Villanova, UConn and Wisconsin? BYU basketball’s schedule is stacked for a reason.

BYU head coach Kevin Young’s first season resulted in the Cougars’ first Sweet 16 appearance in over a decade.

But it took a late-season surge to make it happen.

Young’s group started 2-4 in Big 12 play and went into March as an underdog because it didn’t have a strong non-conference resume.

So this year, Young supercharged the Cougars’ schedule — starting with former national champion Villanova in Las Vegas on Monday.

“We had to earn our keep last year,” he told ESPN at Big 12 media days. “We didn’t start out very [well] and had to work super hard every day to get better and better.”

This time around, Young wanted his group to be tested early to prepare for conference play, with a chance of having a non-conference resume befitting of a top seed.

After opening the season against Villanova, BYU will also face No. 4 UConn in Boston (Nov. 15) and No. 24 Wisconsin at the Delta Center (Nov. 21).

BYU has already played North Carolina, a top-25 team, in the preseason. The Cougars won 78-76.

Young was pleased to see a team as athletic and long as the Tar Heels. The Cougars will see plenty more of that if they want to get to the Final Four.

“100 percent,” he said. “That’s why we scheduled [UNC], and many of the games we have coming up. It was exactly what we needed.

“If you look at our roster compared to last year, we got some bigger guys too, like North Carolina. We learned a lot going through the Big 12. [North Carolina] was much more like a Big 12 opponent. This was more like a slugfest, like the Big 12 is.”

The trio goes to Vegas

Young’s three headline players — Richie Saunders, AJ Dybantsa and Rob Wright — each carried a heavy workload against North Carolina.

Dybantsa played 34 minutes. Wright played 32 minutes and Saunders, even with foul trouble, logged 24 minutes.

Last year, Young sometimes spread out the minutes among 11 players. This year, he thinks his top three will likely eat up most of the time.

Villanova will likely see at least two of them on the floor at all times.

“Last year we didn’t play guys super long stretches,” Young said. Against UNC, “we had some super long stretches. Honestly, it’s something I’ve spent a long time doing in the NBA with lineups and rotations. We went back to some of the archives with some of our stars back in the old days.

“We were trying to have two or three stars on the floor at all times,” he continued. “When you do that, you have to play longer stretches. I’m not sure Rob was ready for that in the second game. I think AJ handled it well. We will keep analyzing.”

Young thought BYU’s best weapon last year was depth. This year, it will be the strength of the stars at the top.

Dybantsa had 18 points against UNC. Saunders added 14 and Wright had 12.

“Last year it actually worked for us to platoon guys,” Young said. “I don’t like it as much for this group. I think we will stagger it a lot more rather than have a first unit, second unit type of thing.”

The point guard improvements

Replacing the No. 8 pick in last year’s draft, Egor Demin, was a tall task for BYU this offseason.

But former Baylor guard Rob Wright III seems like a good fit. He won’t be BYU’s top scorer like Dybantsa or Saunders. But he will be a scoring guard who can facilitate the Cougars’ offense.

Young is still working on Wright’s game, particularly controlling his speed to the rim. Young admitted he can be chaotic at times.

“He knows he’s going to play more [than he did at Baylor]. Last year, I think he was trying to come in and score 20 points in a minute,” Young said. “We’ve talked a lot about trust. We want to play through you. He can be a real X-factor for us. ... He’s just got to channel [his energy] more.”