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Post by Commissioner on Jul 18, 2014 13:17:07 GMT -5
YSU has popped up on Texas A&M's schedule, released today.
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Post by Commissioner on Jul 20, 2014 17:30:21 GMT -5
I've updated the schedules on the first page to include last year's RPIs, and last year's average overall RPI, of the confirmed D-I teams on this year's schedule.
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Post by Commissioner on Jul 23, 2014 13:47:06 GMT -5
Non-con schedules are starting to come out pretty regularly now, about 2-3 a day, but nothing from other Horizon League schools besides UIC and Detroit (though we know most of Cleveland State's and Oakland's opponents). Green Bay is still advertising for games this week on Basketball Travelers, looking to start two home & home series. Valpo was advertising last about 2 weeks ago.
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Post by Commissioner on Jul 23, 2014 16:13:02 GMT -5
Oakland adds a game at Clemson "around Christmas." Right now, they're looking at about a 3-10/2-11 non-conference mark. I don't like wimpy schedules, but I don't like suicide schedules either. They're scheduling like a MEAC team that is just seeking paydays.
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Post by Commissioner on Aug 14, 2014 21:21:01 GMT -5
Youngstown State becomes the 3rd Horizon team (behind UIC and Detroit) to officially announce its non-conference schedule. As usual, it's a weak one. The Penguins face three non-DI teams (Oberlin, Thiel, and Wilberforce), plus Kent State, Kennesaw State, UMKC, and Northern Kentucky at home. Road games include a tournament at Eastern Michigan with the host plus UNC-Greensboro and Longwood, Illinois State, Robert Morris, South Dakota, and Texas A&M.
That's 3 non-Di teams, 8 teams with an RPI last year above 200 (7 of them over 250), and only one team with an RPI below 100 (#87 Eastern Michigan).
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Post by Commissioner on Aug 17, 2014 1:03:28 GMT -5
Milwaukee will play at South Dakota and Arkansas this year. Also learned that Wright State's 3rd opponent in USC Upstate tournament will be Cal State Fullerton.
Updated schedules at top of this thread.
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Post by Commissioner on Aug 18, 2014 13:28:13 GMT -5
Milwaukee will host Minnesota-Crookston. That's 14 games on their schedule. It's rumored that they will play at Nebraska, which will complete their non-con schedule, if true, except for a TBD opponent in the MGM Grand Main Event in Vegas.
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Post by Commissioner on Aug 26, 2014 15:19:09 GMT -5
Belmont released its schedule today. It plays a home & home with Wright State, which I've added at the top of this thread (along with a few other recent Horizon league scheduling additions, such as Valpo at IPFW). No other Horizon opponents, but note that they do play Evansville, which some have suggested the Horizon has tried to package with Belmont for an invite.
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Post by Commissioner on Aug 27, 2014 23:25:57 GMT -5
Valpo has an exhibition with Grand Valley State on Nov. 6. GVSU wouldn't be a bad opponent for the Titans when we're scheduling non-DI games in the future.
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Post by Commissioner on Sept 3, 2014 20:12:25 GMT -5
Milwaukee released its schedule today. Expected games with Loyola and Northern Illinois did not materialize. They've got some good games on the road, beatable high majors including DePaul, Arkansas, Oklahoma State and Auburn, and a marquee home game with Wisconsin. The rest of the home schedule is pretty ugly, though, with UMKC, Montana, IUPUI, and a couple non-DI teams. They've also got a tournament in Vegas where, in addition to Oklahoma State, they'll play a team to be announced (possibly Alcorn State, almost certainly no one worth watching), and either Louisiana Tech or Oral Roberts. And they've got road games with SIU-Edwardsville and South Dakota - which are probably home and home series, meaning Milwaukee fans can look forward (?) to seeing those teams at Cellular or whatever it's called next year.
I'd look for them to go 8-6 against that schedule, maybe 9-5, including a pair of wins over the non-DI teams.
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Post by Commissioner on Sept 11, 2014 11:58:47 GMT -5
Although Valpo, Wright State and Cleveland State still have not released their full non-conference schedules, we know most of their games and any remaining games they schedule are unlikely to be blockbusters of any kind. So with that, here are what I see as the best home games for Horizon teams this year:
1. Wisconsin @ Milwaukee, Dec. 10. This is every mid-major's dream non-conference game - the state's flagship school coming off a Final Four appearance to play a national TV game in your newly-named home arena. This would be the highlight of Milwaukee's schedule regardless, but with them having to sit out post-season play, this really is the whole enchilada. Frankly, I look for Milwaukee to get pummeled, but you don't know if you don't try. They'll have a sell-out crowd in Panther Arena, and it would be nice exposure for the league to at least get an exciting game.
2. Wichita State @ Detroit, Dec. 13. If you can't get the scenario described above, a Saturday home game on national TV against a team that was in the Final Four two years ago, won 35 games last year, and is ranked in most pre-season top 10s, is a pretty good second best. Thank you Bracket Busters, thank you!
3. New Mexico @ Valparaiso, Dec. 6. Think about this: this game and the two above (and possibly South Florida at Detroit - see below) are really the only home games the Horizon has against high majors this year. And Mountain West member New Mexico is sort of a borderline high major, as is MVC member Wichita State, despite their success the last two seasons. That tells you how daunting is the task of getting high majors to go on the road against middies. New Mexico is good, but they're not Wisconsin/Wichita State good, and this is a great chance for Valpo to get a big win over a major team.
4. Toledo @ Cleveland State, Dec. 3. This is a nice home game, an in-state rival favored to win its conference, located 2 hours away. CSU has a challenging non-con schedule, including VCU, Virginia, Iona, and Louisville on the road. They need this home win.
5. Belmont @ Wright State, Nov. 14. Wright State opens the season with a visit from Belmont, hopefully a soon-to-be Horizon member. Normally I wouldn't rank this game so high - Belmont is good, but they're still just a mid-major and probably a relatively unknown one at that. They're not an old rival or in-state rival or even a geographically really close rival. But it's a good challenge for Wright State and a good audition for both Belmont and the Horizon as they continue this courtship dance (am I mixing too many metaphors here?).
6. Western Michigan @ Oakland, Nov. 19. Basically, all the same notes as I put above for Toledo at CSU, except that WMU is generally being picked for second behind Toledo, it's a further 30 minutes away, and Oakland isn't as good at CSU. If you had a 4 team tournament with WMU, Toledo, CSU and Oakland, this would be the consolation game.
7. San Francisco @ Cleveland State, Dec. 21. USF is a shell of the highly ranked program of the 50s, 60s, 70s, and early 80s, but they've been very competitive of late and should be one of the better teams in the WCC, a conference with which the Horizon usually duels (and loses) in conference RPI rankings.
8. South Florida @ Detroit, Dec. 6. Hold it - is this the real USF? Few would call that other USF a high major. Is this USF a high major? Nominally, perhaps, but, well, not really. But they are in the American Athletic Conference, home of the nation's defending national champions, and this is a good home get for Detroit. Very winnable, too.
9. Kent State @ Youngstown State, Nov. 15. Kent State is coming off its worse season since 1998, but they usually get a decent product on the court - 1998 was also their last losing season, and they've won at least 20 games in 14 of the last 16 years. It's here mainly because it's a good local rivalry (40 minutes away). It's also about the only home game worth mentioning for YSU.
10 (Tie). Georgia State @ Green Bay, Dec. 27. The defending Sunbelt champs, a good mid-major, visit the Phoenix.
10 (Tie). Georgia State @ Oakland, Nov. 26. The defending Sunbelt champs, a good mid-major, visit the Golden Grizzlies.
Other games of note: Loyola @ UIC; Toledo @ Oakland; Montana @ Milwaukee; Morehead State @ Green Bay; Miami (OH) @ Wright State.
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Post by Commissioner on Sept 11, 2014 19:45:53 GMT -5
Valpo put out its schedule today. The non-conference schedule has an average 2014 RPI of 170.9, plus 3 non-DI opponents. This is probably the weakest schedule in the conference after YSU.
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Post by Commissioner on Sept 24, 2014 22:19:32 GMT -5
Wright State put out its schedule today, the final Horizon school to do so. All schedules are on page 1 of this thread.
Here are the schedules with average opponents' RPI from last year, from toughest to least:
1. Oakland 84.9 2. Green Bay 130.4 3. Detroit 151.4 4. Milwaukee 159.8 5. Cleveland State 160.5 6. Wright State 168.8 7. Valparaiso 170.9 8. UIC 190.8 9. Youngstown State 231.6
Every team also has two non-DI opponents, except for YSU and Valpo, which have 3.
[Updated on 10/5/14 for addition of Northeastern to Detroit schedule, and final bracketing for Milwaukee in MGM Main Event].
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Post by Commissioner on Oct 5, 2014 11:36:02 GMT -5
So here is how the non-conference opponents break down by conference. I've only included definite games in the first number - a (+ x) following indicates likely games to emerge from bracketed tournaments:
Non DI - 20 MAC - 13 (+1) Ohio Valley - 10 Missouri Valley - 8 Summit - 8 Big 10 - 7 Sunbelt - 5 ACC - 5 American - 5 Southern - 5 WAC - 5 SEC - 4 Atlantic 10 - 4 Pac 12 - 3 Atlantic Sun - 3 Big 12 - 2 Big East - 2 WCC - 2 Conference USA - 2 Colonial - 2 Big South - 2 MEAC - 2 Big West - 1 (+1) Mountain West - 1 MAAC - 1 Ivy - 1 Northeast - 1 Big Sky - 1 America East - 1 SWAC - 1 Indeteriminate based on results in bracketed tournaments - 2
This is a decline in MAC games - last year Horizon and MAC teams met 19 times (not including post-season tournaments), and in 2013 they faced off 22 times. Both Big East games are against DePaul. Three of the five Southern Conference games are against Western Carolina, and 3 of the 5 Sunbelt games are against Georgia State.
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Post by Commissioner on Oct 18, 2014 14:27:19 GMT -5
Valpo is slated to play in a tournament at Central Michigan this fall, with Maine and Arkansas-Pine Bluff. This being a non-exempt tournament (i.e. it counts as 2 games on the schedule, not one like most of the tournaments organized with power schools), I had figured it would be an old-fashioned event with a first round on day one and a winners' championship and losers' consolation game on day two. But apparently, that is not so. Central Michigan will play Maine on Friday and APB on Sunday, and Valpo will play APB on Friday and Maine on Sunday. Just seems odd - what's the point of Valpo playing two low majors in Mount Pleasant? Plus, Valpo's Sunday game has a listed start time of 8:45 a.m. I'll bet the place will packed, with Mount Pleasant area fans coming out to see Valparaiso take on Maine at 8:45 on a Sunday morning.
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