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2024–25 schedule

It wouldn't be a UR announcement without incorrectly referring to the Gulf Coast Showcase as the Gulf Coast Classic in the tweet graphic.

Edit: You just beat me, mite.
 
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It wouldn't be a UR announcement without incorrectly referring to the Gulf Coast Showcase as the Gulf Coast Classic in the tweet graphic.

Edit: You just beat me, mite.
Tried to see if any of the field was announced, and it sent me to Gulf Shores…
 
Auburn should obviously be a loss on paper. It's possible a couple of the MTE games could be close to 50/50 depending on matchups. Charlotte could be competitive, but they've had a lot of turnover too, so not sure what to expect. We should be clear favorites in all the rest.
 
Auburn should obviously be a loss on paper. It's possible a couple of the MTE games could be close to 50/50 depending on matchups. Charlotte could be competitive, but they've had a lot of turnover too, so not sure what to expect. We should be clear favorites in all the rest.
I was thinking the same - Auburn is the best game and really only resume builder. Charlotte could work out to be a good numbers game, but that would depend a lot on Charlotte - who finished last year 18-12 and at 114. Best case scenario - Charlotte can crack top 100. The rest of the games - not much help. Even the MTE - It does not appear to offer much based on what JOC mentions, here is what they were last year. Maybe we squeak out a top 100 game or two, but nothing that would be earth shattering. It is already shaping up like this OOC is a 1-2 loss schedule IF we expect to have a chance at NCAA bid.

Southern Illinois - 116, 18-13
Eastern Kentucky - 219, 14-14
Louisiana Tech - 99, 19-10
Ball State - 258, 13-16
 
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Auburn - UR80s nailed it! I rode with u (& the Giper) on Auburn all summer and then the Hardt radio report made me doubt it, I'm sorry.

Of course the schedule gives us very little, weak as expected. But I guess worst case was no Auburn and another home Q4 or possibly a 2nd non d1 team. Must win to have longshot chance but that's what u get with so little hard games & majors. @ Charlotte is next hardest (I saw 1 person picked them 3rd in AAC) but still 1 of those MM H&H some here love but offer us little upside. & hope u get real lucky with 1 in the MTE tho those r little upside too, and less than Charlotte.

We got that 6th home game! Rewarding those season tix holders with Mount Olive. Can't have less than 6 when u can get a Mount Olive or Maine.

lol at the Showcase vs. Classic. quick graphic delete and repost coming? may not be worth it.

Couple other observations...

No opening night on 11/4 like most of rest of country. And then our actual opener is Mount Olive 11/6 a D2 school. A dud for us when it's usually an exciting time of the year. We usually count on a good crowd for opener, even for a traditional weak opponent. Comes with lot of giveaways and super cheap tix but better to have big crowd. with Mt Olive on 11/6 that's harder, how much idk hopefully very little change.

Zero schedule quotes in press release, as speculated. Nor in JOC article maybe he can secure something enlightening later.
 
Home schedule

Mount Olive Wed 11/6
Marist Sat 11/9
Maine Wed 11/20
Belmont Sat 12/14
VMI Sat 12/21
FGCU Sat 12/28
 
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On Mount Olive's site, it says the Wilmington game and our game are exhibitions. Same for their ECU game.
 
On Mount Olive's site, it says the Wilmington game and our game are exhibitions. Same for their ECU game.
They're aiming high, just using some D1 programs as practice partners for the real talent they'll face in D2.
 
I’m hopeful we steal a win at Auburn and basically run the rest of the OOC because we play at Dayton, at VCU and can’t rely on 15 league wins again.

If we do run the OOC maybe it will turn into genius scheduling to let team gel and win vs lesser competition and grab the only big game while not taking any others - element of mystery on how good the team is, that type of thing (ie don’t lose to the 11th place ACC team.) This plan of course requires 13 wins.
 
Yeah, I've seen this before where the D-II/D-III school calls it an exhibition but the D-I team has it as a regular game (though obviously not counting toward NET).
 
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I have lived within 20 miles of Mount Olive since 1983 and this is the first I knew that even had a basketball team.
They were pretty good at baseball in the past, however.
 
a little soft, but great that we got the Auburn game.
unusually long 11 day break not during finals between games 8 & 9 (11/27 - 12/8).
 
This schedule confirms our suspicions and sadly is not very good at all. I give it a C-/D+. @Charlotte and @Auburn are the only reasons why its not an F.

Trying to be a bit more optimistic, we can hope for the following breakdown of NET games:

Q1 - @ Auburn
Q2 - @Charlotte, 1 MTE
Q3 - Belmont, @ William & Mary (should be much better this year), 2 MTE games depending on match up
Q4 - Marist, @ Bucknell, Maine, VMI, FGCU

So looking at Q1 games we are for sure getting one @Auburn. As far as Q2 we may get 2 chances if we're lucky, assuming Charlotte does as well as they were predicted in AAC and maybe 1 given a matchup in Gulf Coast Showcase, but likely 1 Q2 game.

Belmont should be Q3 for us and I think William and Mary will surprise and be a better game this year than expected, but an improvement compared to last year may still put them in Q4 category under their first year with a new coach. Our other 2 MTE's will be Q3 games or maybe a Q4. Marist, @ Bucknell, Maine, VMI, FGCU should all be Q4s.

The way I see it, best case scenario:
Q1 - 1 game
Q2 - 2 games
Q3 - 4 games
Q4 - 5 games

Worst case scenario
Q1 - 1 game
Q2 - 0 games
Q3 - 3 games
Q4 - 8 games
 
This schedule confirms our suspicions and sadly is not very good at all. I give it a C-/D+. @Charlotte and @Auburn are the only reasons why its not an F.

Trying to be a bit more optimistic, we can hope for the following breakdown of NET games:

Q1 - @ Auburn
Q2 - @Charlotte, 1 MTE
Q3 - Belmont, @ William & Mary (should be much better this year), 2 MTE games depending on match up
Q4 - Marist, @ Bucknell, Maine, VMI, FGCU

So looking at Q1 games we are for sure getting one @Auburn. As far as Q2 we may get 2 chances if we're lucky, assuming Charlotte does as well as they were predicted in AAC and maybe 1 given a matchup in Gulf Coast Showcase, but likely 1 Q2 game.

Belmont should be Q3 for us and I think William and Mary will surprise and be a better game this year than expected, but an improvement compared to last year may still put them in Q4 category under their first year with a new coach. Our other 2 MTE's will be Q3 games or maybe a Q4. Marist, @ Bucknell, Maine, VMI, FGCU should all be Q4s.

The way I see it, best case scenario:
Q1 - 1 game
Q2 - 2 games
Q3 - 4 games
Q4 - 5 games

Worst case scenario
Q1 - 1 game
Q2 - 0 games
Q3 - 3 games
Q4 - 8 games
Anything below 76 NET at home is Q3 I think.

Belmont was 117 last year, may be 191 this year in some predictions, so…

Away 136 NET is Q3…
 
This schedule confirms our suspicions and sadly is not very good at all. I give it a C-/D+. @Charlotte and @Auburn are the only reasons why its not an F.

Trying to be a bit more optimistic, we can hope for the following breakdown of NET games:

Q1 - @ Auburn
Q2 - @Charlotte, 1 MTE
Q3 - Belmont, @ William & Mary (should be much better this year), 2 MTE games depending on match up
Q4 - Marist, @ Bucknell, Maine, VMI, FGCU

So looking at Q1 games we are for sure getting one @Auburn. As far as Q2 we may get 2 chances if we're lucky, assuming Charlotte does as well as they were predicted in AAC and maybe 1 given a matchup in Gulf Coast Showcase, but likely 1 Q2 game.

Belmont should be Q3 for us and I think William and Mary will surprise and be a better game this year than expected, but an improvement compared to last year may still put them in Q4 category under their first year with a new coach. Our other 2 MTE's will be Q3 games or maybe a Q4. Marist, @ Bucknell, Maine, VMI, FGCU should all be Q4s.

The way I see it, best case scenario:
Q1 - 1 game
Q2 - 2 games
Q3 - 4 games
Q4 - 5 games

Worst case scenario
Q1 - 1 game
Q2 - 0 games
Q3 - 3 games
Q4 - 8 games
Anything below 76 NET (to 160) at home is Q3 I think.

Belmont was 117 last year, may be 191 this year in some predictions, so…
 
Obviously knew about the Weir connection for FGCU (though he's since moved on to Kennesaw), but I did not realize GW III's brother plays for FGCU. There's a third brother who is a 2026 PG and seemingly reasonably well regarded. FGCU has offered him.

 
Well, it is what we expected. Is the worst OOC schedule ever under Mooney.

We need everything to be damn near perfect to put us in consideration for an at large, so shooting ourselves in the foot with a non-competitive OOC schedule shouldn't sit well with any Spider fan.
 
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from that site the A10 rankings are:
1) ?
2) ?
3) ?
4) St Joe's - #77 overall
5) LUC - #87
6) GMU - #92
7) Duquesne - #105
8) UMass - #118

1, 2 & 3 will be SLU, VCU and Dayton so best case we're projected #9 in conference.
so are we totally delusional with our outlook and worrying about how our schedule sets us up for an at-large bid?

I do think we're better than 9th. nobody picked us to win the league last year either. that's why they play the games.
 
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1, 2 & 3 will be SLU, VCU and Dayton so best case we're projected #9 in conference.
so are we totally delusional with our outlook and worrying about how our schedule sets us up for an at-large bid?

I do think we're better than 9th. nobody picked us to win the league last year either. that's why they play the games.

of course we could be delusional. fwiw Mooney also tells us we're "one of the top basketball programs in the nation". But I think we should go after a real national schedule no matter what. As others have said in portal era now u don't always know what u have, u can't squander that on a weak ooc if u r even better than expected. and if u it's too much 1 year that's ok, it helps the program visibilty, the players like it, the fans like it (most of them). a school like Richmond should never have this year's schedule.

I like looking at predictions they have some value imo, eve tho ultimately every year teams make a big jump up or down like us.
 
schedules aren't all complete, but I took what was available so far on D1docket ... excluding non-D1 games and excluding 2nd and 3rd games in MTEs if they're unknown. think they use Torvik rankings but they change from day to day for some reason. averaged the A10 ooc opponent's ranking.

1) Dayton 150
2) Duquesne 151
3) SLU 165
4) UMass 180
5) SJU 183
6) GMU 183
7) VCU 186
8) LaSalle 191
9) URI 195
10) UR 198
11) LUC 208
12) Fordham 210
13) Davidson 230
14) SBU 233
15) GW 270

surprisingly we're not far from the average A10 schedule.
 
Hopefully when Green City opens there will be more opportunities to play more marquee opponents. Just think there's little appetite from P4 schools to do anything other than a pay game with us.
 
schedules aren't all complete, but I took what was available so far on D1docket ... excluding non-D1 games and excluding 2nd and 3rd games in MTEs if they're unknown. think they use Torvik rankings but they change from day to day for some reason. averaged the A10 ooc opponent's ranking.

1) Dayton 150
2) Duquesne 151
3) SLU 165
4) UMass 180
5) SJU 183
6) GMU 183
7) VCU 186
8) LaSalle 191
9) URI 195
10) UR 198
11) LUC 208
12) Fordham 210
13) Davidson 230
14) SBU 233
15) GW 270

surprisingly we're not far from the average A10 schedule.
I’d think that the 2nd and 3rd MTE games would often be close to the best games on many teams’ schedules? So would seem a significant missing data point at this point and one which will likely widen the gap between UR and the teams listed above, as well as narrow it with those below. Our 2nd /3rd games won’t move the needle.
 
Hopefully when Green City opens there will be more opportunities to play more marquee opponents. Just think there's little appetite from P4 schools to do anything other than a pay game with us.
If P4 schools are going to be less willing to play us - then should UR focus on playing the numbers game, and trying to schedule a lot of good (not great) mid-major games. Which might be easier to get (still not a given), but more achievable. The only issue with this - it will be a gamble because expect good mid-major teams, like ourselves, to have a good year, but then lose players to the portal, graduation, etc - and have to reload - and you can't be guaranteed they will get a good number. But what if we just targeted as many non P4/P5 teams from the 75-125 NET rankings. You would be looking at schools like the following from last year.

Samford - 74
UC Irvine - 77
Yale - 83
Cornell - 95
Charleston - 97
Vermont - 102
Santa Clara - 105
Morehead St - 106
Akron - 108
UNI - 109
High Point - 110
Western Carolina - 111
Hofstra 112

Does scheduling in this pocket - especially with some of these being road games get you likely a lot of Quad 2 games, and maybe sneak in a Quad 1 game here and there (if a road game team is 75 or better).
 
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