Looks like the 'Cats will be playing a home game vs. Creighton in next season's Gavitt Games matchup.
Gavitt Games Matchup
- Thread starter Cat Fan in Buckeye Land
- Start date
That's a quality game. Would be a good win for NU.
Creighton's losing a lot this offseason but nearly always has a quality roster. Hard to see this being anything but a good game for the resume.
U of I to play DePaul for first time in 50 years. Illinois really wonders why they have trouble with the Chicago market????
Try 60 years.....
"Illinois will play DePaul in men's basketball for first time since 1957
Illinois will host DePaul in the 2017 Gavitt Tipoff Games, according to a source."
Here is the Wikipedia explanation. Apparently, the Butler game last season was Northwestern's initial matchup in the event.
The Gavitt Tipoff Games is an annual eight game series played between the Big Ten Conference and the Big East Conference to tip-off the college basketball season. The Gavitt Tipoff Games began in 2015 and will be played annually until 2022 as part of an eight-year deal. The Gavitt Tipoff Games will be played at the home sites at the participating schools, four of them will be hosted by Big Ten schools and four of them will be hosted by Big East schools. Each Big East team will participate a minimum of six times, while each Big Ten program will take part a minimum of four times.[1]
The Gavitt Tipoff Games is an annual eight game series played between the Big Ten Conference and the Big East Conference to tip-off the college basketball season. The Gavitt Tipoff Games began in 2015 and will be played annually until 2022 as part of an eight-year deal. The Gavitt Tipoff Games will be played at the home sites at the participating schools, four of them will be hosted by Big Ten schools and four of them will be hosted by Big East schools. Each Big East team will participate a minimum of six times, while each Big Ten program will take part a minimum of four times.[1]
If I am tracking the dates of the announced games correctly, we are in for a really tough week to start the season:
Nov. 13 - St. Peter's (home - All State Arena)
Nov. 15 - Creighton (home - All State Arena)
Nov. 18 - LaSalle (Neutral - Uncasville, CT)
Nov. 19 - Texas Tech OR Boston College (Neutral - Uncasville, CT)
Being a veteran team, hopefully we will be prepared for the physical and mental demands (including travel) of 4 games in 7 days... And hopefully, as a veteran team, we will be clicking on all sides of the ball more than our early season opponents.
Tell me if I'm wrong, but I'm thinking that if we can pull off two - or ideally, three - fairly solid wins here (no offense to St. Peters), along with a win in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, our non-con schedule shouldn't be too much of a drag on our RPI.
Our OOC schedule is shaping up to be adequate if not respectable. Most would agree that, insomuch as it is possible, a team should try to avoid playing really bad teams and put together at least an average OOC SOS. However, looking at last season's numbers, you will see that there was actually little--if any--correlation between OOC SOS and whether or not a team made the Tournament. Below are the final 2016-2017 OOC SOS RPI rankings for each B1G team.
4 Nebraska
15 Michigan State
27 Minnesota
46 Illinois
60 Penn State
87 Michigan
111 Ohio State
114 Maryland
135 Iowa
140 Purdue
143 Indiana
159 Northwestern
276 Wisconsin
338 Rutgers
It's possible that Rutgers' OOC schedule might have caused problems with post-season possibilities had they been more successful in B1G. Nevertheless, their schedule was clearly designed to get the team used to winning and to start the building process in the OOC--not to qualify for the post-season.
Wisconsin received a relatively low seed (8) in the NCAA Tournament despite a 2nd place finish in the final B1G standings and making the B1G Tournament Final. It is possible that the NCAA Tournament Committee sent a message about the Badgers' weak OOC SOS with the 8 seed.
NU's OOC resume was definitely bolstered by the wins against Wake Forest and Dayton, both NCAA Tournament teams. We didn't schedule ourselves into or out of the Tournament. We earned it. But we also needed every last win to do it.
A top 150 OOC SOS is probably a fine goal, while a top 125 or top 100 OOC SOS would probably be even safer for a team's NCAA Tournament resume... Then again, in the end, everything depends on your wins and losses within the schedule.
On the whole, I like how our schedule is shaping up so far.
Thanks. I hope they negotiate so that a single TV network broadcasts each of the eight games. It greatly increased ability to brand and promote the thing (fs1 won't promote btn or especially ESPN).
Of course, this is just mid-may boredom-whining.
Most importantly, I hope the Cats win.
Seems that next seasons non-conference schedule just about equals last seasons and that one didn't hurt NU's tournament invite. Hopefully they will get a pretty good opponent in the ACC Challenge and then they also have DePaul and I think Texas on the schedule as well. Those games could all be a + or - toward their resume but as you said wins are very important as well.
So the Gavitt games = the hall of fame tipoff? Fine, just confused. Anyone know about that venue? Airport, loc? I thought the Barclays in Brooklyn was great. K.C. Was great as well. I prefer "normal" arenas to hotel ballrooms - however... I love that the Maui tournament looks like it's played in a HS gym.
No -- the Gavitt Games are basically the Big Ten-Big East Challenge. Our game this year against Creighton is one of them; our game against Butler last year was one as well.
The Hall of Fame Tipoff is the non-conference tournament NU is competing in this year against BC, La Salle, and Texas Tech at Mohegan Sun in CT.
Even St. Peter's might not be a terrible game. They finished 95th in KenPom this season (better than Nebraska and Rutgers) and won the mid-major College Insider postseason tournament. Didn't have any really good wins, but hung around with Notre Dame and Maryland and split with a solid Monmouth team. Should be a comfortable win, but won't be a 300th-ranked pushover.
They are playing at Oklahoma and DePaul ACC game might be on the road as well. Have some good neutral site games as well and there is still spots for or 3 more non-conf. games.
Starting this season, the FOX family of networks will begin broadcasting Big Ten games. All of the Gavitt Games this year will be on FS1 or BTN - ESPN is no longer carrying the Gavitt Games.
And they went 12-6 (and made the Final 4) the year before, so certainly not a barometer of future performance. Losing a lot of talent and playing a lot of young guys takes you from 12 to 5 wins. Their best players last year were freshmen and sophomores and they are bringing in a strong recruiting class led by Trae Young. I expect the 5 wins to be closer to 10 this year and would be surprised if they don't make the Tourney. On the road in Norman will be viewed as a quality non-conference game by the committee.
Wikipedia got it wrong ? I'm shocked! </s>
Like always, thank you for knowing the most important information.
In their defense, the new TV information only came out today.
Butler-Maryland and Creighton-NU are both on the same day. One will air on BTN and one will be on FS1 as part of a doubleheader with Indiana-Seton Hall, but they haven't announced which one is which or at what time the games will be played.
Why? Still think Oklahoma will be plus game with the tournament evaluators, as will the ACC game. Who would you rather they play from the Chicago area, Loyola ? Chicago State? Guess they could schedule Kansas or Louisville but remember W's count as well. Also last seasons non-conference schedule didn't seem to hurt their NCAA chances.
It's fine that we're playing @OU and DePaul. OU might end up as a top-half Big 12 team, and better DePaul than Chicago State, as you said. I'd just like to see us play a headline opponent in the non-conference, especially with the experience and talent we have coming back. Not looking for a Michigan State-type gauntlet, just one big game that we can really get excited about before January.
My guess is that NU will draw a name ACC opponent, based both upon where the Cats finished last year and what is expected for them this coming season. The ACC is so deep that a 6th or 7th place ACC opponent would be someone like Notre Dame, UVA, Va Tech or Miami, all solid teams. Hopefully we won't see a replay of VaTech in Blacksburg, my money is on UVA.
... we don't. And to the extent we do have "trouble" in Chicagoland, it's inevitable in a pro-sports market, and it's a lot less trouble than any other program has garnering a fan following here, including NU.
Similar threads
