BYU announces 2013-2014 basketball schedule

After missing the NCAA Tournament next season, the Cougars won't have a weak schedule as an excuse this year. The 2013-2014 Men's Basketball Schedule has been released, and matchups with major programs, including Texas, Oregon, and potentially a Final Four team in Wichita State, are the highlights.

Here is the full schedule:

Oct 26, EXHIBITION Colorado College (Provo)

Nov 2, EXHIBITION Alaska Anchorage (Provo)

Nov. 8, Weber State (Provo)

Nov. 11, at Stanford (Palo Alto, Calif.)

Nov. 14 and 16, CBE Hall of Fame Classic opening rounds (Provo)

Nov. 20, Iowa State (Provo)

CBE Hall of Fame Classic

Nov. 25, vs. Texas (Kansas City, Mo.)

Nov. 26, vs. Wichita State or DePaul (Kansas City, Mo.)

Nov. 30, vs. Utah State (Salt Lake City, EnergySolutions Arena)

Dec. 3, North Texas (Provo)

Dec. 7, vs. UMass (Springfield, Mass.)

Dec. 11, Prairie View A&M (Provo)

Dec. 14, at Utah (Salt Lake City)

Dec. 21, at Oregon (Eugene, Ore.)

All in all, this is potentially a very exciting schedule, with only North Texas and Prairie View as real clunker type matchups. The ESPN Tip Off Classic is an exceptionally prestigious event, which will feature games involving heavyweights like Michigan State, Kansas, Duke and Kentucky.  Bringing an exciting Iowa State team, that was a near buzzer-beater away from knocking off Ohio State in the tournament last year, will be an excellent addition to the home slate, although most of the other games are on the road.

We'll have a more detailed analysis later, but for now, we can agree that this is an ambitious slate that will certainly give BYU many chances for national exposure, and to build in some margin for error in case they slip up against Gonzaga or Saint Mary's a few times during the season.