Nobody works harder at scheduling than Evansville. It's a lot of work to not only find opponents, but find them on a down cycle and then convince your fans that you did the best you could. We've announced a few games for next year's non-conference schedule. Let's go to the highlights.
http://www.gopurpleaces.com/news/2016/4/15/ue-mens-basketball-to-open-2016-17-season-at-louisville.aspxNorfolk State (MEAC) - This gets the "Aww, geez, not this S%@% again" award. UE has scheduled another MEAC school (31st ranked conference) and not only that - we found one who lost it's top 3 scorers from last year's squad (Coincidence??). Then we have the audacity to boast that they've finished .500 or better in the last 5 years. Note that 2 of those years, .500 was only attained after factoring in non-D1 opponents. (15-17 last year for example, but 2 non-D1 wins puts them at .500)
Bowling Green (MAC) - This is the "Hey, we've heard of that school" award. I am more than happy to have a MAC school on the schedule. It's too bad BG finished dead last in the MAC. (Another amazing coincidence??) I would have loved for BG to be on the schedule this year, as even dead last in the MAC finished RPI 206 which is light years above some of the other teams on the schedule.
@Louisville (ACC) - This gets the "Look we're really trying" award. I honestly have no problem with this.. unless it's used as an excuse for playing more SWAC schools because we played such tough road games. One rhetorical question though - was this schedule conversation started back when Louisville thought they would have Evansville Bosse standout JaQuan Lyle on the roster? For obvious reasons, both sides would like to forget that connection. I just wonder because North Carolina (Zeller/Washington) and Purdue (Kiefer/ Ev Mater Dei) only scheduled UE under those kind of circumstances.
Murray State (OVC) - This is the "Green Beans" award. What does that mean? Well like an above poster made the steak/potatoes of scheduling analogy - Murray State is green beans. Definitely not the main course, more than a garnish - just a good solid side. Really not your favorite side - there is still mashed potatoes and stuffing, but you can't really complete a meal without green beans. Hence, Murray should be the green beans on UE's schedule. Unfortunately I'm afraid UE will try to force feed its fans tons of green beans and try to convince them its filet mignon. But I digress.
Challenge in Music City (MTE) - The "We need to save travel costs" award. Not too sure about this one. A MTE only in its second year. The premise last year was that there were 6 mid/low majors who played 3 games in Nashville over Thanksgiving. Also, the six schools got a guaranteed home game against either an NAIA or USCAA team. USCAA? Yeah. Google that one. But the 2015 version of this tournament featured 3 of them.
The six teams who participated were a bunch of 200-275 RPI schools like Mercer, Tulane, Western Michigan, Liberty, and Appalachian State. The lone team that was good RPI wise was Stephen F Austin (RPI 62). Yes, the darlings of the NCAA who upset West Virginia. So the belle of the Challenge in Music City ball ended up being SFA who won 24 D-1 games en route to winning the 30th rated Southland Conference and a 14 seed. By the way, SFA actually lost the challenge to Tulane, the 12-22 cellar dweller of the AAC.
I'm hopeful year 2 of the Challenge boasts better teams - but I'm not going to hold my breath.
being told where my priorities should be / you don't me know me and I don't know you.
