2016-17 Schedule

[JamilJaeJamailJrJuan]

At this point, I'm much happier with our schedule than in years past. It's not the trainwreck we've sometimes seen. A few thoughts with two games left to be announced:

High-Majors: Wisconsin, Georgia, and Michigan are all good bets for the tourney. Pitt also would be if we play them, if not SMU (like Vandy) would be a decent opponent. Five nice games there.

Quality Buy Game: Fresno State loses a lot but should still be a good name on the resume.

Decent Home Games: Howard will likely start 5 seniors and contend in the MEAC. They could be this season's Norfolk State. IUPUI should be decent (all the 2K home games were at least decent) as they should start 4 seniors and had a host of contributing underclassmen last year. Might drop off a bit, but the Summit is a decent league and usually everyone in the league gets to 10+ wins. Western Carolina is similar to IUPUI in that they lose some talent but play in a decent league and should get 10+ wins.

One Possible Dog: I'm kind of torn on Houston Baptist. Losing Anthony Odunsi, who was a stud for them, will be tough to replace, and they lose 3 senior starters. But they will likely start 3-4 seniors this year and if someone can emerge at the point, they could be better than I'm thinking. At a glance, this looks like the only possible sub-300 team.

If the last two games are at least middle-of-the-road buy games, teams that can win around 10-15 games, then I think a 9-3 non-con record and 19 total wins should be enough to get us into the NCAAs. This time last year, I was pretty pissed about the schedule. This year is definitely an improvement, and the kind of schedule that sets you up to at least feel like you will have a respectable chance to make the tourney if you can get to 18-21 wins.

Until Illinois-Chicago and North Carolina A&T are announced the next two days....

[brewcity77]

where does the speculation on Dec 28 conf opener come from?

i get not going up against CFB F4 on Sat Dec 31st, but moving to 12/28 seems too early.

Last year the Big East had their major kickoff on January 2, but they had games on Dec 30-31 as well on the Wednesday and Thursday before the Saturday tip-off. This year, the Wednesday and Thursday before the tip-off weekend would come on Dec 28-29.

Of course, the next question is when they want to play the tip-off games. Dec 31 is the college football playoff, Jan 1 is the last day of the NFL regular season. Do you go up against either of those, or push the tip-off to a weekday and have it on Monday, January 2?

[brewcity77]

Until Illinois-Chicago and North Carolina A&T are announced the next two days....

If the next two are dogs, so be it. You need some easy wins on the schedule. I can live with 2-3 teams that have single digit D1 wins. It'd be an upgrade over last year where we had 6 teams that had single-digit D1 wins.

[jsglow]

If the next two are dogs, so be it. You need some easy wins on the schedule. I can live with 2-3 teams that have single digit D1 wins. It'd be an upgrade over last year where we had 6 teams that had single-digit D1 wins.

Many here know way more than me but my sense is that we've already scheduled enough challenging games.  Now we just need to win our share of 'em.

[bradley center bat]

where does the speculation on Dec 28 conf opener come from?

On our season-ticket package we get in the mail.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

At this point, I'm much happier with our schedule than in years past. It's not the trainwreck we've sometimes seen. A few thoughts with two games left to be announced:

High-Majors: Wisconsin, Georgia, and Michigan are all good bets for the tourney. Pitt also would be if we play them, if not SMU (like Vandy) would be a decent opponent. Five nice games there.

I've got SMU, Michigan, and vandy in the tournament (barely). And Georgia out. Pitt I'm torn on. They have great talent but no pg. I just don't know who will run that offense. If they figure a pg out, they're a high seed. If they don't, they could be out of the tourney.

Unfortunately, I have the badgers in the final four.

[martyconlonontherun]

But everything about this is wrong. First, it's not the same cost. To get UWM, Marquette would have to give up a home game every four years. So you bring in an extra 500-1,000 people for that game versus another buy team but give up a home game that will sell at least 10,000 tickets? That's senseless. 10,000 > 3,000.

So if the cost is not the same, and fan interest is marginal, both of which we've established are pretty clearly the case, where's the incentive? The only reason to do it is to help UWM out. But based on past history, they can't sell their building out even when they do play us, so if the motivation is altruistic, it's also a flawed reason.

Further, the odds of playing on the road decrease your win chances significantly. Why risk a loss to Milwaukee when you could buy a comparable win with a team from further away?

Giving up a home game to get UWM on the schedule doesn't make dollars or sense.

My original comment was buying UWM once every four years and paying them as if they traveled. (Granted UWM won't due that, which I think is dumb). The person I quoted said MU would be stupid to pay UWM full price since they don't have to travel.

[GGGG]

My original comment was buying UWM once every four years and paying them as if they traveled. (Granted UWM won't due that, which I think is dumb). The person I quoted said MU would be stupid to pay UWM full price since they don't have to travel.

Which is true. UWM has the incentive to accept a lower price deal because they don't have the same costs. Marquette should not be overpaying.

[brewcity77]

My original comment was buying UWM once every four years and paying them as if they traveled. (Granted UWM won't due that, which I think is dumb). The person I quoted said MU would be stupid to pay UWM full price since they don't have to travel.

If we could buy UWM, I'm sure we would. But that's just not going to happen. Aside from the Horizon having a dim view on their teams playing straight buy games as a policy, there is no way from a pride perspective they would allow Marquette to treat them as a low-major when UW-Madison is giving them home games.

I understand the sentiment, but it's just not in the realm of reality.

[KampusFoods]

December 19th vs. St. Francis (PA)

13-17 with an RPI of 267 last year, per ESPN.

[Mr. Nielsen]

266 per CBS Sports 

Ended the year on a 6 game losing streak

[JamilJaeJamailJrJuan]

266 per CBS Sports 

Ended the year on a 6 game losing streak

Lose their top 3 scorers.

[KampusFoods]

Lose their top 3 scorers.

Seems to be a trend

[Mr. Nielsen]

Past seasons for St. Francis (PA)
2014-15 16-16
2013-14 10-21
2012-13  5-24
2011-12  6-23
2010-11  9-20

[MU82]

I have the badgers in the final four.

Really?

[Jay Bee]

St Francis (PA) had a season ending RPI of 266, but who cares? X2.

They had a Selection Sunday RPI of 263, but who cares?

Only 12 D-I victories last year, but here's some color on why their season went south...

http://www.nycbuckets.com/2016/07/injuries-especially-isaiah-blackmons-derailed-sfu-last-season/

[BM1090]

At least the bad buy games this year feel like "could be worse, reason to be optimistic about their chances" whereas last year's buy games were just "this is an awful opponent".

If the last opponent is a team that could get 14-16 wins, I'll be happy with the schedule.

[Loose Cannon]

St Francis (PA) had a season ending RPI of 266, but who cares? X2.

They had a Selection Sunday RPI of 263, but who cares?

Only 12 D-I victories last year, but here's some color on why their season went south...

http://www.nycbuckets.com/2016/07/injuries-especially-isaiah-blackmons-derailed-sfu-last-season/

  Thanks, good to have some depth to the story.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

Really?

Unfortunately. Four senior starters with final 4 experience. They lose nobody. They add Pritzl and Van Vilet off of redshirts. Plus, the top half of the NCAA was very senior heavy last year. Lots of teams taking a step back. Wisconsin will take a big step forward.

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

December 19th vs. St. Francis (PA)

13-17 with an RPI of 267 last year, per ESPN.

They will be a middle of the road NEC team. Shouldn't be too bad from an RPI perspective. Should get to double digit D1 victories.

[Brewtown Andy]

Lose their top 3 scorers.

And #4 blew his ACL in February.

[GoldenDieners32]

How come we don't try and get a game with UWM?

[MUfan12]

How come we don't try and get a game with UWM?

Why don't we try and bring back football?

[JakeBarnes]

Why don't we try and bring back football?

Why didn't we all invest in Apple before the Ipod came out?

[DienerTime34]

Why didn't we all invest in Apple before the Ipod came out?

Why don't we go back to Warriors?