July 31st Update and Contract Duffle Bag

 

Bahama Brackets and Finally... Some Schedules!

Docket Filling Up

All it took was me spending a week at the beach for teams to finally start churning out some schedules. After seeing just 23 schedules through the first three-quarters of July a whopping 14 schedules dropped in the final week.  A pleasant surprise is that the schedules are coming from a wide array of conferences, which is typical for late July but is untypical for the first 40 schedules. Releases are still miles behind average pace but it's about time things look to be picking up before it became "a story" much like the 2020 offseason.

One of the more interesting stories from this weeks releases is we see Charleston and Tulane engaging in an in-season home and home, a strategy talked about recently to alleviate the pressure to fill out a schedule with games at a lower cost. Very few surprises on the schedules released, aside from long travel trips, such as Winthrop to Washington State.

Conference Opponents and Schedules

The SEC and AAC also released their 2021-22 opponent rotations this week, which is the only thing that happened involving those conferences this week. In other conference schedule news, both the CAA and Sun Belt released their schedules and with the release of UAB's schedule the puzzle of the C-USA schedule (the conference that refuses to release a composite schedule) is filled in just a tad bit more.

Sub-Tropical Brackets!

A handful of events organized by BDGlobal, Bar Mar Bahamas & Nassau Championships, Naples Invitational and Gulf Coast Showcase, released their brackets this week, along with the Battle4Atlantis. The Atlantis event features defending National Champions Baylor and a slew of teams ready to take a swing at the champs. The highest profile opening round game looks to be Auburn vs. Connecticut, but Loyola-Chicago vs. Michigan State should be a fantastic game as well.

The Baha Mar field of Maryland, Richmond, Louisville and Mississippi State will be a great event as these teams all have much to prove after all four teams began last season with eyes on an NCAA Tournament but Maryland's 10-seed being the only successful campaign of the four.

The other three events feature 8-team brackets filled with mid-majors. There are plenty of quality teams in these events, and the winners will surely find themselves in important discussions come March.

Contract Duffle Bag

Southern University

One big duffle bag of contracts was waiting for me upon my return from vacation, the games on Southern's schedule so far are typical for SWAC teams, many guarantee games of various rates. The season opener at Louisville has been in the public space for some time, and is a hold-over contract from last season. The Jaguars will spend a few December nights in Ohio to play Akron, Kent State and Dayton, the latter two in succession as part of a single trip prior to Christmas.