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2020-2021 Non-Conf Schedule

As I critic of last years schedule being too weak, and it was, I will say I like this year's so far as currently constructed. But that assumes we will get a strong neutral site game. 9legs is looking at the top, which is still the most important, but this year much stronger overall due to depth. Last year we had little depth, I mean Vandy was our 4th hardest game and they were a 20+ loss team. & right now we only have 2 "bad" games. Last year we played 7 home, 3 road, 3 neutral. This year looking like 7 home, 5 road, 1 neutral, or who knows 6/5/2 if we go for 2nd neutral say at the DC venue again. That structure right there helps with the quads. And 2 of 3 road games last year weren't very good at all. Plus ODU should be a more typical ODU team this year. CSU is a sneaky tough game and they may be our 5th or 6th toughest this year if we add a good neutral site game.

But u can make argument wisc, aub, bama is better than KY, Cincy, No Iowa. Mainly because there is some worry KY and Cincy will not meet their typical performance. Wisco going on to win B10, the importance of that win cannot be overstated.

Key will be the last 4 games, we can basically lock in 2 of those as "bad" home buy games. If we hold schedule to just 4 bad games that right there helps some. They've stated they'd like a good neutral site game - its basically required these days for a mid with ncaa aspirations - so get that and the last one is hopefully middle tier, it sounds like it will be another home game, but maybe they work out 2 neutral who knows.

I think the A10 can have similar league strength/ranking. Not completely sure yet but that's my feeling. Of course it will be missing a 1 seed type team like UD. But why can't we help carry the league status and be a top 25 fixture all year.
 


Home
Dec. 2: Northern Iowa - 48 (Q2a)
Nov. 18: ODU - 173 (Q4)
Nov. 13: Hartford (Bluegrass Showcase) - 246 (Q4)
Nov. 15: Detroit Mercy (Bluegrass Showcase) - 307 (Q4)

Away
Nov. 23: Kentucky (Bluegrass Showcase) - 21 (Q1a)
Dec. 22?: Cincinnati - 51 (Q1b)
Dec. 5: Colorado State - 106 (Q2b)
Vanderbilt - 142 (Q3)
Charleston - 152 (Q3)
 
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32counter said:
@ BC date?
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Have not seen any indication that we're playing them this year.

Was supposed to be a three-game deal, so there should be one left, but I don't know the years on it...we didn't meet in 2018, for example, so maybe 2020 is another off-year and we finish things up in 2021.
 
SFspidur said:
Have not seen any indication that we're playing them this year.

Was supposed to be a three-game deal, so there should be one left, but I don't know the years on it...we didn't meet in 2018, for example, so maybe 2020 is another off-year and we finish things up in 2021.
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We definitely have 1 BC game left, at least how it was reported, but I don't expect it this year. I raised the BC game as a possibility before some of the other games on schedule came out. But with 5 true road games a 6th is unlikely according to Mooney. Possible if we're stuck and BC has opening and willing to do it. But 2021 gotta be the expectation as of now.
 
With Covid right now and the possibility of playing games in front of empty arenas or half filled arenas, their is a true potential advantage of loading on away games this year. You aren't getting gate revenue from your home games and so much less of a hostile environment to go into.

Plus, we have a team that should be constructed to win on the road. They won a lot on the road last year, so I think we should try and get the resume bonus of away games this year.
 
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97spiderfan said:
With Covid right now and the possibility of playing games in front of empty arenas or half filled arenas, their is a true potential advantage of loading on away games this year. You aren't getting gate revenue from your home games and so much less of a hostile environment to go into.

Plus, we have a team that should be constructed to win on the road. They won a lot on the road last year, so I think we should try and get the resume bonus of away games this year.
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All college games are being played at Disney World this year, didn't you hear?
 
https://kentuckysportsradio.com/bas...1-opponents-right-now-non-conference-edition/

vs. Richmond (November 23rd, Rupp Arena, Lexington)

Admittedly, Richmond is the real “game against a mid-major” that Kentucky shouldn’t be sleeping on. But with all the preseason hype the Spiders have received, I doubt John Calipari will have to motivate his team too much coming into this one.

That’s because Richmond is college basketball’s off-season mid-major darling, a team that many believe could have a similar season as Dayton did last year. The Spiders finished 24-7 overall last season, which included wins over Wisconsin (which ended up splitting the Big Ten regular season title), Vanderbilt and Boston College, and return all five starters off last year’s team. That includes a legitimately dynamic backcourt of Blake Francis, Jacob Gilyard and Nick Sherod, who all averaged double-figures. Big guy Grant Golden is a rock down low, and averaged 12 and six in 2019-2020.

Yes, the conference Richmond in isn’t great. But the Spiders are a legitimately good team, and will likely come to Rupp Arena ranked in the Top 25.
 
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Bucknell was not good last year...can they bounce back?




Home
Dec. 2: Northern Iowa - 48 (Q2a)
Nov. 18: ODU - 173 (Q4)
Dec. 20: Bucknell - 239 (Q4)
Nov. 13: Hartford (Bluegrass Showcase) - 246 (Q4)
Nov. 15: Detroit Mercy (Bluegrass Showcase) - 307 (Q4)

Away
Nov. 23: Kentucky (Bluegrass Showcase) - 21 (Q1a)
Dec. 22: Cincinnati - 51 (Q1b)
Dec. 5: Colorado State - 106 (Q2b)
??: Vanderbilt - 142 (Q3)
??: Charleston - 152 (Q3)
 
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SFspidur said:
Home schedule looking awfully weak, especially since you know there’s still a home opener Q4 game to be revealed.
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Well, we didn't even have anything close to a Quad 2 last season.

EZUVcI2WsAEC6mm
"It's an improvement."
 
The road schedule to me is very, very interesting. Two chances for high quality road wins and 3 other good games. Doing well in these games will obviously bode well for us. But there is some real risk with this schedule. The road games are all also very "losable". If we go like 1-4 against that slate, there isn't enough meat on the bone in the home schedule. Our OOC performance (as opposed to the schedule itself) isn't going to look too good if we are 1-4 or even 2-3 OOC road. 3-2 seems like a minimum in the road OOC to feel real good and that looks to be far from a sure thing. .
 
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UNI game is terrific.

At least last year we had a few Q3 games. They're not much better than Q4 for the résumé numbers, but Vandy and BC were at least P5 teams to help combat that bias.

The schedule isn't done yet, but with 5 home games already known and a 6th home opener patsy yet to be revealed, it's not a great slate for Spider fans.
 
Oh, I agree - for the fans at the RC, it's kind of a dud. Add to that, Dayton and SLU are both presumably road games.

But honestly, how many "good" OOC home games do we really get? Vermont? Wake in 2016-17? Our typical home schedule is mostly low Q3 and Q4 games.

It's been an uphill battle to get good teams to come here. It appears we're at least making the effort.
 
SFspidur said:
UNI game is terrific.

At least last year we had a few Q3 games. They're not much better than Q4 for the résumé numbers, but Vandy and BC were at least P5 teams to help combat that bias.

The schedule isn't done yet, but with 5 home games already known and a 6th home opener patsy yet to be revealed, it's not a great slate for Spider fans.
Click to expand...

Not a great home schedule (the road schedule is fantastic), but that is the least of my worries right now.

1. Will there even be basketball?
2. If so, will we have a full season?
3. If so, how many fans will be allowed to go?
4. If all are allowed (doubtful at this point), how many would want to go?
 
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this board complained relentlessly about last year's schedule, yet by most accounts we were in even with that Radford loss.
take care of business with Radford and we were in easily.

I know it's fun to play a ton of highly ranked teams. it's not necessarily smart though. play too many teams you could lose to and you could lose too many games. I think this schedule so far is substantially tougher than last year without being too tough. it works.
 
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PhillySpider said:
The road schedule to me is very, very interesting. Two chances for high quality road wins and 3 other good games. Doing well in these games will obviously bode well for us. But there is some real risk with this schedule. The road games are all also very "losable". If we go like 1-4 against that slate, there isn't enough meat on the bone in the home schedule. Our OOC performance (as opposed to the schedule itself) isn't going to look too good if we are 1-4 or even 2-3 OOC road. 3-2 seems like a minimum in the road OOC to feel real good and that looks to be far from a sure thing. .
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The home schedule rarely has enough meat on the bone regardless. Road/neutral is where u earn your way in. Home is for not ruining that. Until we can prove to get strong home OOC, if ever, you have to take on risk especially with our kind of team. So we're doing that. In fact we're still short 1 good neutral game minimum. While Bucknell is traditionally not as weak as they were last year we have to assume its Q4 again. & no doubt we'll have a patsy as SF noted, but hopefully a strong neutral game opportunity is pending and for the last game who knows, hopefully at least a Q3 home or better. But I would look to add a 2nd neutral game honestly, especially w fans at home unknown.

But regarding road slate remember we are going for highest seed ever, our best team ever, so you have to take chances. Never a sure thing but bring it on for this team, just the way it is to meet that kind of expectation anyway. The greater risk would be playing it too conservative.

Plus I think we perform very well against the road schedule, we're really good let's show everybody we're really good. If u r thinking 1-4 or 2-3 vs. the currently announced road teams then I'm even more confident since last year u saw us coming up short in making NCAA and we were in, certainly as of Friday the 13th.
 
ChoppinBroccoli said:
Oh, I agree - for the fans at the RC, it's kind of a dud. Add to that, Dayton and SLU are both presumably road games.

But honestly, how many "good" OOC home games do we really get? Vermont? Wake in 2016-17? Our typical home schedule is mostly low Q3 and Q4 games.

It's been an uphill battle to get good teams to come here. It appears we're at least making the effort.
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While I'm not local to Richmond, I think the Vandy and BC games last year were great for fans. While they weren't good teams, they were "big time names" that you feel good about playing (and beating) even when they're only Q3.

I know BC was part of the football buyout and we're playing the back end of the Vandy deal on the road this year, but I'd be fine with doing more of those types of games. I know, easier said than done. At least bring back the Wake series.
 
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VT4700 said:
Not a great home schedule (the road schedule is fantastic), but that is the least of my worries right now.

1. Will there even be basketball?
2. If so, will we have a full season?
3. If so, how many fans will be allowed to go?
4. If all are allowed (doubtful at this point), how many would want to go?
Click to expand...

Out of our control but we still have to plan & schedule as if we'll have full schedule. If we waited 10 years to have this kind of team in back to back years and there is not much to show for it....well another reason to pump the brakes on this mooney extension. Because we'd have possibly the most snakebit coach out there.
 
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spiderman said:
this board complained relentlessly about last year's schedule, yet by most accounts we were in even with that Radford loss.
take care of business with Radford and we were in easily.

I know it's fun to play a ton of highly ranked teams. it's not necessarily smart though. play too many teams you could lose to and you could lose too many games. I think this schedule so far is substantially tougher than last year without being too tough. it works.
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I agree although I think the counterpoint is with the record they had last year, there shouldn’t have been that close to the bubble that they were FFO/LFI. That’s a reflection of the schedule being pretty weak. I still think it was a fine schedule for a team coming off back to back 20-loss seasons but I think this year should reflect their readiness for something highly challenging.
 
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MrTbone said:
I agree although I think the counterpoint is with the record they had last year, there shouldn’t have been that close to the bubble that they were FFO/LFI. That’s a reflection of the schedule being pretty weak. I still think it was a fine schedule for a team coming off back to back 20-loss seasons but I think this year should reflect their readiness for something highly challenging.
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This. We should not have been sweating it at 24-7 and 2nd place in the conference. It's all moot now.
 
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SFspidur said:
While I'm not local to Richmond, I think the Vandy and BC games last year were great for fans. While they weren't good teams, they were "big time names" that you feel good about playing (and beating) even when they're only Q3.

I know BC was part of the football buyout and we're playing the back end of the Vandy deal on the road this year, but I'd be fine with doing more of those types of games. I know, easier said than done. At least bring back the Wake series.
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I think if we can sustain some success over the next couple of years, it should get a little bit easier to get bigger names to the RC.
 
MrTbone said:
I agree although I think the counterpoint is with the record they had last year, there shouldn’t have been that close to the bubble that they were FFO/LFI. That’s a reflection of the schedule being pretty weak. I still think it was a fine schedule for a team coming off back to back 20-loss seasons but I think this year should reflect their readiness for something highly challenging.
Click to expand...

You can say with a harder schedule, we wouldn't have been near the bubble at 24-7, but when you break down our 10-3 OOC record, and also look at how we did in our 18 IC games, it is very fair to say we would have likely lost a few more games had we played a few more tough teams, and therefore not been 24-7 doing it that way. You can only afford so many losses now as a mid major, and you need a whole lot of wins, but you cannot just schedule all cupcakes, so it is more about scheduling smart than scheduling hard. I think we had a very smart schedule last year, and it looks like we have a very smart one this year.
 
They don’t have to be “tough” teams. They can simply be “not terrible” teams.

If we’re as good as we think we are, we shouldn’t have much trouble with even decent teams. All I ask is that we cut down on the 225+ NET teams. We should beat teams in the ~150 range like a drum just the same.

I liked the Charleston game last year even though we knew they’d be down some. I like the ODU games.

Maybe Bucknell will be improved this year, but we shouldn’t be scheduling more 200+ teams than the home opener and the ones forced on us by tourneys.
 
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SFspidur said:
They don’t have to be “tough” teams. They can simply be “not terrible” teams.

If we’re as good as we think we are, we shouldn’t have much trouble with even decent teams. All I ask is that we cut down on the 225+ NET teams. We should beat teams in the ~150 range like a drum just the same.

I liked the Charleston game last year even though we knew they’d be down some. I like the ODU games.

Maybe Bucknell will be improved this year, but we shouldn’t be scheduling more 200+ teams than the home opener and the ones forced on us by tourneys.
Click to expand...

Very fair point, and I pretty much agree. I would say out of the 13 OOC games, if we end up with four at 200 plus, that's pretty good.
 
Bucknell is all the way down at 292 in Bart Torvik. I’d expect they end up better than that but one ranking for reference. We’re at 30.
 
ChoppinBroccoli said:
I think if we can sustain some success over the next couple of years, it should get a little bit easier to get bigger names to the RC.
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VCU had sustained success for nearly a decade and they could still only get big names to play them at home due to the contract requirements of coaches that left for bigger schools. Don't know why we think it would be any different for us after just a couple years deep on a return to prominence.
 
They've had UVA several times.

What they've done well with is home-and-homes with other solid teams in the same situation as us and them, like our Northern Iowa deal. VCU had one with UNI, they did one with Wichita State, they did one with Middle Tennessee back when they were really solid, they of course play ODU every year.

They also got teams like Hofstra, Charleston, and North Texas to visit when they were having good years.
 
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The more I look, the more interesting the schedule is to me. Not saying better or worse, but very interesting.

Last years OOC had only 3 true road games and two of those were Hampton and ODU (other was Bama). A very predictable 2-1 in those but Bama was not great. This years road schedule looks vastly different. At least 5 true road games and no dead weight. UK and Cincy both better than Bama last year and 3 other road games are better than either of last years. So more actual road games and better games for sure on that part of the schedule.

When it comes to "glamour games" (which I will loosely define as P-6 games) we had 5 last year while this year we actually only have 2 P-6 games but I will include Cincy as a glamour game. Last year we got two of them at home, 1 road and 2 neutral. This year we are on the road for all three. So last year we had three shots for P6 wins home or neutral and this year a big zilch. So fewer chances for glamour wins not only in number of games (down from 5 to 3) but locations (3 home/neutral to 0).

That's some meaningful changes The rest of the schedule was even more interesting. The rest of last years schedule outside of what was discussed above was a collection of 5 awful home games - -"highlighted" by Charleston and including the thoroughly mediocre, the bad, and the terrible. My sense was that this part of the schedule was improved. Maybe but not really I'd say. Outside of Northern Iowa, its the same slop - different names, but not great teams. Norther Iowa is certainly better than any of these "other" games we had last year, but if you look at that game as taking the place of say a Neutral game with Wisco or Auburn or even a home game with BC (for which we have no comparable games this year and it probably a lesser game.

So, net net, I think all we have really done in essence is swapped two good neutral games (Wisco and Auburn) for "really good" (Kentucky) and "good" (CSU) road games (and call Cincy and Bama road games a push and N Iowa is better than BC as a home game, but only in algorithms - - BC and the ACC has more name value and i suspect more "Committee value"). That's a slightly harder schedule for sure even if it has fewer chances for marquee wins. And we'll see what comes with the rest of the schedule, but right now, I think it leaves us in the same place as last year - - needing to win a LOT of games to be in the discussion. Last year, we won all the ones we should plus Wisco and didn't lose any we shouldn't (except Radford) and we really took care of business in conference. With the likelihood of a real marquee win like Wisco much less this year (again, fewer tries and all on the road) we won't be in position to blow many. In fact, without the name brand win against a P6 conference champion, we better not lose anything that even looks remotely like Radford! And we will need to get 14-15 conference wins again for sure. Obviously we can, but I don't know that we have done much schedule wise to change our position. Hopefully what we do WITH the schedule can be a little better! Beat a Cincy or UK (and go 3-2 or 4-1 OOC road), eliminate any Radford like losses and win the A-10 at 15-3 probably leaves us a solid Top 25 team and a Top 6 seed. But fail on one of those and I think we are in 8-10 range, fail on 2 out of three and we are bubble babies and the A-10 tourney has meaning and fail on all three and we are looking at having to win the A-10 tourney.
 
We don't know yet who we will be matched up with in the A-10 for home-and-homes with yet, right? I'm guessing we'll see a shift there, maybe something like VCU, GMU, Davidson, SLU and GW. Or even swap out one of GW/GMU and give us Dayton. It needs to happen. The A1-0 would be foolish not to do it.
 
Philly yes we need to keep in mind u r comparing 10 games to 13. Of those last 3 I fully expect another Q4 home game but the other two have much higher hopes including a Q1 neutral game. Those 2 will be important.

From quad perspective it will be improved ooc. Last year 3/0/5/5. This year maybe 3/2/4/4. Odu on paper is q4 but I expect they’ll be q3 for example. Add in better a10 schedule as legger points out & we improve it even more.

Also we r doomed if BC has more “committee value” than UNI. I respect BC my dad went there but it’s not really close. BC hasn’t been good in a while. Why even have a committee if they r THAT biased.
 
SFspidur said:
They've had UVA several times.

What they've done well with is home-and-homes with other solid teams in the same situation as us and them, like our Northern Iowa deal. VCU had one with UNI, they did one with Wichita State, they did one with Middle Tennessee back when they were really solid, they of course play ODU every year.

They also got teams like Hofstra, Charleston, and North Texas to visit when they were having good years.
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They're both large state schools
 
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