Valpo will be on the schedule next year

[Sec.112]

Speaking of scheduling, what do we know about next year's schedule at this point? Off the top if my head:

Hall of Fame Tip-Off in Connecticut (Play two of: Boston College, Texas Tech and La Salle, plus home games against two of: Sacred Heart, Maine, St. Peter’s and South Alabama)
@ Oklahoma
@ DePaul
B10/ACC Challenge (maybe away, but don't think it strictly alternates home/away)
Gavitt Games? (maybe home, not sure how they determine participation from year to year)

Am I missing anything? That's 7-8 games right there. It would be nice to get 1-2 solid home games. I wonder if we'll try to do something at the UC again.

Rothstein reports Valpo will be added to the schedule next year. It's a tough game, but I like that addition. I hope it becomes a regular thing. It gets a few more people in the stands in November and December. It gets the fans a good game. If they play home-and-home, it's a pretty reasonable drive for a road game.

If I follow pschatz's schedule compilation (thank you), it seems more than 3/4 of the non-conference schedule is in the books. I assume there are three or four more games left to schedule.

That's a nice schedule - not an easy schedule. It's the schedule of a coach that expects something. Beautiful!!

If I'm Collins, the majority of the remaining games are cupcakes, but nothing lower than 175 or 200. Maybe three COMPLETE cupcakes (two or three of local interest)? Add one mid-tier team? Show some cahones and play an emerging Loyola program annually! Right LoyolaCat?

 

[Styre]

If I follow pschatz's schedule compilation (thank you), it seems more than 3/4 of the non-conference schedule is in the books. I assume there are three or four more games left to schedule.

That's a nice schedule - not an easy schedule. It's the schedule of a coach that expects something. Beautiful!!

Love the Valpo game. I wish we could have made it into a better pre-conference tournament, though. NU was way, way ahead of all 7 of those teams last year.

 

[Sec.112]

...I wish we could have made it into a better pre-conference tournament, though.

You make a good point about the level of the tournament.

Maybe two of the remaining games should be top-125. Honestly, I'd love to see them take on Notre Dame also. The Cats are in enough recruiting consideration with ND that it would be worth it.

 

[EvanstonCat]

You make a good point about the level of the tournament.

Maybe two of the remaining games should be top-125. Honestly, I'd love to see them take on Notre Dame also. The Cats are in enough recruiting consideration with ND that it would be worth it.

I won't be happy until we take the Izzo route and start scheduling Kentucky, Duke and Kansas on a regular basis. And beating them.

 

[lunker35]

Their head coach is Matt Lottich who played at New Trier. Should be fun to have him back, as he played a ton of high school hoops at Northwestern.

 

[JournCat]

You make a good point about the level of the tournament.

Maybe two of the remaining games should be top-125. Honestly, I'd love to see them take on Notre Dame also. The Cats are in enough recruiting consideration with ND that it would be worth it.

It'd be great to see us get reach opponents for the ACC challenge and Gavitt. The dream is a game at Cameron Indoor. But the rest of what we know makes for a decent schedule as long as we avoid the absolute bottom of the barrel games to finish it.

 

[hdhntr1]

It'd be great to see us get reach opponents for the ACC challenge and Gavitt. The dream is a game at Cameron Indoor. But the rest of what we know makes for a decent schedule as long as we avoid the absolute bottom of the barrel games to finish it.

Since we ended up in 6th doesn't that put us against someone fairly descent?

 

[Styre]

Here's what we know so far, with RPI and KenPom ratings:

Valparaiso: RPI 71, Pomeroy 104 (not bad)
Oklahoma: RPI 171, Pomeroy 65 (big discrepancy, could be good)
DePaul: RPI 236, Pomeroy 184 (not good)

2 of:
Boston College: RPI 219, Pomeroy 173 (not good)
Texas Tech: RPI 123, Pomeroy 41 (big discrepancy, could be good)
La Salle: RPI 137, Pomeroy 140 (not bad)

2 of:
Sacred Heart: RPI 304, Pomeroy 301 (terrible)
Maine: RPI 323, Pomeroy 337 (terrible)
St. Peter's: RPI 130, Pomeroy 95 (not bad)
South Alabama: RPI 231, Pomeroy 243 (bad)

Hopefully we get some good draws in ACC-B1G and Gavitt, because right now that schedule is a step down from last season. Also hope we get St. Peter's in the pre-conference tournament.

I also think it's an academic discussion because I think we'll be comfortably in the tournament regardless, but I'd like a couple more challenging games in the mix.

 

[scru]

I think we'll be comfortably in the tournament regardless

Hope the team isn't thinking along the same lines. They have the potential, but need to work their butts off this offseason. They've got the experience, but there's still a difference between knowing what it takes and doing what it takes to be successful. Remember, we were only 10-8 in B1G play.

 

[thewildcat2011]

Hope the team isn't thinking along the same lines. They have the potential, but need to work their butts off this offseason. They've got the experience, but there's still a difference between knowing what it takes and doing what it takes to be successful. Remember, we were only 10-8 in B1G play.

Come on now. Of all of the Northwestern basketball teams in modern history, I'm pretty sure this one knows what it takes to be successful.

 

[JournCat]

Since we ended up in 6th doesn't that put us against someone fairly descent?

My recollection is they schedule more on expectations for the upcoming season. We're landing in enough preseason top-25 lists (and let's not fly past how crazy that is!) that we should get a pretty good ACC opponent.

 

[benoitdenizetl]

I really hope we add one really good opponent. Right now, our non-con schedule doesn't have one. (Hopefully we'll get one as our ACC opponent.) Last year, we had three: Dayton, Notre Dame, Butler.

 

[loyolacat]

If I'm Collins, the majority of the remaining games are cupcakes, but nothing lower than 175 or 200. Maybe three COMPLETE cupcakes (two or three of local interest)? Add one mid-tier team? Show some cahones and play an emerging Loyola program annually! Right LoyolaCat?

My heart would be split in two....it would be like standing in front of Jennifer Lawrence and Chalize Theron with just one rose ( as if?) but I know there must be a decent relationship as they scrimmaged against each other last season and a lot of the women's sports play each other (think girls soccer played this last Sunday) and we pilfer coaches, you got our National Championship(love typing those two words) volleyball coach and we got your assistant soccer coach as well as two of your assistant basketball coaches were assistants at LU. Having said that we only have a small but faithful group of fans. When I attended we were just 3,000 undergrads and half of those were commuters. That has changed considerably as we now have 14,000 undergrads and way more as residents....but 30 years of lack of attention to the sports programs has left us a big hill to climb. LU had just made a big commitment to sports when they got way-layed by the State's financial issues..that has set us back.......But yes it would be great for Chicago basketball...still remember those Chicago Stadium double-headers and the games against Marquette at the Amphitheater. Chicago was a college basketball town....I think the WIldcats are going to make it happen again...LU did get two great Illinois recruits this year. Negron and Krutwig

 

[pschatz25]

Update: One of our two home games in the Hall of Fame Tip-Off will be against St. Peter's. They won the CIT last season and were top 100 in KenPom, but lose their top two scorers (Inside NU has more on them). So now we have:

Hall of Fame Tip-Off in Connecticut (Play two of: Boston College, Texas Tech and La Salle, plus home games against St. Peter's and one of: Sacred Heart, Maine, and South Alabama)
@ Oklahoma
@ DePaul
Valparaiso
B10/ACC Challenge (maybe away, but don't think it strictly alternates home/away)
Gavitt Games? (maybe, it's unknown how they determine participation from year to year)

 

[Aging Booster]

My heart would be split in two....it would be like standing in front of Jennifer Lawrence and Chalize Theron with just one rose ( as if?) but I know there must be a decent relationship as they scrimmaged against each other last season and a lot of the women's sports play each other (think girls soccer played this last Sunday) and we pilfer coaches, you got our National Championship(love typing those two words) volleyball coach and we got your assistant soccer coach as well as two of your assistant basketball coaches were assistants at LU. Having said that we only have a small but faithful group of fans. When I attended we were just 3,000 undergrads and half of those were commuters. That has changed considerably as we now have 14,000 undergrads and way more as residents....but 30 years of lack of attention to the sports programs has left us a big hill to climb. LU had just made a big commitment to sports when they got way-layed by the State's financial issues..that has set us back.......But yes it would be great for Chicago basketball...still remember those Chicago Stadium double-headers and the games against Marquette at the Amphitheater. Chicago was a college basketball town....I think the WIldcats are going to make it happen again...LU did get two great Illinois recruits this year. Negron and Krutwig

I'd love to see us add Marquette - that used to be an annual game on New Year's Eve back in the '70s. But, more seriously, how could anyone even consider the Lawrence girl over Charlize Theron?

 

[docrugby1]

Beware of St. Peters-every couple of years they will surprise people-tough Jersey City players with a mix of Jersey Catholic League players

 

[NJCat]

Beware of St. Peters-every couple of years they will surprise people-tough Jersey City players with a mix of Jersey Catholic League players

Good point. Last season they lost by just 10 @Maryland and 8 @ND. No gimme.