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2020-2021 Non-Conf Schedule

Nice report by UK, something I'd like us to do a little more of. Good comments on schedule. Last year frankly we got saved by winning the Wisco game & fact they outperformed expectations, it was a feather in the cap game, a win that kept improving when they won the B10. Without that we were Up the Creek like Tim Matheson. We gave ourselves really just the 1 shot and thankfully we won it but imo that wasn't fair for a team with ncaa expectations. And we still had to go & win about 24 other games. Too risky, gotta give yourself a few more shots like SF said. And now we're going for best seed ever, gotta factor that in and schedule even better. Takes marquee wins. UK is great, never played them, historic program etc. Winnable game. UK on road is harder but I loved it as a buy game assuming we'd get some shots at neutral MTE games as part of separate tourney. Maybe we get 1 at this unknown MSG game but I'm skeptical it's a 2 game thing. Yes we have other games, hopefully 13 ooc not 11 if we stupidly go to 20 a10 games. But our staff does not get benefit of the doubt to fill these correctly based on past and recently the Lunardi bs.

Some games like CSU, Vandy, being on road will help the underlying numbers. The mid tier games are ok, but they don't move the needle. No doubt we deserved to be in this past season, but I don't think anyone says that without Wisco. UK, 2 dogs w fleas to get the road game, 1-2 likely regional dogs like normal, CSU, Vandy, ODU, CofC (I expect way down), that's only leaving maybe 4 games. Heck I still think BC is quite possible (it was a 3 game series) and we are enamored with playing the DC game at Mystics arena as a Xmas special (I actually dig it, I attended both and it's like having a personal secret game to watch), so now u r getting bare bones left to schedule. We'd need MSG to be 2 real quality games or 1 and have another one they're planning on.

The mid tier games r actually solid (if the top tier is in place), some low tier always expected but we should be trying to minimize that this year more than normal, the top tier is what we've lacked. The best way to get those is thru a strong 8 team MTE but we just watch fellow A10 teams pull off instead of us. The lack of that kind of MTE adds stress to schedule but that's where we are. It can be done tho no excuses. A matter of just adding a couple more good OOC games. Last year we were short too and they threw us Radford.
 
Northern Iowa was 25-6 last year. They return their 3 leading scorers from last season, but graduate 2 starters from last year's team. Seems like a strong pick-up to me.
 
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Final top 25 polls last year: Richmond 6 votes in the AP, Northern Iowa 4 votes in the coaches poll.

Last season they won at no. 24 Colorado, and lost at West Va. by 5. Good game for next season and the following season. Who gets credit: Jenkins, Lunardi, or someone else?
 
Nice add...not a P6, but a very solid program most years. We had a nice home-and-home against them about five years ago. They narrowly won the first game in a year they got as high as #10 and were a 5-seed, and then we easily won the following year when they were down a little but still got the MVC auto bid and upset Texas in the first round. They also knocked off #1 UNC in Cedar Falls a couple weeks before they faced us.
 
This is a very good get. Clearly, this was two teams in a similar spot marrying up. Both teams looking to enhance their at-large with good P6 games but weren't able to find any to their liking so settled for a fellow mid-major fringe Top 25 kinda team. Its a good game for both teams, but especially UNI I think because it should be a Tier 1 road game for them which means a win would REALLY help and a loss won't really do any harm. Still a good game for us, but a win likely wont do quite as much for us and a loss at home would hurt a little. Of course, being at home should certainly enhance the likelihood we win.

All things considered I think we all agree this is a good game to get!
 
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So it looks like here's where we stand:

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

Away
Nov. 23: Kentucky (UK event) - 21 (Q1a)
Dec. 5: Colorado State - 106 (Q2b)
Vanderbilt - 142 (Q3)
Charleston - 152 (Q3)

Presuming an 18-game A-10 schedule and a 13-game OOC schedule, that leaves five more OOC slots. MSG rumor still out there, and we'll have a dog for a home opener.

Edit: Updated with this year's NET and corresponding quads.
Edit 2: Updated with confirmed/rumored dates.
 
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I'd be looking at some other top-25 teams from this year who graduated or lost a few key guys to the draft. Name teams that you know will be there in the end but may be starting a bunch of (admittedly very good) freshmen. Kentucky will sort of fit this bill. I'd look for another like them. Not sure what Duke has coming back, but go down there and face them in November. Or to UNC, which is supposed to be better this year. Etc.
 
I like that we play Northern Iowa at home this year. They have a good home court advantage and a really solid squad. It does us little good to go out there and lose (yeah, it won't hurt us, but certainly won't help us) and think are chances of winning this game are much greater at home. We can go out there next year and lose to them, when we are rebuilding.
 
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The UK tourney is confirmed for only 2 other home games. So much better than 3. Hopefully the 2nd game is not as bad as Detroit. This supposed neutral site game(s) at MSG will be key. We need a strong neutral site opportunity. Hopefully the A10 figures out the 18 vs. 20 game schedule soon, dragging that past mid-May isn't feasible for teams trying to schedule. Think it will stay at 18 games tho a potential shortened year due to Covid may be a factor the other way.
 
Any chance Detroit or Hartford is the home opener?
Unlikely. The new MTE rules require that all three games be played within 10 days, so with us being at UK on 11/23, the earliest we could host one of those two would be 11/13. We should have at least one game scheduled prior to that window.
 
And here's our press release...hosting Hartford on November 17.

https://richmondspiders.com/news/20...mercy-and-hartford-in-bluegrass-showcase.aspx

Edit: Actually, the announced dates don't add up. Our press release says we host Hartford on 11/15 and Detroit on 11/17. Detroit's press release says we host them 11/15.

Edit 2: Okay, they fixed the press release. Hartford on 11/13 and Detroit on 11/15. And here's the full schedule for the showcase from Gazelle:

http://www.gazellegroup.com/main/bluegrassshowcase/

So here's what I've got for OOC games so far...

Home
Dec. 2: Northern Iowa - 48 (Q2a)
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. 5: Colorado State - 106 (Q2b)
Vanderbilt - 142 (Q3)
Charleston - 152 (Q3)
 
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Good work SF. Bart Torvik has 2020-21 ratings out and he sees Detroit making a pretty good jump up to 212 with what they have returning. While Hartford goes down to 270. Both still quad 4, but I guess detroit could maybe be what you'd call Quad 4a. And torvik could be way off but I've looked at him for years and like what he does. His ncaa bracketology had Richmond IN, not even among last 4 in. For next year we're at 32 preseason. FWIW.

Enough with the Gazelle Group tho. Is Rick Giles on our payroll too? Sort of is already being Mooney's agent. We pigeon hole ourselves to these gazelle tourneys only missing out on the better ones. Plus now that UK is gazelle group run I'm more skeptical of the MSG thing b/c I thought that could be a Gazelle deal. They are often tied to barclays or MSG and doubt we r in 2 of theirs, even if it's a single game as part of doubleheader & not a non exempt event. Will still hold out some hope for the Butler game @ MSG.
 
Vandy and Charleston could get into the top 135 at the end of the year for quad 2, and ODU could end top 160 for quad 3. I think there's a good chance the other five games so far end up where they finished this year. Easier said than done, but hopefully we get another quad one on there, and maybe a neutral quad 2 as well.
 
Not super optimistic about Vandy being better. Nesmith is gone (yes I know he missed basically the whole SEC schedule this year) and looks like Lee is as well.

Charleston likely to be down as well with Riller gone.
 
Kentucky and Northern Iowa are nice, but right now we need a whole lot more meat on this bone to even get to our OOC schedule last year which was at best, ok for the type of team we ended up having. We need a couple strong Quad 1 or 2 away games to round this baby out.
 
Not super optimistic about Vandy being better. Nesmith is gone (yes I know he missed basically the whole SEC schedule this year) and looks like Lee is as well.

Charleston likely to be down as well with Riller gone.

If Saban Lee comes back, hard to know but my guess is he does, I do expect Vandy to be better. Also have a pretty good transfer from notre dame eligible next year. Hard to go down from being one of the worst P6 out there. But I see quad 2...if Lee is back, if not then yikes. ODU should be better too. I tend to agree with VT on those 2, but I see virtually no chance for Charleston. Very likely down, not expecting better than middle of pack CAA again. Also while UK reloads every year right now they are losing more than ever before too. Will be a big time game regardless but smart to be wary they'll not be quite as strong. We know some more bottom dwellers will be added the top end still needs the most attention.
 
Last season our OOC by Quad was 3-0-5-5
Dayton was 3-2-3-5 and appeared to be a good schedule.
What if this season we were 2-4-3-4? How would that be judged?
 
He signed with an agency that doesn't appear to have any NCAA-certified agents. If that's the case, he's done.

https://247sports.com/college/vande...-with-agent-will-stay-in-NBA-Draft-146718540/

damn u SF killing my optimism. Little surprised thought more likely to be back. Vandy was finally starting to play better end of year after adjusting to loss of Nesmith so thought they had promise w basically all returning besides of course Nesmith. My expectations decrease without Lee. They only had a higher NET than 3 P6 teams last year - BC, Northwestern and Nebraska.
 
Vandy has a history of guys leaving early who shouldn't have.
 
Last season our OOC by Quad was 3-0-5-5
Dayton was 3-2-3-5 and appeared to be a good schedule.
What if this season we were 2-4-3-4? How would that be judged?
I'd be OK with that. That would mean one more Quad 1 game to add to our schedule and two more Quad 2 games. I think that gets us in good enough shape if we handle our business.
 
I'd be OK with that. That would mean one more Quad 1 game to add to our schedule and two more Quad 2 games. I think that gets us in good enough shape if we handle our business.

I'd sign up for Dayton too. They were 34 non conf SOS. They did have a good 3 game MTE that kills us regularly. But they had 7 games better than our 3rd best OOC game (and 2nd win)...which was miserable Vandy. UD had Kansas, Va tech, Georgia, Colorado, St. Mary's and two other solid mids in Indiana St. and North Texas.

We have long way to go. Last year too weak and we needed an elite W/L, 2nd in A10, marquee Wisc outperforming expectations & while we were IN it was still the bubble. A Davidson loss in quarters would have petrified us. I think we're trending better this year, but that is factoring we actually add a couple more good games which is highly presumptuous given the Lunardi blueprint.

We should be targeting a top 50ish non conf sos, it's the only way to our highest seed ever.
 
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