Post by freewind on Sept 8, 2022 13:36:56 GMT -6
We've got 6 non con schedules complete (WSU, Oakland, PFW, GB, CSU, Detroit). IUPUI i think needs only 1 more game, RMU needs 2. Mil needs 3. YSU needs 4. And the Norse doesn't seem like they want to play much bball until next year. I think officially we have 4 teams playing at least 2 official D2 games and that number is going to balloon as teams fill out their schedule which makes me a sad Panda. I'm going to rank my favorite overall schedules to date, favorite home games, and then my favorite MTE's.
Overall Schedule: (i ranked the excitement of games on a 1-10)
11. YSU (4.8) YSU and NKU were hard to rank because they have so many holes still. I reserve the right to move them up depending on how it shakes out, but as it gets later the more i feel like they're going to load up on D2 schools. YSU just has a couple of local average teams being played, a travel game to Notre Dame and a crappy MTE. They also already have 2 D2 schools on an already empty schedule.
10. NKU (7.6) probably my favorite put together schedule to point, but it has a long way to go. A bracketed MTE along with a couple super nice home games UC/Kent St. Going out to Washington St is kind of the only eye sore, even if you win the game you don't really get much and you probably aren't recruiting out there either. I have a feeling the rest of the games will be D2, but I hope I am wrong. If they mirror what they have with all the holes, i'll put them on top.
9. IUPUI (5.2) - Come see E. Illinois at home and no other games that matter! At least Drake, Iowa St. aren't terribly far. The Indiana Classic is a fun idea with PFW, USI.....and Texas A&M Commerce, lol. New Orleans MTE doesn't have any headliners, which is good maybe this team will win one.
8. Milwaukee (5.7) - Hope the new coach can make something happen his first year hosting their own MTE. UC Davis, Boston U, SE Missouri St if you can 3-0 that might help balance out the tough road schedule the team faces (Purdue/Iowa St/Rhode Island).
7. Ft Wayne (5.81) - Cancun challenge is weird, I'll explain later. They play a pretty balanced schedule with the toughest game coming first at Michigan. Pull a surprise there and cruise through your non-con you'll be looking good. Its kind of weird to go to Cancun to play E Michigan, they're not that far away, lol. I think they can do good on their Missouri trip (SE Missouri St, Missorui St). Their D2 game against Manchester gets a shout from me, my old Churches University ( I didn't attend, but have been on campus.)
6. Detroit (6.16) - Looking forward to seeing Detroit play Bryant in their MTE after we beat them in the NCAA. Another team that's going out to play Washington State and I hope they can get at least 1 win either off of them or Tulsa/Boston College. When you play a team twice (Charlotte) i feel like anything less than a 2-0 is a waste of time. Splitting them really doesn't help your portfolio strength. The one thing it helps is prepares you for Non con a little earlier, in trying to find a way to improve against someone you already played against. Not so great for the casual viewer.
5. Robert Morris (6.33) - Tanner Holden gets to play this team again, except this time he's wearing a Buckeye jersey. The Savannah Invitational is another messy MTE but might hold competitive teams for RMU to play against. I just hope Toole can keep this team together to win its last couple of local (Mt St Marys, St Francis) games before playing conference. Usually by the time this team gets to its conference schedule, its too badly damaged to be competitive.
T2 Wright State (6.36) Had a 3 way tie for 2nd, which surprised me. Dissapointed that we're playing two D2 teams again this year, last year I let it slip because I know we dropped Miami so they could get UC at home, but no excuse this year. They are playing my nephew's D2 school of Defiance, he plays on their Soccer team, so small shout out (they also are playing Oakland). Glad we got Davidson, hope we can make something out of it. Vegas MTE is meh, other than the fact it's Vegas. Bunch of MAC teams and WKU should be winnable games if coach has his team put together.
T2. Green Bay (6.36) - Yeah I know, GB is a terrible team and is going to get wrecked by all the big games away from home they are playing. Wisconsin is a local big team, it's a game they're always going to play when given the chance. I like the Georgetown game, big name team who has been struggling. Loyola, Stanford, Oregon St (Western Colleges must have big money out there), if they can find just 1 win in the bunch, it might not be horrible. They could very well be starting conference games with an average loss of like 20 points. Not great for confidence.
T2. Cleveland St. (6.36) - I still have Dennis Gates in my mind, which I think he could of stomped this schedule. At least Mr Robinson got this schedule together and out of the way pretty quickly so he could focus on the team. Honestly supurb job. Looking at the list of teams they play, they're all going to be around the same level as Horizon League teams, he will have a great feel for where his team is at in conference, which is what every new coach wants. When you are losing to big teams its a lot harder to get a judge if you got the right starting lineup/rotations. The only knock I have, (and it's pretty big) is on their Home MTE where they got 2 of the crappiest teams to come to play.
1. Oakland (Avg 7.2) - Last year everyone complained about the SOS being too hard and then Oakland started to win games early and had one of the stronger RPI to start the noncon. It's stacked again and I think they can manage to do something similar as last year. If they can 50/50 chance at beating OK State again this time at home and find a win on the road against Syracuse/Boise St/MSU towards the end of their noncon run, i think they'll be sitting decently.
Best Home Games:
10. Bowling Green at Oakland - I love the MAC as a conference. They never do great but always bring a solid team to play. BG is also right down the road. They're both 5-5 all time with BG taking the last 2.
9. Ohio U at Detroit - Another solid MAC team. Seems like Horizon teams always have troubles with Ohio U. They beat Detroit the last 4 of 5 times. The time the Titans won? 1971/72 season when Ohio U was nationally ranked (apparently).
8 USI at PFW - I think USI will eventually be in the Horizon League after their probation period in Division 1 is over. Bellarmine will probably be in as soon as theirs is over and i think USI gets in as soon as theirs over if IUPUI falls out of Division 1 sports with the university split up. They should have a decent team as well might be a future rivalry.
7 UIC at GB - This is how the Horizon League gets better, we send our junk teams to MVC and then beat them to improve our image, ha. Hope GB fans can show up to this one. Been seeing where UIC isn't the worst team in the MVC this year, which kind of surprises me.
6. Marshall at RMU - As a Wright State fan i hated playing Marshall and losing to them 2 years in a row. I felt like we should have won both games. We were tied to them at half 2nd game and our first game we were up and just floundered both times in the 2nd half. Not sure if Kinsey is back with them again this year, but if they are, I would love to see RMU beat them. I don't think it's going to happen.
5. Kent St at CSU - NKU also gets Kent St at home this year and probably has a better chance at beating them. I like local rivalries better and this win would go a long way for the new coach.
4. Charlotte at Det - I hate playing a non con team twice in the same year. That being said, at least it's a decent opponent and you get them for a home game. Still way better than playing D2 schools. Detroit should be competitive, but boy if you lose big in the first game at home, it really takes the cares away when you have to play them away later.
3. Davidson at WSU - I like this game for a lot of reasons. Would like to see more Horizon teams schedule A10 schools in general. Playing big games at the very beginning of the season can lead to wild results. Can also get fans excited about a program early on if you can pull out the win. If you can't play your rival school, do your best to beat everyone around them.
2. OK ST at Oakland - This game would be more hyped if Oakland hadn't beat them in their own home last year. Should still be pretty fun to watch, if Oakland can win again this year, it will go a long way for them and the conference in SOS.
1. UC at NKU - I love UC basketball, they always schedule fair games with local teams. They did a 2 home/1 away with Wright State awhile back, i remember it well because they played us at home right after brawling with Xavier the game prior. They were definitely on their best behavior that night and they still crushed us. They are also hosting Cleveland State and Detroit as well. Would like to see one Horizon League team get a win from them this year, NKU at home might be their best chance.
Best MTE's
The Round Robins
11. Cleveland State - Own MTE - Chicago State & Arkansas Pine Bluff. Nothing good can come from this. NOTHING.
10. Youngstown State - NAVY MTE which includes Navy and UC San Diego. I'm sure those two teams are looking at each other and like, YSU? Where did they come from lol. UC San Diego is in the Big West, their whole conf games are non con until 2024-25 is just weird to me.
9. IUPUI - New Orleans MTE - Hopefully the Big Easy can stay above water this Autumn so we can watch this round robin match up of the home team, Denver, The Citadel and our IUPUI. I feel like this should be renamed to the Hobbit MTE. No championship rings to rule them all!
8. Detroit - Florida Atlantic MTE - Florida Atlantic & Bryant. Florida Atlantic is a middle of the pack CUSA team and Bryant made the tourney last year out of the NE conference. Should be good solid basketball here but nothing glamorous.
7. Wright State - Vegas MTE - I was so hyped for Wright State's MTE last year and they failed it in miserable fashion. Maybe they'll do better when there's 0 expectations on them this year. Abilene Christian (6th WAC), UC-Riverside (4th Big West), Weber State (4th Big Sky). Definitely the farthest team from Vegas, probably the best team there.
6. Milwaukee - Own MTE -UC Davis, Boston U, SE Missouri St. - Middle of the pack teams going to Milwaukee. It should be a competitive series for a new coach trying to settle in.
The Confused Tournament
5. RMU - Savannah Invitational has a nice even 10 teams in it. They apparently will have 2 brackets of a nice 6/4 variety and RMU has already been scheduled to play Mercer for it's first game. Evansville (Missouri Valley), Fairfield (Metro Atlantic), James Madison (Sun Belt), Mercer (Southern), Robert Morris (Horizon), South Alabama (Sun Belt), South Dakota State (Summit), Towson (Colonial), Valparaiso (Missouri Valley) and Nichol's State (Southland). Weird to have 2 teams from the same conference in it. I'm guessing Mercer/RMU are in opposite brackets and one of them will get a bye round in the bigger bracket? Probably means they'll get at least 1 Missouri Team. SDS or James Madison might be fun to watch.
The Double Brackets
4. Green Bay - Jamaica Classic be competitive against Georgetown. Welcome Queens to Division I basketball. Win the "Rose Hall" side of the bracket by taking down either Utah Valley or Morgan State. You've got this Phoenix. Don't lose by 30, lose to a first year team in DIvision 1, and leave this tournament 0-3 by losing to a 3rd team that has already lost 2, like I know you'll do. On a side note, i'm going to try to get tickets to see this team play against Georgetown. The Capital One Arena in DC is nice, I've watched the A10 tournaments there and watched Wright State get mowed over once there as well.
3. Fort Wayne - Cancun Challenge - Plays Northwestern then to their side of the bracket Eastern Michigan then Southern Miss/Winthrop. I think they got lucky to play E Michigan the first game. Though I think Southern Miss has been a dumpster fire as of lately. Northwestern is a program with struggles lately as well. It's really not a bad lineup for Fort Wayne.
Full Brackets
2. NKU - Gulf Coast Showcase - First Round against Florida Gulf Coast (3rd ASUN East). Second Round will be UT-Arlington (9th Sunbelt)/Drexel (5th CAA) with Toledo(1st MAC)/UMKC(4th Summit)/East Carolina(9th AAC)/Indiana State(9th MVC) being the final boss. Lot of struggling programs from higher mid major conferences. I'll put the MTE jinx on NKU and say they can do win it all. Random interesting fact. UMKC has a new coach after parting ways with previous Billy Donlon who took over Wright State after Brad Brownell left for Clemson. Those 2 are back together at Clemson. Oakland won this last year. Green Bay did it in 2014. This Showcase has been kind to Horizon League teams in the past.
1. Oakland - Baha Mar Hoops Nassau Championship - First Round Long Beach State. Second Round San Jose State(Last Mountain West)/North Texas (1st CUSA East) and Final Round Missouri State (4th MVC)/Vermont(1st American East) /UNCW (1st CAA)/Ball State(6th MAC). San Jose St being with this group is kind of weird. A tougher tournament from last year, if they can do it again here, Kampe will be thrilled.
This was a lot and i kind of just laid it all out at once. I'll probably go back and have to make some edits. It's been too quiet on here this summer. Need to get everyone back together again!
