11/10/2017 Northwestern State Austin, Texas 11/14/2017 New Hampshire Austin, Texas 11/18/2017 Lipscomb Austin, Texas PK80 tournament 11/23/2017 Butler Portland, Oregon 11/24/2017 Duke OR Portland State Portland, Oregon 11/26/2017 TBA Portland, Oregon 11/29/2017 Florida A&M Austin, Texas 12/5/2017 VCU Richmond, Virginia 12/12/2017 Michigan Austin, Texas 12/16/2017 Louisiana Tech Austin, Texas 12/18/2017 Tennessee State Austin, Texas 12/22/2017 Alabama Birmingham, Alabama Big 12 / SEC Challenge 1/27/2018 Mississippi Austin, Texas Gone are the days of packing our schedule with the likes of Michigan State and UNC. Playing in the Portland tournament will be a good litmus test to see where the team is, kind of like the Brooklyn tournament failure last year. But the best team we nabbed outside of that tournament is Michigan, who isn't exactly in the upper echelon. I'm also not sure if the Northwestern State game is one of those "non-counting" exhibition games. I think if we can get through that group with 8 wins, it'll go a long way into getting us back toward .500. The way Shaka is recruiting, it would be a shame to give up on him because of lack of improvement, but 11-22 isn't going to cut it again.
With a lot of new people coming in, I kind of like this schedule. There are potential big contests there, but certainly lots of opportunity for growth. I hope this won't be the norm, and we'll get stronger schedules moving forward, but the good news is that the Big XII pretty well takes care of most of the SOS concerns.
Michigan can be good any year; luck of the draw that they may not be top tier this year. Same with Butler. They also can be good. And we might catch Duke in the Oregon tourney. The schedule may (or may not) turn out very decent. Anyway, it will be a challenge for Shaka to put together a team with so many newcomers to make a run to get into contention for a B12 top 6 finish, and into the March NCAA's. He's got talent, and some great potential at the guard spot. Got to have great guard play to go anywhere.
Actually would be better, IMHO, if both Meatchicken and Butler were very highly ranked, even if Horns lose to both on the road. Could use tough early out of conference games. Would be better if some of the Big 12 teams were a bit down so the Horns have a chance of competing for conference later on in the season. 2 cents. Correction, I note now that Meatchicken is in Austin.
I agree with you. I didn't express myself well. I meant that it is a matter of luck whether Mich or Butler is good or not: out of our control; they are as likely to be good as not.
My point was that Butler/Duke aren't part of the "scheduled" games for nonconference, as they're in the Portland tournament with us. Michigan and VCU are like the only scheduled ones worth half a damn... they finished the regular season at #23 and #26 in the RPI. Northwestern State: #303 New Hampshire: #125 Lipscomb: #190 FAMU: #349 (2nd to last in the NCAA) La Tech: #116 Tennessee St: #165 Alabama: #82 Ole Miss: #68
I'm OK with a relatively cream puff schedule for once. RPI and SOS has been historically high for us rolling into tournament seeding. Barnes had a knack for winning Big Monday games and beating top #20's on the road in invitationals but always seemed to peak before tournament time, then **** the bed. His squads were battle tested and proved up but they were beat down come March. I think the Shaka and Mo M.O. should be: get into the tournament healthy, then turn up. Get past round two then peak. Next thing you know we've got our first MNC in round ball.
