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Post by Commissioner on Sept 23, 2016 14:05:36 GMT -5
Because it's never too early to think about next year. What's on the 2017-18 schedule, or should be?
I think we have the following penciled in, though I'm not certain: H East Tennessee State H Murray State A IPFW
Would we like an early season MTE with other mid-majors? Fordham is hosting a tournament in NYC Nov. 17-19. Florida Gulf Coast is hosting one Nov. 24-26. Both offer a small guarantee. Mainly, would those be good recruiting trips (not in the sense, necessarily, of being seen, but good because recruits might find a 3 day trip to NYC, or South Florida in November, to be attractive?).
A few early listings on the 2017-18 schedule board that could reasonably be of interest: Albany, Drake, Ohio U. are among those looking to start H&H series. Nebraska is offering a guarantee.
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Post by Rogobob77 on Sept 23, 2016 17:06:11 GMT -5
From what I've picked up, I would expect that there will be a game with Michigan at the new downtown arena.
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Post by motorcitysam on Sept 23, 2016 17:53:10 GMT -5
From what I've picked up, I would expect that there will be a game with Michigan at the new downtown arena. Excellent. I know there are those who don't agree (for some reason) but I would love to play Michigan every year, alternating between Breslin and Little Caesar's Arena (since we probably can't get them to Calihan Hall). I don't see a downside to that arrangement.
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Post by larrytitan on Sept 23, 2016 21:57:20 GMT -5
Would Izzo allow us to play Michigan at Breslin?
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Post by motorcitysam on Sept 23, 2016 22:40:00 GMT -5
Would Izzo allow us to play Michigan at Breslin? Don't know why I said Breslin instead of Crisler. :-)
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Post by motorcitysam on Oct 24, 2016 15:32:48 GMT -5
Coach Brey at Notre Dame is helping out a former assistant. Hope we can see the same from Beilein. www.todaysu.com/rothstein-files/west-virginia-ready-challenge-kansas-big-12/– Kudos to Notre Dame’s Mike Brey. Per a source, the veteran head coach has agreed to start a home-and-home series at Delaware during the early portion of the 17-18 season with a return game in South Bend set for 18-19. Brey’s former assistant — Martin Ingelsby — is about to begin his first year as head coach of the Blue Hens and this is the type of home game that can really get a mid-major fan base excited. Prior to Notre Dame, Brey was the head coach at Delaware from 95-00.
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Post by Commissioner on Oct 24, 2016 16:25:58 GMT -5
Coach Brey at Notre Dame is helping out a former assistant. Hope we can see the same from Beilein. www.todaysu.com/rothstein-files/west-virginia-ready-challenge-kansas-big-12/– Kudos to Notre Dame’s Mike Brey. Per a source, the veteran head coach has agreed to start a home-and-home series at Delaware during the early portion of the 17-18 season with a return game in South Bend set for 18-19. Brey’s former assistant — Martin Ingelsby — is about to begin his first year as head coach of the Blue Hens and this is the type of home game that can really get a mid-major fan base excited. Prior to Notre Dame, Brey was the head coach at Delaware from 95-00. That's nice. One problem for us is that we could potentially be a competitor for UM, both on the floor in a game (I like to think we're a fair notch above Delaware) and for players (been a long time since we've won a recruiting war with Michigan, but certainly our prime geographic markets overlap).
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Post by motorcitysam on Oct 24, 2016 17:20:23 GMT -5
Good points, and those factors could work against us. However, I will be upset if Milwaukee gets a home and home and we don't. :-)
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Post by Commissioner on Mar 7, 2017 12:58:51 GMT -5
It appears that the Titans will play in the Wounded Warrior Classic.
They'll play road games against two of St. Louis, Virginia Tech, Providence, and Washington. Then they'll play two games at Belmont against two of Belmont, Seattle, and Houston Baptist.
I'm increasingly disenchanted with these "tournaments." You don't even get a neutral floor on which to play the high majors. Essentially, the Titans have committed 4 games to road and neutral sites. To hit a near 50/50 split on home/road games in non-conference, they need to schedule 6 of the remaining 9 non-conference games at home, which is nearly impossible against D-I competition. That means even with a couple of non-DI opponents, we're probably looking at just 5 or maybe 6 home games at best. I wonder how these tournaments compare financially to just scheduling a couple guarantee games with P-6 teams.
Anyway, that would appear to leave us with: H East Tennessee State H Murray State A Fort Wayne A St. Louis/Va. Tech/Providence/Washington A St. Louis/Va. Tech/Providence/Washington A/N Belmont/Houston Baptist/Seattle, Nov. 18-19 N Houston Baptist/Seattle, Nov. 18-19 N Michigan (final game at the Joe/first game new arena)? (I have a hunch we are going to be disappointed on this.)
Anyway, I'm glad to see quick progress being made on the schedule. One less thing.
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Post by Commissioner on Mar 13, 2017 20:33:00 GMT -5
Some schools looking for home and home series that would interest me (from Basketball Travelers):
Niagara - short trip; a little history; catholic; not very good on the court; maybe good for the Canadians JJ is recruiting, although still quite a ways from New Foundland. Robert Morris - short trip; has generated a little name recognition in recent years; probably not very good next year. Evansville - our old rival. In keeping with my stated desire for weaker teams next year, they were not very good this year. Charleston - Seems like a nice road trip, not too far, beatable. Harvard - It's good to associate with Ivy schools. Tough game, but again, a nod toward our Canadian recruits and where Eichler and recruit Nash went to prep academies.
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Post by motorcitysam on Mar 14, 2017 12:37:50 GMT -5
Some schools looking for home and home series that would interest me (from Basketball Travelers): Niagara - short trip; a little history; catholic; not very good on the court; maybe good for the Canadians JJ is recruiting, although still quite a ways from New Foundland. Robert Morris - short trip; has generated a little name recognition in recent years; probably not very good next year. Evansville - our old rival. In keeping with my stated desire for weaker teams next year, they were not very good this year. Charleston - Seems like a nice road trip, not too far, beatable. Harvard - It's good to associate with Ivy schools. Tough game, but again, a nod toward our Canadian recruits and where Eichler and recruit Nash went to prep academies. I'd love to see Harvard and Evansville on the schedule.
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Post by motorcitysam on Apr 20, 2017 11:36:47 GMT -5
Coach BA with an encouraging tweet about next year's schedule.
Bacari Alexander @bacari34 · 2m2 minutes ago
Next seasons non conference schedule close to completion! Some old and storied programs back on the schedule. Even catholic schools! #T112
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Post by Commissioner on Apr 25, 2017 12:07:01 GMT -5
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Post by motorcitysam on Apr 25, 2017 13:20:04 GMT -5
That's great news. I also like the idea of a pro/college doubleheader if they can make that happen. Open up with the Titans vs the Panthers followed by the Pistons versus the Bucks. Or Detroit vs Cleveland State and the Pistons vs the Cavs. You get the picture.
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Post by Commissioner on May 28, 2017 11:33:37 GMT -5
So from what BA said at luncheon, we've got: H Wayne State (Exh.) A Va. Tech, Nov. 10 (Wounded Warrior Classic) H Marygrove or other Non D-I H Non D-I ? A/N Belmont/Houston Baptist/Seattle, Nov. 18-19 (Wounded Warrior Classic) N Houston Baptist/Seattle, Nov. 18-19 (Wounded Warrior Classic) A St. Louis, Nov. 22 (Wounded Warrior Classic) N Michigan, Dec. 16 (@ Little Caesars, Detroit) H East Tennessee State H Murray State A Fort Wayne Western Michigan A UCLA (negotiating) Buffalo (negotiating) A Georgetown (negotiating)
That would have filled out the non-con schedule assuming two of the three in negotiations came through. With Valpo leaving the Horizon, we'll need to add two non-con games, meaning we need at least 1 more even if all three of those games come through.
As it is, our non-conference schedule looks pretty tough, even with two non-DI teams on the list:
UM (a huge win if we can get it, but if you're trying for an accurate prediction you put an L there); St. Louis (tough but beatable, won't get too much credit for the underdog win even if we get it); Va Tech (ditto, only tougher, a little more credit but still not a huge PR win); Belmont @ Belmont; WMU, which should be good this year; UCLA and/or G'town; Fort Wayne loses their top scorer Mo Evans and the one-time Titan commit Calhoun from last year's 20 win team that beat us in Calihan, but has all the other key players back, including Jon Konchar and Bryson Scott, who are really good players, and that's on the road; Murray State loses a couple key players but they've got Jonathan Stark back, so even though that's at home I don't see an easy W; East Tennessee should be down this year--they lose 4 starters--but they had a deep bench last year. I'll mark that game in Calihan a W, but it's no walkover.
We can push it up higher by taking another guarantee game on the road for some bucks. I'd buy that. But I'm also fine with adding a patsy or two, even NAIA teams if that's what we can get at this time (in addition to the two already planned). I think ideally we'd get a legit D-I team that's no good. Maybe Niagara (10-23 last year, though they've got most everyone back), which really old guys like me still remember as a lesser power.
Here are a few of the teams looking for H&H series on Basketball Travelers (I don't know most of our dates, but I've not considered teams with available dates that clearly won't work):
Arkansas State. Hey, it has a state in the name, and no hyphen--and seriously, that probably helps draw another 100-200 casual fans, and looks kinda good in the Freep the next morning. They're a Sunbelt team, so a respectable enough conference, and while they won 20 last year, they're advertising "Lost leading scorer and starting backcourt and best Freshman left. No transfers sat out last year." They want two series, one starting at home, one on the road. Flight to Memphis--not too bad.
Boston U. -- Boston! Again, no hyphen. They may even be in the Big East or ACC or something. Seriously, they strike me as the kinda school we ought to want to hang around with. Private, urban, strong academics. They want to start in Boston.
Bucknell -- same as BU. They are willing to start series on road.
Robert Morris - Our future league partner (probably). Bacari's old school. Pittsburgh! What more can we say? Of course, we won't want to start a H&H if they're going to be added to our conference schedule in year 2.
Florida Gulf Coast wants to start H&H on the road. But no--they've got almost everyone back from last year's 26 win team. Why lose to them at home this year, then have to go on the road the next, which should be our target year to contend?
Drexel, OTOH, wants to start a H&H on the road, and won just 9 games last year. They've developed a bit of a rep.
Bradley -- MVC bottom feeder, long-ago power. Wants to start in Peoria.
Some schools offering guarantees: Ohio State. They have a single date-Nov. 16. We play in Nashville on Nov. 18-19. Make a trip of it? We're also recruiting a couple players in central Ohio for both '18 and '19.
Louisville. Nov. 15. Again, can we tie to swing to Nashville? Not as good a fit as OSU.
Evansville. Won't pay as well as getting shellacked by OSU or L'Ville.
Hawaii. Late December. Whee!
Minnesota has a couple December dates.
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