. Jordan Brady now holds both player-development and assistant-coach responsibilities. Brandon Dunson has associate-head-coach authority. A roster this new needs the workout lesson, lineup plan and game correction to sound like the same message.
No. 20 assumes BYU can build that connection fast enough.
Nebraska should test roles, not protect a ranking
BYU hosts Nebraska at 7 p.m. Mountain on Friday, Oct. 16 in the Marriott Center. It is an exhibition. The result will not change the regular-season record or settle a national poll.
It can expose whether ESPN’s five-player theory matches Young’s.
The useful questions are specific:
- Does Chandler share initiation duties with Wright, or mostly finish possessions Wright starts?
- Which forward, Wahlin or Betsey, starts and which one closes the most competitive stretch?
- Does Branch defend a primary wing immediately, or does BYU protect the freshman while his reads develop?
- How does the rebounding hold when Kohler sits?
- Can BYU create a good shot without Wright touching the ball twice?
Fans should resist turning one exhibition rotation into a permanent depth chart. Young can test a combination precisely because the result does not count. A strange five-minute group may be an experiment, not a warning.
The official schedule moves from Nebraska to an Oct. 24 exhibition at UNLV, then the Nov. 2 regular-season opener against Ohio State. The Oct. 20 Kohler hearing sits between the two exhibitions. BYU will have one public game with the current legal protection and one scheduled four days after the next court date.
That is not enough time to build two unrelated teams. It is enough time to learn which parts of the offense survive either roster.
No. 20 is useful because it refuses to crown anyone
ESPN did not rank BYU like last year’s star-driven team. AJ Dybantsa is gone. Richie Saunders and Keba Keita are gone. The Cougars are not receiving credit for continuity they do not have.
They are receiving credit for a point guard, a high-upside wing group and a center whose availability could raise the whole structure. Even ESPN’s no-fifth-year scenario keeps BYU in the Top 25, at No. 23.
That is a respectable floor. It is also a warning against lazy expectations.
If Wright has to create every advantage, No. 20 will feel generous. If Branch’s freshman mistakes outweigh his talent, the wing depth will look better on a roster page than in Big 12 possessions. If Kohler is unavailable and nobody replaces his rebounding, spacing alone will not save the frontcourt.
But if Chandler can share the hard reads, one of Wahlin or Betsey makes the four spot coherent, and Kohler’s role transfers to the next lineup when he sits, BYU can become better than the ranking’s cautious middle.
ESPN has given the Cougars a national starting point. Friday begins the work of finding the five who can hold it.
Sources and further reading
- ESPN: 2026-27 preseason Top 25 for BYU’s No. 20 rank, No. 23 no-fifth-year scenario, previous rank, projected starters and listed player baselines.
- BYU Athletics: 2026-27 roster for current player listings, sizes, classes and previous schools.
- BYU Athletics: 2026-27 schedule for the Nebraska and UNLV exhibitions and Ohio State opener.
- Michigan State Athletics: Jaxon Kohler official record for his starts, scoring, rebounding, 3-point totals, double-doubles and national rebounding rank.
- BYU Cougars Wire: Tyler Betsey stands out in preseason for his Syracuse production, 3-point rate and reported competition at power forward.
- BYU Sport Nuts: men’s basketball hub, roster, schedule, Kohler eligibility timeline and staff-development analysis.
