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Post by ptctitan on Sept 4, 2019 12:13:16 GMT -5
No exhibition game vs Wayne State or any other team on the schedule.
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Post by Rogobob77 on Sept 4, 2019 12:17:45 GMT -5
Interesting that the link is up with schedule before a press release was sent out.
Only question remaining is the fourth team in the MGM tournament. Assume it’s a school that has yet to release its schedule, perhaps that’s why it hasn’t been announced yet.
No exhibition games it appears.
Four home games in December, three on Saturdays. Hope a lot can me done to pump attendance for those, especially the weekend contests, with marketing and promotions.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 4, 2019 12:19:42 GMT -5
Interesting that the link is up with schedule before a press release was sent out. Only question remaining is the fourth team in the MGM tournament. Assume it’s a school that has yet to release its schedule, perhaps that’s why it hasn’t been announced yet. No exhibition games it appears. Here's the press release: detroittitans.com/news/2019/9/4/untitled-story.aspx
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Post by Deleted on Sept 4, 2019 12:26:31 GMT -5
We end up being the #253rd released (of 353) total schedules
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Post by Commissioner on Sept 4, 2019 13:43:35 GMT -5
I appreciate that the MGM folks are apparently moving Calihan Hall to Vegas for the tournament. Seems like a lot of expense.
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Post by Commissioner on Sept 4, 2019 14:58:18 GMT -5
A few initial thoughts on the announced schedule:
1. We'll be just about the last, if not the last team in the country to open the regular season.
2. If we pull an upset over NC State or Clemson, that would be huge, but I'm not counting on it. NC State is a veteran team that will have played a couple games before we meet them, and is generally being seen as a top 50 team this year. But wouldn't it be neat to surprise Clemson? The Tigers lose 4 of their top 5 in scoring and minutes played, and return just one player who averaged over 12 minutes a game last year. If they take some time to gel... Losing both games won't tell us much unless they are blowouts (bad), or extremely close (good). A win in either would be a very good omen.
3. Wyoming is our other road game, after Clemson, in the MGM Main Event. The Broncs were 7-24 last year with a NET of 321 (we were 283), and lost their best player, Justin James (22 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists per game). Wyoming is only Mountain West, not a P6 Club, but it would still be real nice to get a win over a "host" team. Athlon picks them for 10th in the MWC this year. OTOH, a loss, after losses in the Carolinas, would be depressing.
4. In Vegas, Cal-Irvine and Louisiana could both be tough games. These are good mid-majors, with UC-Irvine picked to finish 1st or 2nd in its conference after winning over 30 games last year. Lousiana loses a lot from a 20-win team, but the Rajin' Cajuns usually put a solid team on the floor. How we do against them on a neutral floor may say a lot about our Horizon chances. We may only play one of the two--the fourth team in the "region" is still TBA.
5. Then comes a series of tough games. At Notre Dame looks like a loss, even though the Irish were just 14-19 a year ago. They were very young, lost a lot of close games, and have everyone back. EMU at home looks like I'd cautiously pencil in a win. They've got a lot of jucos coming in after losing their 3 best players from a disappointing 15-17 season. Toledo and Northeastern look better than us on paper, but we'll be in Calihan; Kent State and Ohio on the road will be tough.
6. If we have a winning record after these first 11 games we should feel really good, but unless we're getting consistently blown out, a 4-7 or even 3-8 mark wouldn't be too discouraging. If we have 7 or 8 wins at this point, it's going to be a great season. After this, you pencil in a home win over SIUE and a road loss at Gonzaga, and hope the latter game is an upset. Gonzaga loses 4 of its top players but the Zags reload pretty quickly these days.
7. This isn't the killer schedule Coach played at Texas Southern, but it's a tough schedule and I like it. It's got high majors who we will probably lose to on the road, but all of them seem beatable--none (well, maybe Gonzaga) are top 10 teams or anything. We are really due a major upset. And its got a bunch of good mid-majors--Toledo, Kent, Northeastern, UC-Irvine, and possibly Louisiana would all probably be picked to finish in the top half of the Horizon, and OU in Athens is anything but easy. I like the SIUE game late--if we've been badly beaten up, having a relatively easy game at home late in the non-conference schedule isn't the worst thing to boost confidence before conference play.
Nice to see the season start to come into focus.
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Post by Rogobob77 on Sept 4, 2019 14:59:12 GMT -5
I appreciate that the MGM folks are apparently moving Calihan Hall to Vegas for the tournament. Seems like a lot of expense. Says we're playing "Louisiana-Lafayette" in that tournament, but their athletics program brand officially is just "Louisiana" or the "Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns." I imagine this causes mass confusion.
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Post by motorcitysam on Sept 4, 2019 15:03:05 GMT -5
I appreciate that the MGM folks are apparently moving Calihan Hall to Vegas for the tournament. Seems like a lot of expense. Says we're playing "Louisiana-Lafayette" in that tournament, but their athletics program brand officially is just "Louisiana" or the "Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns." I imagine this causes mass confusion. It's just a ball of confusion. That's what the world is today.
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Post by Commissioner on Sept 4, 2019 15:03:49 GMT -5
I appreciate that the MGM folks are apparently moving Calihan Hall to Vegas for the tournament. Seems like a lot of expense. Says we're playing "Louisiana-Lafayette" in that tournament, but their athletics program brand officially is just "Louisiana" or the "Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns." I imagine this causes mass confusion. And I hear some people just call them "Lafayette" or "LU-L" or "LUL." Seriously, they really have been making the same branding mistakes as one of the Detroit area teams.
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Post by ptctitan on Sept 4, 2019 15:09:52 GMT -5
I think our new recruit Justin Miller could help us deal with this uncertainty.
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Post by Rogobob77 on Sept 4, 2019 20:14:29 GMT -5
No Wayne St. this year, heard Coach D not interested scheduling sub-D1 teams, even in exhibition. The Detroit Public School fundraising efforts that were connected to the WSU/UDM game may continue with the EMU home opener from what I understand.
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Post by ptctitan on Sept 4, 2019 20:33:27 GMT -5
It's a very good schedule. No gimmes. 8 of the first 9 games away from Calihan Hall. Quintessential Mike Davis. Toughen up these guys for the HL run. The solid opposition will teach them how to be mentally and physically tougher for the HL. It will be a humbling non-con slog. But we could gain a lot more positive things from these games than from playing Wayne State or traveling somewhere in August. Let's see if the Davis formula continues to work.
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Post by Commissioner on Sept 5, 2019 8:16:50 GMT -5
Who is the mystery 4th team for the MGM Main Even Middleweight Division?
At this point, the most likely scenario, and what I glean from the Titans published schedule, is that the three teams committed--UD, UC-Irvine, and Louisiana--play a round robin, with 1 game on each of the 24th, 25th, and 26th.
Otherwise, here are the schools that are not committed to an exempt event, have not released their schedules, and have the proper dates (Nov 24-26) still open from what we know of their schedules. (When you have too much time on your hands, you do these sorts of things.)
Idaho State Northern Arizona Manhattan Marist St. Peter's Siena Fresno State St. Francis, PA Western Illinois Winthrop
Theoretical but Highly unlikely Sacramento State (plays at Pepperdine Nov. 23) Charlotte (plays at Georgia State Nov. 27) Iona (plays in Lakeland, Florida on Nov. 23) Army (plays at Binghamton, Nov. 23) Lehigh (plays at St. Mary's (CA), Nov. 23)
Or they drag in some D-II program.
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Post by titantarheel on Sept 5, 2019 8:35:26 GMT -5
I happen to just LOVE this schedule. I'm an ACC fan so its nice to see Clemson and NCState on there, although for others I can see it as just another far away'ish Power5 school. At Gonzaga feels like a coup and a really cool add to the schedule, and hopefully an all around good experience for the team. Same with the Notre Dame game, really like that one.
The remaining opponents are interesting for the most part in some way, and I like having Eastern and Toledo for local-interest. We are making a pile of money on these games, and its the Coach Davis way to then be able to plow that money back into the program. Really nice job by Coach and AD Vowels. Now let's grab some wins out of this tough schedule!
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Post by ptctitan on Sept 5, 2019 8:38:56 GMT -5
Who is the mystery 4th team for the MGM Main Even Middleweight Division? At this point, the most likely scenario, and what I glean from the Titans published schedule, is that the three teams committed--UD, UC-Irvine, and Louisiana--play a round robin, with 1 game on each of the 24th, 25th, and 26th. Otherwise, here are the schools that are not committed to an exempt event, have not released their schedules, and have the proper dates (Nov 24-26) still open from what we know of their schedules. (When you have too much time on your hands, you do these sorts of things.) Idaho State Northern Arizona Manhattan Marist St. Peter's Siena Fresno State St. Francis, PA Western Illinois Winthrop Theoretical but Highly unlikelySacramento State (plays at Pepperdine Nov. 23) Charlotte (plays at Georgia State Nov. 27) Iona (plays in Lakeland, Florida on Nov. 23) Army (plays at Binghamton, Nov. 23) Lehigh (plays at St. Mary's (CA), Nov. 23) Or they drag in some D-II program. Last year, MGM ran a 4 team middleweight bracket and announced all 4 teams on Thursday, September 13th. They were Iona, Hartford, Utah Valley, and Long Beach State. If MGM goes 50-50 between eastern and western teams, then the most likely teams for the 4th spot on Commissioner's list would be Idaho State, N. AZ, and Fresno State. In a pinch for a western team, they could select Western Illinois. But that school is farther east than Louisiana.
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