This Month in Non-Conference Scheduling (June 2020)

Schedules Released This Through June

June 3rd:
Iowa State

June 3rd:
Ole Miss

June 11th:
Marquette

June 15th:
Nebraska

June 23rd:
Hawaii
Old Dominion

June 29th:
James Madison

Event Schedules Released Through May

Hall of Fame Tip-Off (Marquette, Minnesota, Rhode Island, UCF)
Emerald Coast Classic (Florida, Illinois, Iowa State, Oregon)
Global Sports Invitational (SMU, Georgia, Wofford, Charleston Southern)

Rainbow Classic (Hawaii, San Diego, Washington)

Scheduling News:

This offseason in particular has proven tough for teams in the market for guarantee games. The possibility of remote learning, reduced enrollment and limited game attendance has teams working harder to balance their budget with the threat of funding shortfalls looming overhead. Teams higher up the pecking order are seeking more guarantee checks than normal, saturating the market. Several coaches that have communicated with me are all looking for the same thing, guarantee games, and many of these coaches lead teams in contention to win their leagues or even make a case for at-large bids.

Old Dominion has released their C-USA league schedule, confirming that the flex-scheduling experiment has come to a conclusion. The idea was bought into after C-USA had three KenPom Top 65 teams in 2018 but received no-at large bids. In the two seasons of flex-scheduling C-USA had just one total KenPom Top 75 teams. The system was never expected to yield results if the quality of the teams were not at-large caliber.

Five Best Games

Ole Miss at Dayton: The Flyers might not be in contention for a 1-seed in 2021, but they will still be favored to make the NCAA tournament. Ole Miss had a surprisingly strong first year under Kermit Davis but came back to earth in year two. If Ole Miss makes a leap back to form this year they could put a scare in Dayton, but their home court will give them an edge.

Florida vs Illinois: Both of these programs are at a crossroads. In Illinois, Brad Underwood had broken through in his third season and had the Illini on track for their first NCAA Tournament in 7 seasons. Meanwhile in Gator Country fans are growing impatient with Mike White. After making the Elite 8 in his second season White has yet to break through to the second weekend of the tournament, a justifiably high standard considering Florida's success this century.

Rhode Island at Providence; Creighton at Nebraska, Wisconsin at Marquette: : These are both three fierce rivalries with between Big East teams and their local state schools. Creighton and Providence should be favored in their match-ups but Marquette will likely be underdogs to Wisconsin. With Creighton having hopes of locking down a 1-seed they will have the expectation of winning on their rivals court against Fred Hoiberg's fresh roster, following a very rough first year. Rhode Island's head coach, David Cox, is looking to return the Rams to the NCAA Tournament after replacing Dan Hurley in 2018 while Providence will believe they have as good of a shot at winning the Big East as anyone. Marquette will have a hole to fill in the roster without Markus Howard

Four Sneaky Good Games

North Carolina at Hawaii: North Carolina has a tradition of playing a pit-stop game as a prelude to playing in the Maui Invitational, visiting Hawaii, Long Beach State, UC Santa Barbara and once... Santa Clara. A road game after skipping 4 time zones may be a real test this season as Roy Williams tries to gain footing after last year's uninspiring campaign.

Old Dominion at Arkansas: Old Dominion has been one of the most consistent programs in the latest iteration of C-USA, however, after making the 2019 NCAA Tournament the Monarchs had to rebuild. Arkansas got off to a hot start last season under 1st-year coach Eric Musselman, but a five game losing streak in conference play put the Razorbacks on the bubble. If Old Dominion can claw back to its status quo they will give Arkansas a test with stout defense and a grinding tempo.

Rhode Island at Western Kentucky: From C-USA's most consistent team to most talented team. The Hilltoppers were able to finish tied for 2nd last season in C-USA in spite of losing pro-prospect Charles Bassey to injury early in December. With his return they will be favored to win C-USA while at the same time Rhode Island has their eyes set on winning the Atlantic 10. Both teams could find themselves in the NCAA tournament and winning this game could move either team up a seed-line.

North Carolina A&T at Iowa State: If any MEAC team is able to pull an upset at a power conference school this season it will be the Aggies. A mid-season coaching change rejuvenated the team, and their tempo. It has been feast or famine for the Cyclones under Steve Prohm, with three KenPom Top-20 seasons and two KenPom Sub-75 seasons. An Aggies win could signal second consecutive famine season for Iowa State.

Most Lopsided Games

Virginia at James Madison
UT-Martin at Ole Miss
Chicago State at Marquette
Chicago State at Iowa State
Alabama A&M at Iowa State

Flimsiest Schedule

No teams in June really fall into the flimsy schedule category, all the teams this month did a fair job of mixing in competitive games outside of exempt events and conference challenges. The exceptional challenge of this specific season will cause a spike in Non-D1 games, Old Dominion, for example, is playing their first Non-D1 home game this century.