2016 Non-Conference Schedule

[Tommyboy]

We're playing North Florida!

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

Finally get to play the wife's school!

However my life will be miserable if we choke that game away.

 

[jibsey]

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.

Oh sure, there are upset possibilities on the schedule but we are an 4 time national champion and basketball blue blood. Duke, Kentucky, Michigan State, Kansas happy with a schedule like that? I know we are somewhat forced into it but could we jettison some of these games for better name opponents? Can a team get themselves into the top 10 unless they win every almost game? Just asking.

 

[Rico444]

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.

Agreed. This schedule is going to leave us with a much better RPI than we're used to having in March.

 

[JCSuperstar]

Oh sure, there are upset possibilities on the schedule but we are an 4 time national champion and basketball blue blood. Duke, Kentucky, Michigan State, Kansas happy with a schedule like that?

I don't care what they or their fans would be happy with. We are stuck in the AAC and this schedule is built for postseason seeding as long as KO and the team can take care of business. Now more than ever, March is what matters for the program.

 

[7774]

Agreed. This schedule is going to leave us with a much better RPI than we're used to having in March.

If we win games it will, and if we don't, it won't. Our schedule the last 2 years would have given us a great RPI if we would have won games at the rate that our past great regular season teams won games.

 

[Waquoit]

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.

Right, it's good that we have fewer 300+ teams. But it's another year of taking the the good fans, the fans that buy tickets and support the program, for granted.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

How does chief not get he's specifically talking about football when he mentions gameday experience.

 

[KemBuckets21]

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

I really hope your alma mater makes a deep tourney run this year.

 

[jibsey]

I don't care what they or their fans would be happy with. We are stuck in the AAC and this schedule is built for postseason seeding as long as KO and the team can take care of business. Now more than ever, March is what matters for the program.

Recently we haven't taken care of business early and I'm not sure how we get 2 more big names on our schedule with the preseason tournaments the way they are. The day we get out of the AAC and into a decent conference all of this nonsense stops.

 

[aceboon]

If we win games it will, and if we don't, it won't. Our schedule the last 2 years would have given us a great RPI if we would have won games at the rate that our past great regular season teams won games.

They need to perform better but during the season I'm pretty sure I saw tweets from the NoEscalators account and I think @tcf_15 that swapped out the horrible cupcake games with higher quality cupcake games(similar in profile to the teams on next season's schedule) and the RPI jumped up signficantly with the same W-L record. Seems like they've learned from their mistakes in scheduling the past couple of seasons.

 

[David 76]

Now if we can only improve that Conference schedule

 

[7774]

They need to perform better but during the season I'm pretty sure I saw tweets from the NoEscalators account and I think @tcf_15 that swapped out the horrible cupcake games with higher quality cupcake games(similar in profile to the teams on next season's schedule) and the RPI jumped up signficantly with the same W-L record. Seems like they've learned from their mistakes in scheduling the past couple of seasons.

Yeah, I'm really happy with what they've done with the schedule, and I'm sure you're right about a big improvement in RPI if we swapped out some teams and managed to have the same record (though I personally doubt we would have had the same record if we did this swap).

My main point is that people constantly complain about our schedule as if it's negatively impacting the team, when in reality it isn't, it's just a much more boring schedule for the fans. Our performance against the schedule is the actual problem. We've had 5 teams in our history get #1 seeds in the NCAA tournament, and every single one of them would have still been a #1 seed if they played our schedule from last year instead of their actual schedule.

 

[David 76]

I think we dropped RPI points after some victories last year

 

[Waquoit]

Nobody liked the weakest of the weak cupcakes better than JC. And that philosophy continued under KO. Considering our success and the strength of the Big East, you could get away with it. But you can't get away with that in a crappy league and it was about time they did something about it.

 

[7774]

I think we dropped RPI points after some victories last year

Which is the case basically every year. The reality is if we had gone through last year's schedule with losses to Cuse, @ Cincinnati, and @ SMU, our RPI would have been 5 despite a ton of bad cupcakes and an blah conference schedule. If we just win games our RPI is not going to be a problem regardless of schedule.

 

[Tenspro2002]

Nobody liked the weakest of the weak cupcakes better than JC. And that philosophy continued under KO. Considering our success and the strength of the Big East, you could get away with it. But you can't get away with that in a crappy league and it was about time they did something about it.

Yes, and importantly, if they've learned the lesson, that suggests this will be continued in future years.

On the other hand, the lack of marquee home games is something the AD knows they have to rectify in future years and will be better.

Overall our OOC scheduling is headed in the right direction, provided we make good on getting the truly elite names on the schedule (Arizona is a good start).

 

[BUConn10]

This schedule is alright, but we need to get more home-and-homes with major programs scheduled. A year ago they announced the OSU and Arizona series' on the same day but it's been quiet since then. There were rumors of a series with Villanova (which I'd love), and a men's and women's double header with Baylor which also would be bad as Baylor I read has had the toughest overall schedules over the last several years and their RPI boost is always big.

 

[tcf15]

They need to perform better but during the season I'm pretty sure I saw tweets from the NoEscalators account and I think @tcf_15 that swapped out the horrible cupcake games with higher quality cupcake games(similar in profile to the teams on next season's schedule) and the RPI jumped up signficantly with the same W-L record. Seems like they've learned from their mistakes in scheduling the past couple of seasons.

Yeah, here's what i tweeted back in January

How to rig your RPI ranking.

Step 1: Remove teams ranked 200+

Maine (294)
UNH (201)
Sacred Heart (304)
UMass Lowell (286)
CCSU (351)

Step 2: Replace with teams ranked <200

Bowling Green (194)
Western Kentucky (195)
NJIT (196)
Hampton (197)
Western Michigan (199)

Results:

UConn's RPI goes from 67 to 32.
UConn's SOS goes from 116 to 57.
UConn's record remains the same at 14-5.

 

[Chief00]

How does chief not get he's specifically talking about football when he mentions gameday experience.

Game day applies to basketball as well. I have a friend, who is considered a pretty good basketball player and he uses the "game day" term all the time.

 

[ucp990411]

Hey 7774, you are right they would have been 1 seeds but only because they would have been undefeated against the chumps we played last year.

 

[7774]

Hey 7774, you are right they would have been 1 seeds but only because they would have been undefeated against the chumps we played last year.

Well neither of us know if they would have gone undefeated, but it's pretty obvious based upon statistics that they wouldn't have needed to in order to get a 1 seed, even against the "chumps" we played last year.

 

[UC1995]

Can't wait to see my Huskies play at Ohio State in Columbus this year!

 

[shizzle787]

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.

There are no good home games, but road games against good opponents do count for more. We have six good opponents on the schedule: the three at Maui, Syracuse, Georgetown, and Ohio State. I would say that we have four average opponents (101-200 RPI): Auburn, BU, Northeastern, Loyola Marymount. We do have two cupcakes (Wagner, N. Florida), but two is not too many.

 

[Eskapeesto]

Game day applies to basketball as well. I have a friend, who is considered a pretty good basketball player and he uses the "game day" term all the time.

"It's game day. And no, that's not just for football." - Andre "Game Day" Drummond, pretty good basketball player & Chief's friend

 

[rw005]

Only complaint is Wagner, but very good schedule! Love the Auburn game especially.