[GoMarquette.com] Golden Eagles Welcome Norfolk State To Bradley Center Nov. 14

[GoMarquetteSays]

Golden Eagles Welcome Norfolk State To Bradley Center Nov. 14
         

Beginning on July 5, GoMarquette.com will announce the non-conference portion of the 2011-12 men's basketball team's schedule. Opponents and dates will be revealed on a daily basis and will include tentative games times when possible. The series of announcements will conclude on Friday, July 15.
     

http://onlyfans.cstv.com/schools/marq/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/070511aaa.html
         

[Mr. Nielsen]

Everyone knew this Norfolk State game as going to be Nov.14. Everyone is waiting on a time.

[esotericmindguy]

I was under the impression that these games were schedule a year in advance....now I know they are scheduled in the summer before the season. Given that, why is MU scheduling games against these bottom feeders? I know we have a decent out of conference schedule but scheduling these games pretty much offsets them.

[GGGG]

esoteric...they need the $$$ that comes with the guaranty games.  Norfolk isnt going to ask for a lot of $$ and they certainly won't ask for a home game in the future.  You make more money with them in the long run than home and homes with the likes of Vandy and LSU. 

[Mr. Nielsen]

Mount St. Mary's was 230 last season in the RPI and Norfolk State was 271 in the RPI. These are MU's only real cupcakes of the season, as MU played 6 schools above 250 in the RPI.

[4everwarriors]

Lookin' forward to seein' Bobby Dandridge lace 'em up for NSU. Definitely presents match up  problems.

[muhs03]

Brutal. Dont think I'll be driving up from chicago to attend this nail-biter.

[Mr. Nielsen]

This game is on the same night as Vikings-Packers.

[brewcity77]

I was under the impression that these games were schedule a year in advance....now I know they are scheduled in the summer before the season. Given that, why is MU scheduling games against these bottom feeders? I know we have a decent out of conference schedule but scheduling these games pretty much offsets them.

We didn't schedule Norfolk State. They were given to us as an opening round game of the Paradise Jam, though it doesn't have any bearing on the tournament as both of us will play the planned schedule once we get down there.

And trust me, MU's scheduling this year isn't anything remotely like the bottom-feeders we played last year. A season ago, we had six cupcakes, all of which finished with an RPI of 250 or worse. This year only two teams on our schedule had a 250 or worse RPI last year, Mount St. Mary's and Norfolk State.

Mount St. Mary's had an RPI of 230 last year, but return 5 of their top 6 scorers and should be back closer to their three-year average RPI of 176.3. Norfolk State was at 269 last year and hasn't cracked the top 250 in a decade, so expecting much improvement probably isn't realistic. They'll probably finish in the 250-300 RPI range again next year, but if they manage to equal their three-year average of 275, they'll still be better than 5 of the crapcakes we played in the 2010 non-conference schedule.

Beyond this, the weakest teams on the non-conference home slate will be UW-Green Bay, UW-Milwaukee, Jacksonville, and Northern Colorado. Only one of those teams, UW-GB, finished outside the top-150 RPI last year (168) and both Milwaukee and Northern Colorado were top-100 RPI teams.

Winthrop will be our opening round Paradise Jam game. Their three-year RPI average of 216 isn't very impressive (220 last year) but they only lost one significant contributor from last year's team (Charles Corbin) and have made the NCAA tournament 9 of the past 13 years. Still an improvement on many of the weak sisters we've faced in non-conference in recent years.

[Mr. Nielsen]

Paradise Jam Bracket
http://www.paradisejam.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/2011-mens-bracket-paradise-jam.pdf

[jsglow]

These are two nice warm up games before the team head off to the Paradise.  Winthrop will test the boys a bit more down in the Virgin Islands prior to our presumed first game against a BCS opponent.  I personally think they fly home sporting  nice 5-0 start.

[brewcity77]

These are two nice warm up games before the team head off to the Paradise.  Winthrop will test the boys a bit more down in the Virgin Islands prior to our presumed first game against a BCS opponent.  I personally think they fly home sporting  nice 5-0 start.

I'll be disappointed if we don't. I just hope Winthrop is back to form this year. They've had a few down years, but have made the tourney 9 of the past 13 seasons. Hopefully they return to the NCAAs this year, it would definitely help our profile come March if they did rather than just being a sub-200 RPI opponent.