2016 Non-Conference Schedule

[BUHusky]

A note about my alma mater BU, they were absolutely decimated by injuries last year. They lost 2 good seniors, but are bringing back a lot of talent and experience, so I expect their RPI to be much better this upcoming year (assuming everyone stays healthy). Joe Jones is a hell of coach.

 

[KemBuckets21]

my alma mater, Northeastern, lost two seniors who signed as undrafted FA's w/nba teams. Hoping they have the talent remaining to keep their RPI steady.

 

[pepband99]

We're playing North Florida!

"We're the might Ospreys, soar soar soar soar soar!"

 

[EROCK CONN]

Guys...we have a huge home game against Syracuse!!

 

[Rico444]

I'm willing to buy low on Loyola Marymount as well - they got the Hawaii transfer at center who is eligible right away, and a pretty good point guard coming back. I can see them being top 150 next year.

Ah, that's where Weird Al Jankovic ended up!

 

[Leebo]

Fully expecting to get pounced on, but the 2015-16 home schedule will probably be the worst since UConn joined the Big East. Potential for some good games though depending on how Maui shakes up. Overall, while featuring some good games and a chance to attain a very solid RPI, this schedule is a disservice to season ticket holders.

I assume any pouncing would be based on trying to make prediction for a season that's already come and gone?

 

[Hold the Chee]

Nice to see my alma mater Wagner. They return a nice core of players that almost won the NEC's (I know it's a horrible conference) last year and definitely an upgrade over central.

 

[Tenspro2002]

From a ticket-holder's point of view, there's no sugar-coating this. It's a very bland slate of games. Factoring in conference foes, it's going to be hard to sell games out.

From a basketball/RPI point of view, it all comes down to Maui. This is the same situation as last year in Atlantis -- the first game is an absolute must-win. If we end up on the loser's bracket, it's 2 games against some combination of Chaminade, Tennessee, Oklahoma State, i.e. zero quality wins. Given the rest of the schedule, a loss in that first game could deny us our only shots at a Top 25 win.

That said, we've done a good job eliminating the ugly underside of our schedule (vs. RPI >300) and enhancing a reasonable middle (vs. RPI 100-200).

 

[gwhuskyfan]

I actually like this schedule. Decent cupcakes. Anyone know when season tickets go on sale? I want to get mine.

 

[BoatShow]

North Florida was the A-Sun regular season champ and NIT team.

 

[navery12]

A note about my alma mater BU, they were absolutely decimated by injuries last year. They lost 2 good seniors, but are bringing back a lot of talent and experience, so I expect their RPI to be much better this upcoming year (assuming everyone stays healthy). Joe Jones is a hell of coach.

my alma mater, Northeastern, lost two seniors who signed as undrafted FA's w/nba teams. Hoping they have the talent remaining to keep their RPI steady.

My alma mater UConn is looking like they'll have a good team. A lot of new younger players coming in but lots of optimism around this season even after losing a few important players from their starting lineup

 

[champs99and04]

Hard to complain about this part of the schedule. They did a good job. Wouldn't be surprised to see some uncomfortably close scores against a couple of these schools.

 

[YearoftheHusky]

We're playing North Florida!

"We're the might Ospreys, soar soar soar soar soar!"

Ummm, that's "swoop!!"

Haha never thought my alma mater would play my favorite school.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

A note about my alma mater BU, they were absolutely decimated by injuries last year. They lost 2 good seniors, but are bringing back a lot of talent and experience, so I expect their RPI to be much better this upcoming year (assuming everyone stays healthy). Joe Jones is a hell of coach.

Both BU and Northeastern are solid New England programs with good coaching staffs. These are the types of November/December games we should be having against relatively local schools instead of Central, Sacred Heart, and the like. It's good to play the in-state teams and help them out, but not if merely playing them is going to negatively affect our season. URI and UVM would also be good to have on the schedule with a bit more regularity.

 

[mjmoney23]

This has to be the fewest amount of home games in recent memory. 9 conference and only 5 ooc home games, plus the 2 exhibitions. If it's evenly split, it's 7 games plus an exhibition for each venue. Though, hasn't Gampel been getting an extra game or 2 over the past few years?

 

[80shusky]

From a strength of schedule and tournament resume perspective it is a much better schedule than last year. I'm hoping they learned their lesson from that. For the season ticket holders the lack of a couple of good OOC home games is definitely a negative but I think that was a scheduling quirk (ending up with OH State and GTown both away for example) that they just couldn't fix this year.

 

[Chief00]

The only folks that liked this schedule are he ones who never buy season tickets. Bennett sounded great on the radio but the best way to improve the game day experience is to play some very good teams. That needs to be the centerpiece - and we failed.

 

[JMick]

The only folks that liked this schedule are he ones who never buy season tickets. Bennett sounded great on the radio but the best way to improve the game day experience is to play some very good teams. That needs to be the centerpiece - and we failed.

dude you didn't even spell his name right. And Warde left right around when scheduling happens for mbb.

 

[BUConn10]

Is Chief also chapvilwaug or whatever his name was? Lately chief's trolling has been very heavy handed and coming on thick, has he blown his cover?

 

[jibsey]

From a ticket-holder's point of view, there's no sugar-coating this. It's a very bland slate of games. Factoring in conference foes, it's going to be hard to sell games out.

From a basketball/RPI point of view, it all comes down to Maui. This is the same situation as last year in Atlantis -- the first game is an absolute must-win. If we end up on the loser's bracket, it's 2 games against some combination of Chaminade, Tennessee, Oklahoma State, i.e. zero quality wins. Given the rest of the schedule, a loss in that first game could deny us our only shots at a Top 25 win.

That said, we've done a good job eliminating the ugly underside of our schedule (vs. RPI >300) and enhancing a reasonable middle (vs. RPI 100-200).

You are correct. Unless I'm missing something without Maui we have 3 decent profile NC games not counting Auburn. So playing the better teams is going to be critical. Jan and Feb is purgatory.

 

[Jaker]

Make it to the finals on Maui and pound the tar out of Cuse and it will be a successful season.

 

[Mano]

Is Chief also chapvilwaug or whatever his name was? Lately chief's trolling has been very heavy handed and coming on thick, has he blown his cover?

Nah, Chappy was some weird amalgam of broken cajun/creole english, stream of consciousness writing and slam poetry. It's strange, if memory serves, he started out a fairly positive poster before devolving into a negative nellie in all things concerning the team and especially the coaching staff. Chief is just a JC sycophant with an axe to grind. He's probably a plant from the Cuse board or from another planet or something.

 

[Chief00]

Benedict says that accountability is big with him as is game day experience - This is a terrible home schedule. I like Benedict but that's my honest feedback. Too many on this board fall in traps by emotionally reacting to analytical observations.
Granted, overall the schedule is pretty good. In sports you got to develop your home court or field experience and you need to play some top caliber teams to have the potential to play memorable games.

 

[OkaForPrez]

We're playing Syracuse in the Garden. Our biggest rival in Eden. Nobody should be complaining about the home schedule with that in pocket. It's all that matters.

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

From a ticket-holder's point of view, there's no sugar-coating this. It's a very bland slate of games. Factoring in conference foes, it's going to be hard to sell games out.

From a basketball/RPI point of view, it all comes down to Maui. This is the same situation as last year in Atlantis -- the first game is an absolute must-win. If we end up on the loser's bracket, it's 2 games against some combination of Chaminade, Tennessee, Oklahoma State, i.e. zero quality wins. Given the rest of the schedule, a loss in that first game could deny us our only shots at a Top 25 win.

That said, we've done a good job eliminating the ugly underside of our schedule (vs. RPI >300) and enhancing a reasonable middle (vs. RPI 100-200).

What our home schedule lacks in the marquee department, it makes up for in the competition category. Casual fans will certainly overlook Northeastern, for instance, who returns all but two players from a team that beat Miami on the road last season.

There's maybe five teams in the country next year that could make it through that home slate unscathed, yet it's tough to point out the games that present the biggest threats.

First impressions are shallow. Unfortunately, they're the currency of the casual fan. On closer inspection, this is a great schedule if your goal is to make an impression on Selection Sunday.

And there's Syracuse at MSG. Carpe diem, ticket buyer.