Non-conference Schedule

[the Blades]

For those who missed here's a press release of the:

2016-17..Non-conference Schedule..
Nothing we hadn't heard about or anything to get super excited about. And I wish the new Uconn AD, would spare us using words like:
" A rematch against a 2016 Final Four participant in Madison Square Garden, a holiday tournament against some of the finest basketball programs in the country, and a home game against a Power Five opponent highlight the non-conference portion of the 2016-17 UConn men’s basketball schedule, announced Thursday by the school.

To try to hype a home game with Auburn as a P-5 for marketing purposes in basketball shows that you have done nothing but screwed the pooch with the home portion. I would rather play one of our old Big East rivals like Providence or Nova that we have some history with. Rather than try to hype a mediocre SEC BB program that would give some mid-majors a bad name. They do have Bruce Pearl but they got worse last year.

Though I'll really miss #351 Central CT & # 314 Maine.... ....I did like that they tried to get teams with recent success and most that had RPI's below 200 last year.... to try and make up for those four (200+ RPI) AAC bottom feeders that Uconn is forced to play.

UCONN MEN’S BASKETBALL 2016-17 NON-CONFERENCE SCHEDULE .....2015-16 ( RPI / W-L )
Sun., Oct. 30 – New Haven (exhib.)
Sat., Nov. 5 – Southern Connecticut (exhib.)

Fri., Nov. 11 --- Wagner..........................( 168 / 22-11 )
Mon., Nov. 14 --- Northeastern................( 114 / 17-15 )
Thurs., Nov. 17 --- at Loyola Marymount...( 223 / 13-17 )

Mon., Nov. 21 – Wed., Nov. 23 at Maui Invitational
UNC (5), Oregon(4), WISC (36 ), G-town (103), TENN (143), OK St. (180)

Wed., Nov. 30 --- Boston University.............(185 / 18-15 )....
Mon., Dec. 5 --- vs. Syracuse (@ MSG).........(42 / 23-14)
Sat., Dec. 10 --- at Ohio State.......................(78 / 21-14)
Sun., Dec. 18 --- North Florida......................(167 / 19-12 )
Fri., Dec. 23 --- Auburn.................................(179/ 11-20 )
Sat., Jan. 14 --- at Georgetown.....................(103 / 15-18)

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

It's not really a great OOC but it's not going to matter as far as UConn getting into NCAA tournament. It may matter some on seeding as what improves tourney seeding is wins over top teams OOC. How much mileage will UConn get with wins over a Syracuse team that isn't really a top 20 team or or Georgetown or Auburn? These are trap games because it doesn't help to win them and it will hurt to lose them.

It's nice that the new AD scheduled Auburn with his old cronies but I think he did Auburn a bigger favor than he did UConn with that game. I would rather play Kentucky and beat their asses in Rupp. And a loss at Rupp isn't gonna hurt.

 

[the Blades]

It's nice that the new AD scheduled Auburn with his old cronies but I think he did Auburn a bigger favor than he did UConn with that game. I would rather play Kentucky and beat their asses in Rupp. And a loss at Rupp isn't gonna hurt.

True, I'm not impressed unless he was to follow that up with a football home and home vs. Auburn....

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

If you want my opinion we should deschedule Wagner on November 11 and offer to fill the open spot on Duke's schedule November 12 because Albany will not travel to North Carolina because of LGBT laws in NC (Albany is part of SUNY and all NY State schools must comply with Gov. Cuomo's travel ban). If Wagner squawks give them a make up game in lacrosse or something.

 

[12rtackerman12]

All I see is W's on that schedule.

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

But you don't want an OOC schedule that is a bunch of easy wins. That's the point. Those games don't necessarily help UConn even if they win those games.

 

[12rtackerman12]

That's true, but if we take care of business in Maui then I don't think the schedule is all that bad.

 

[the Blades]

If you want my opinion we should deschedule Wagner on November 11 and offer to fill the open spot on Duke's schedule November 12 because Albany will not travel to North Carolina because of LGBT laws in NC (Albany is part of SUNY and all NY State schools must comply with Gov. Cuomo's travel ban). If Wagner squawks give them a make up game in lacrosse or something.

Wait wasn't Malloy jumping up and down about a LGBT law travel ban and isn't ECU in the AAC....wait what happened to his ban.....never mind...fricken' politicians... SMH !

 

[tcf_15]

Looks like they have removed the sub-200 RPI teams which has a greater impact than one would think. Understand if season ticket holders are frustrated with this schedule, but I like it.

 

[the Blades]

One other point...beyond the SOS is something the new AD brought up on WTIC a few days ago... called attendance...he can't put together weak draws OOC
to go with the weak draws in conference and expect to accomplish what he's trying to do. He emphasized increasing his programs attendance across the board.....
Uconn fans/ consumers aren't dumb, we played in the best basketball conference in the country since its inception, he's not gonna sell seats and home packages
trying to push teams like Auburn ( who is below us nothing more than a G-5 in BB history) as the main headliner.

 

[the Blades]

Looks like they have removed the sub-200 RPI teams which has a greater impact than one would think. Understand if season ticket holders are frustrated with this schedule, but I like it.

Yeah I mentioned the SOS stuff above, it's good in that regards. But it's beyond just the season ticket holder issue , it's a school profile issue when people won't buy seats... yet the AD doesn't seem to understand his market (yet) regarding hoops. CR could be coming at anytime and if you listen to the Benedict WTIC interview regarding attendance being an important factor, he also needs to step up his game from that angle as I mentioned above.. But I can understand that to many twitter/ internet fans it really doesn't matter.

 

[KhalidShockedTheWorld]

I think conference realignment has disrupted some natural rivalries and now fans have a hard time getting pumped up over a home game against Tulane or East Carolina. When the Big East started, it started with teams that already had rivalries due to regional competition. Back in the late 1970s if I recall correctly, the NCAA had a sort of regional pretournament as opposed to now, when your first round opponent can be in California against a team like Weber State. It's harder for many ADs and especially a team in UConn's situation to schedule competitive games against teams that the fans actually want to see.

Let's also not forget the vast majority of UConn games were not televised until the 1990s. Back in the 1970s very few games would be televised and usually only against opponents like Syracuse. I do recall seeing UConn play on TV in the 1970s as a kid, but my recollection is that it was a local channel. And in those days UConn still played all the Yankee Conference teams, UMass, Maine, Vermont, UNH, URI. It used to mean something to be King of the Yankee Conference and now the thought of feeling good about being in first place in a league with those teams is laughable. Benedict has a very hard job but short term, until the conference realignment thing shakes out, he might have to seek road games at venues like Duke, Kansas or UK just to stay competitive with those teams in the recruiting wars. All UConn needs to do is be competitive in those games and the result does not matter. I would try and schedule 1 or 2 of those every year.

 

[the Blades]

I think conference realignment has disrupted some natural rivalries and now fans have a hard time getting pumped up over a home game against Tulane or East Carolina. When the Big East started, it started with teams that already had rivalries due to regional competition. Back in the late 1970s if I recall correctly, the NCAA had a sort of regional pretournament as opposed to now, when your first round opponent can be in California against a team like Weber State. It's harder for many ADs and especially a team in UConn's situation to schedule competitive games against teams that the fans actually want to see.

Yeah those were the ECAC days, back with guys like Hanson, Whelton and Corny T, it was a precursor for the schools that became the Big East :

" It held the Division I tournaments from 1975 to 1982 to provide independent colleges and universities in the northeastern United States with a means of participating in end-of-season tournaments that resulted in the winning team receiving an automatic bid to the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, similar to the end-of-season tournaments held by conventional athletic conferences"