Docket Digest 2026-02

The elephant in the room this offseason is news that the NCAA Tournament will expand from 68 teams to 76 teams starting in 2027. The NCAA Tournament is one of the most exclusive sports championships in the United States, and if teams like 31-1 Miami-Ohio are sweating out their fate until the Selection Show it's a sign that perhaps *some* expansion is warranted. However, the expansion looks to be moving forward without any guide rails to weed out mediocre teams doing the least with their privilege and add pathways for teams succeeding in spite of financial and bureaucratic limitations. 

The obvious first step is to eliminate teams that could not finish .500 from at-large consideration. The regular season is the grandest sorting tool. Any team that could not win even half of the games against their own self-selected peers should not be considered to compete for a national championship. Unfortunately we know that the thumbs on the scale pushing for tournament expansion are the same thumbs that created bloated mega-conferences where 11th-place teams with a 7-11 record are begging for an at-large bid.

Another problem is the feedback loop between the selection committee at bracket predictions. Every season it seems that the committee makes one absolutely baffling decision, usually to the benefit of a power conference team. This new decision is now factored in, either with intent or subconsciously, into the work of every bracket predictor the next season. This enshittification of tournament selection, along with the enigma of the NET Rankings, has only further benefitted the haves at the expense of the have-nots.

This bias also does no good when pundits project these lowered expectations onto what an expanded field would look like, as if they've already given up on the selection committee doing a good job. They want you to know you will get more games like Texas-NC State, instead match-ups that produced much more excitement in the first-round of the NIT on the same nights as the First Four.

Five of those first round games had a higher excitement score than the Texas-NC State game, and only one of them featured a a power conference team. The Miami-SMU game didn't even crack the top ten of games those two nights, mostly in part to how uncompetitive the power conference representative was.

Expansion is happening for the wrong reasons, which will only mean it will dilute the product (and the whining around the bubble leading up to it). If it was happening for the right reasons it would undoubtedly improve the overall product.

Expansion does raise new questions in how teams build schedule. With the bubble growing deeper will more teams take more risk or hunker down and be more conservative with their schedule building? This new wrinkle will take some contemplation, but much of the scheduling efforts will be pushed down the priority list until rosters are locked in.

Once coaches have some certainty regarding the players they will have at their disposal they will then know what expectations the schedule will have to support. Aside from guarantee games locked in early things have not yet really taken off in scheduling.

Blue Devils Prime

The biggest news has been the announcement of Duke's multi-year agreement with Prime Video. It's a savvy move that will directly increase their revenue and directly fund their players via selling their NIL. This is a new streaming avenue for the sport which we should all keep its eyes on for expansion. How long until Prime Video is sponsoring its own exempt event?

The not so fun part of Duke's Prime Video deal is that to skirt around ACC's media rights all of these exciting match-ups, against Connecticut, Michigan and Gonzaga, will be confined to soulless and corporate neutral courts instead of the thumping Cameron Indoor Stadium.

24-Hour Hoops Marathon

Some fun news is that Jeff Goodman and Rob Dauster announced that Field of 68 is not only bringing back their Opening Day Marathon event but have intentions to span the full 24-Hours of opening day. 

The event will tip-of in Rock Hill at midnight with even more match-ups nearly locked in. The event lived on ESPN from 2008 through 2016, and was must watch-event for sickos. Nothing beat falling asleep to Gonzaga handling their business in a buy game and waking up to a MAAC student section in pajama pants that was drinking through the night.

Hopefully the event can gain more traction this year, a television partner would be massive. Some of the names I've heard attached are consistent mid-major winners. Hopefully a power conference team will take the leap and bring more eyes to these events.

MTE Updates

Battle 4 Atlantis

The Battle 4 Atlantis is departing from an 8-Team bracket into two 4-team brackets this season, with following teams reported to participate by Jon Rothstein and Rocco Miller:

• Marquette
• Memphis
• Penn State
• Texas A&M
• Virginia
• Wake Forest
• Xavier

Charleston Classic

The Charleston Classic will remain split into two 4-team brackets, Rocco Miller has reported the following participants:

• Dayton
• Minnesota
• Oklahoma State
• Utah
• Virginia Tech

Acrisure Series

A long list of teams have been reported by Jon Rothstein to be participants in the massive Acrisure Series event in Palm Springs, CA.

• Arizona State
• Cal Baptist
• Colorado
• Fordham
• Grand Canyon
• Loyola Marymount
• Nevada
• Oregon State
• Saint Louis
• San Diego
• San Francisco
• Santa Clara
• Seattle
• South Carolina
• South Dakota
• Stanford
• Tulsa
• UC Irvine
• UC San Diego
• USC
• Utah State
• Washington State

Dallas Tournament

The former home of the Conference USA tournament in Frisco, TX will host an 8-team, 3-Round tournament this fall, with Rocco Miller and Nevada Sports Net reporting the following teams' participation:

• Colorado State
• Florida Atlantic
• George Washington
• Loyola-Chicago
• Nevada
• San Francisco
• Tulsa
• Utah State 

Live Oak Bank Holiday Classic

UNC Wilmington will play MTE host once more, inviting Princeton, St. Thomas and Liberty to North Carolina's Port City for the Live Oak Bank Holiday Classic (Miller).

Match-ups for the Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City have been reported by Rocco Miller, double-header set for December 18th:

• Iowa State vs Missouri State
• Drake vs Wichita State

Players Era Thingy

The Players Era Thingy has a new format reported by Jeff Borzello and a gaudy 24-team line-up, split into an 8-team and 16-team event.

8-Team Event

• Auburn
• Florida
• Houston
• Kansas
• Notre Dame
• Rutgers
• UNLV
• West Virginia

16-Team Event 

• Alabama
• Baylor
• Creighton
• Gonzaga
• Iowa State
• Kansas State
• Louisville
• Maryland
• Miami-FL
• Michigan
• Oregon
• San Diego State
• St. John's
• TCU
• Tennessee
• Texas Tech

Schedule Beat

Please make sure to follow Alex Rosinski, who has been a FOIA warrior the last couple of offseasons, already unearthing several match-ups for next season.

Some of the best match-ups to be released so far include the following:

• November 2nd:
• Florida vs Miami-FL; Tampa, FL (Rothstein)
• Florida A&M vs Florida State; Tampa, FL (Long)
• Ohio State vs BYU; Salt Lake City, UT (Miller)
• November 6th:
• Michigan vs Connecticut; Boston, MA (Rothstein)
• November 7th:
• Washington State at High Point (Goodman)
• Nebraska vs Providence; Uncasville, CT (Rosinski)
• November 8th:
• Nevada vs Saint Mary's; Lake Tahoe, CA (Rothstein)
• November 11th:
• Marquette at Michigan (Release)
• November 13th:
• Ohio State at Connecticut (Jardy)
• November 15th:
• High Point at Saint Louis (Norlander)
• Boise State vs Nebraska; Sioux Falls, SD (Release)
• Creigotn vs Iowa; Des Moines (From the Hawkeye)
• Missouri vs Marquette; Chicago, IL (Rothstein)
• November 17th:
• Illinois at Duke (Release)
• November 18th:
• Wichita State at Loyola-Chicago (Rosinski)
• November 19th:
• VCU at Santa Clara (Rothstein)
• November 20th:
• Saint Louis at Saint Mary's (Rothstein)
• November 25th:
• Connecticut vs Duke; Las Vegas, NV (Rothstein)
• November 29th:
• Memphis vs Dayton; Chicago, IL (Munz)
• South Florida vs Saint Louis; Chicago, IL (Mid-Town Madness)
• Utah State at New Mexico (Release)
• December 5th:
• Arizona at St. John's (Rothstein)
• SMU at DePaul (Rothstein)
• UNLV at San Diego State (Rosinski)
• Colorado State at Colorado (Miller)
• December 9th:
• Utah State at BYU (Release)
• December 11th
• Kansas at Connecticut (Rosinski)
• December 12th:
• Ohio State at Notre Dame (Rosinski)
• December 18th:
• High Point at LSU (Miller)
• December 19th:
• BYU vs San Diego State; Palm Springs, CA (Rothstein)
• Gonzaga vs Michigan State; Palm Springs, CA (Rothstein)
• NC State vs Ole Miss; Tupelo, NC (Rosinski)
• West Virginia vs Wake Forest; Greensboro, NC (Release)
• December 20th
• Virginia vs Connecticut; New York, NY (Rothstein)
• December 21st:
• Michigan vs Duke; New York, NY (Release)
• February 20th:
• Gonzaga vs Duke 
• Date TBD
• Syracuse at St. John's (Rothstein)
• NC State vs Tennessee; Nashville, TN (Rothstein)
• Clemson vs Cincinnati; Cincinnati, OH
• Michigan State at Tennessee (Jackson)

Docket Digest 2026-01

Welcome to the offseason!

Congratulations to the Michigan Wolverines and Dusty May on winning the NCAA Tournament. 

This year I'll be attempting to consolidate scheduling updates into the written form on a weekly basis, and you're reading the first edition of this now.

Spring Cleaning has already begun and hopefully the 2026-27 Docket will be ready to go live when the first non-conference schedule is released. West Virginia had a strangle-hold on the first schedule release during the Huggins years, will they reclaim their place this offseason?

Schedule completion has taken a backseat to the transfer portal and roster building in recent years, with the first non-conference schedules coming out later and later. Just as chaotic as the transfer portal is the conference realignment portal especially this season. The resurrection of the PAC12 and ASUN/UAC split triggered most of the moves. I've attempted to capture all the changes and including my expectations for how that will impact the 2026-27 conference schedules.

Division 1 is expected to stay at 365 teams with Saint Francis-PA bowing out and West Florida stepping in. 

Conference Realignment

West Florida (Non-D1 >> ASUN)

Southern Utah (WAC >> Big Sky)

Utah Tech (WAC >> Big Sky)

Cal Baptist (WAC >> Big West)

Sacramento State (Big Sky >> Big West)

Utah Valley (WAC >> Big West)

Northern Illinois (MAC >> Horizon)

Hawaii (Big West >> Mountain West)

UC Davis (Big West >> Mountain West)

UTEP (C-USA >> Mountain West)

Boise State (Mountain West >> PAC12)

Colorado State (Mountain West >> PAC12)

Fresno State (Mountain West >> PAC12)

Gonzaga (WCC >> PAC12)

Oregon State (WCC >> PAC12)

Texas State (Sun Belt >> PAC12)

Utah State (Mountain West >> PAC12)

Washington State (WCC >> PAC12)

Tennessee Tech (Ohio Valley >> Southern Conference)

Louisiana Tech (C-USA >> Sun Belt); Pending Litigation

Austin Peay (ASUN >> UAC)

Central Arkansas (ASUN >> UAC)

Eastern Kentucky (ASUN >> UAC)

North Alabama (ASUN >> UAC)

West Georgia (ASUN >> UAC)

Denver (Summit >> WCC)

UC San Diego (Big West >> WCC)

Saint Francis (NEC >> Non-D1)

MTE Update

The Players Era Thingy has disrupted the MTE landscape, so many events are not locked in until later in the offseason. Maui is an outlier with it's field locked in and announced last year.

Maui Invitational

• Arizona
• BYU
• Clemson
• Colorado State
• Ole Miss
• Providence
• VCU
• Washington

Players Era Thingy

• Baylor
• Houston
• Iowa Sate
• Kansas
• Texas Tech
• TCU
• West Virginia 
• Kansas State

Schedule Beat

• Villanova and Notre Dame will tip-off the season in Rome on November 1st (Norlander)
• The 2026-27 Season will tip-off domestically on Midnight when High Point and Liberty face each other in Rock Hill (Release, Field of 68)
• Wes Miller's first game as Charlotte coach will be a road game at Indiana State (November 2nd) , a return game from this past season's opener. (Rosinski)
• Purdue and Gonzaga will open their seasons in Las Vegas on November 2nd, a double-header with Arizona & UCLA (Rothstein)
• Alabama will host St. John's in a return game to be played in Birmingham on December 12th (Zagoria)
• Vanderbilt's season will begin on November 2nd when they hose Bellarmine (Rothstein)
• Michigan and Marquette will begin a Home & Home in Ann Arbor next season (Rothstein)
• Indiana will host Syracuse in Indianapolis on November 9th. (Rothstein)
• Boston College and Massachusetts will meet at a neutral site in Boston on November 13th (Rosinski)
• Drake and Wichita State will play in Kansas City on December 18th (Rosinski)
• Shockers will visit Loyola Chicago on November 18th (Rosinski)
• Jerrod Calhoun shared on sports radio that Cincinnati has games against Clemson (Heritage Bank Center), at Dayton, versus Louisville (Freedom Hall) and will participate in ESPN Events Invitational in Orlando.
• Appalachian State will host North Texas in a return game from the 2024-25 season on November 20th (Rosinski)
• Fairleigh Dickinson get a return game from East Texas A&M on November 11th (Rosinski) and will visit Oklahoma in what is overwhelmingly likely to be a guarantee game (Miller)
• MAC Tournament champions Akron has return dates locked in for games against Tulane, December 5 (Rosinski), and at Bucknell, December 2nd (Rosinski)
• Georgia is hosting North Florida on December 29th (Rosinski)
• TCU is hosting Milwaukee on November 10th (Rosinski)
• North Dakota will visit Winthrop on November 7th as the two programs continue their 4-year series (Rosinski)
• Winthrop also will collect a couple of guarantee check for a visit to the Rocky Mountains, visiting Utah State on December 12th and Wyoming on December 14th (Rosinski)
• Oklahoma State will hos Oral Roberts on December 16th (Rosinski)
• Nebraska has four guarantee games in place: Le Moyne on November 2nd, Lindenwood on November 11th, Mount St. Mary's on December 17th and Fairleigh Dickinson on December 20th (Rosinski)
• North Carolina has five guarantee games in place: Western Carolina on November 2nd, Wofford on November 6th, Wyoming on November 10th, Marshall on on November 20th and The Citadel on December 21st (Rosinski)
• New Hampshire has two buy games lined up at Marquette, December 9th, and at Iowa State, December 29th (Rosinski) 

Contract Corner

A flurry of FOIA request have been sent out, primarily to power conference schools, and so far a modest handful of 2026-27 contracts have been acquired:

Virginia Tech

• November 3rd: Coppin State ($95k)
• November 27th: Old Dominion ($95k)
• December 10th: Maryland-Eastern Shore ($90k)
• December 21st: VMI ($90k)

Minnesota

• November 12th: Southern ($90k)

2025-26 Schedule 1 of 365: Purdue

With the portal closing the real offseason has finally begun as Purdue has released it's non-conference schedule for the 2025-26 season.

What’s ahead of us.

🚂 The non-conference schedule. pic.twitter.com/NvccPPN2MZ

— Purdue Men's Basketball (@BoilerBall) May 6, 2025

The Boilermakers schedule is certainly stout. While the Baha Mar field is not fully revealed, that event's history shows that the opponents will be worthy of a program that spends each season chasing a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Purdue will, however, only play one true road game when they visit Alabama on November 13th. Back to back home games versus Iowa State (December 6th) and Marquette (December 13th) will be huge opportunities for resume wins leading up to a massive match-up with Auburn in Indianapolis on December 20th. 

Purdue is not shying away from a challenge with their guarantee games either, while Evansville (November 4th) and Eastern Illinois (November 28th) would not be projected to be much danger, match-ups against recent MAC pace-setters Akron (November 16th) and Kent State (December 29th) will challenge the Boilermakers and even push them for 40 minutes. After ending John Calipari's career at Kentucky, Greg Kampe's Oakland Golden Grizzlies will back themselves to challenge Purdue in Mackey Arena (November 7th)

2025-26 Notes

• The Docket Sheet still likely needs some housekeeping, if you find any inconsistency that needs to be corrected just reach out to me on Twitter.
• This year I decided to leave in un-confirmed return games from last season with their own notation, if you're a coach and can confirm these games are happening or not, please feel welcome to reach out.
• I'll do my best to provide write-ups in expanded coverage this off-season.

Charlotte Coaching Search Power Rankings (New Year's Edition)

Happy New Year! As the calendar rolls over into 2024 it would be best to forget about the run of results the Niners registered in December. What must be addressed first is the thrilling win over Florida Atlantic this past weekend, the best moments experienced in Halton Arena since toppling Temple at the apex of the 2009-10 season. We'll discuss more of what this means when discussing Aaron Fearne's candidacy later, but I hope every Niner fan in Halton or watching from afar got to enjoy that rare taste of pure joy. Now to the rankings:

#1- Mark Byington (James Madison)

James Madison suffered their first loss of the season on Saturday. The loss came on the road to Southern Miss (a trap which has snagged the Niners on more than one occasion). The Dukes shot only 11.8% (2/17) from 3-point range, their lowest output all season by 11%, while sending Southern Miss to the line 33 times, a bad combination for winning on the road. James Madison remains favored in all but one game in the regular season, with a projected 14-4 Sun Belt record. With the road win at Michigan State as their lone KenPom Top 75 win the Dukes will still be depending on winning the Sun Belt Conference Tournament in order to earn an NCAA Tournament bid.

#2- Josh Schertz (Indiana State)

Schertz's third season at Indiana State has been a revelation, as he has the Sycamore's just outside the KenPom Top 50 and can become almost insurmountable favorites to win the Missouri Valley Conference if Indiana State can manage a road win against their closest challenger, Drake, on Wednesday. Schertz spend the early portion of his career with Bart Lundy at Queens and High Point before becoming head coach at D2 Lincoln Memorial (TN). In 13 seasons his team made ten Division 2 NCAA Tournaments, advancing to the Final Four three times which includes one appearance in the Championship game. Lincoln Memorial was also a 1-seed in the cancelled 2020 edition of the tournament.

#3 Alan Huss (High Point)

There is a new disruptor on the list, rookie coach Alan Huss from High Point. Huss spend 10 years coaching high school and prep school basketball until joining Craig Neal's New Mexico staff in 2014. After Neal was fired in 2017 Huss landed at his alma mater, Creighton, working under Greg McDermott until being hired by High Point last spring. The Panthers dropped their first two D1 games to Wofford and Queens while finding their footing, but have since won 11 of 13 D1 games including wins over other coaches featured on this list (Justin Gray- Western Carolina, Mike Jones- UNC Greensboro). 

High Point entered the season with a preseason ranking of 282nd and have since climbed up to 120th, in the same tier of teams as Charlotte. Huss has orchestrated this while being 330th in minutes continuity. Huss might be leading one of the most remarkable one-season turnarounds in a long time. With limited openings in power conference jobs and a crowded group of mid-major coaches eager to fill him, snagging a coach like Huss could be an under the radar coup for Mike Hill.

#4- Aaron Fearne (Charlotte)

December gave Fearne chances to firm up the likelihood of retaining his position. While the game at Duke was always going to be a reach to get anything from, the rest of the schedule was filled with winnable games. Charlotte was able to build double-digit leads in those games against Stetson, Richmond and Davidson but all three ended in defeat for the Niners. Opening the AAC season with a loss at SMU was not unexpected, but in all honesty the first draft of these rankings Fearne was listed as not ranked. Then Saturday happened. 

Charlotte raced out to a 12-2 lead over #17 Florida Atlantic and then controlled the game with ease through the first-half.  Charlotte's excellent 3-point shooting (5/11, 45.5%) and interior defense kept Florida Atlantic from making any runs in spite of the Niners committing eight turnovers. Charlotte went into the break leading by 41-26, and stretched their lead to 17 when an Isaiah Folkes lay-up made the score 45-28 two minutes into the second-half. The Owls then capitalized on Charlotte's tendency to lose control of leads reared it's ugly head, going on a 25-8 run to level the score at 53 with 6:29 left. 

Charlotte wasn't ready to give up, and after traded baskets with Florida Atlantic down the stretch (highlighted by an incredible dunk by Igor Milicic), but the contest remained deadlocked at 63 points going into the final 90 seconds of the game. 

Charlotte's 3-point shooting had gone dry in the second-half, but that didn't matter when Lu'Cye Patterson (aka Lu'Cye Daggerson) broke the deadlock with precision from deep leaving Florida Atlantic chasing the game going into the final minute. One possession later Patterson was called upon once more to extend the lead back to three with a baseline runner with 20 seconds left. Johnell Davis wasn't done yet and struck with a long distance 3-pointer to tie the game again with 14 seconds left.

Patterson would have the final say, as he drew a foul on an elbow jumper in with under 2 seconds left. Lu'cye would calmly knock down two free throws before Florida Atlantic would miss a prayer at the buzzer. Just like that, Charlotte had it's first win over a ranked team since defeating Michigan to win the Puerto Rico Tip-Off in 2013.

What does it mean? Fearne is back on the menu as the victory over Florida Atlanta nudge the door back open for Fearne. There are still several hurdles between now and March (for instance, winning a road game) before Niner Nation and Mike Hill should be convinced he's the right man for the job. The Niners are favored in 12 of their remaining 16 games (per Torvik) with the easiest AAC schedule and 2 of the 3 toughest games in the rearview mirror. Breaking into the Top Four is a tangible and achievable goal for Fearne in order to be a part of the conversation.

#5- Dustin Kerns (Appalachian State)

Kerns has slowly but steadily built App State into a Sun Belt contender. If not for the incredible season James Madison is having then App State would be the favorites to win the Sun Belt. Kearns took the Mountaineers to the play-in round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament with what has been his lowest ranked team by advanced metrics in his five seasons at App State. Kerns success this season is built upon defense, with the 68th ranked defense per KenPom. When Auburn visited Boone in December the Mountaineers held on for the flagship win (credit to Bruce Pearl for continuing to play these games). In 26 years of KenPom data App State did not have any wins higher than 40th in KenPom, so the win over Auburn (currently 5th) might just end up being the best win in program history for a long time. The Mountaineers do however have a handful of stumbles, losses to Northern Illinois, Oregon State, UNC Asheville and most recently Troy will make building a resume around the Auburn win very difficult. After five years, Kerns may be ready for a move and has shown that he should be on Charlotte's list.

#NR- Will Wade (McNeese State)

It may have been a bit ambitious to list Wade in the last edition. After delving into the particulars of his contract it turns out Wade has a $1 Million buyout. While Charlotte should be able to offer a competitive salary, committing that sum to a buyout would have an impact on the salary ceiling for the head coach and their assistant pool. It's clear that Wade's intention, by agreeing to these figures, is to make an instant jump into high-major basketball which, unfortunately for the Niners, includes bypassing a program like Charlotte.

Charlotte Coaching Search Power Rankings (11/28)

The college basketball season is now three weeks old with a majority of early season tournaments in the books and several programs setting themselves apart from their preseason expectations, in one direction of the other. Several of the coaches listed in the first power rankings have built on their already solid resumes, and some newcomers have climbed onto my version of Charlotte's radar.

#1- Mark Byington (James Madison)

The Dukes started their season out on a high note, notching overtime road wins at both Michigan State  and Kent State (both NCAA Tournament teams last season). James Madison also dispatched of mid-major peers Southern Illinois and Fresno State en route to winning the Cancun Challenge. Byington's team have climbed from a preseason KenPom ranking of 136th up to 73rd. With no more projected Top 50 teams on their schedule the Dukes are favored in all but one if their remaining games (away at Appalachian State). If the Dukes stay focused they can pile up quite the large win tally by the end of the season.

#2- Justin Gray (Western Carolina)

The Wake Forest alum is in his 3rd-season as the Catamount's head coach, and in just his 5th-season coaching college basketball ever, having joined the Winthrop staff in 2019 following an international playing career. Western Carolina are 4-0 (versus D1 opponents), including road wins at Notre Dame and Middle Tennessee plus a home win over Will Wade's revived McNeese State program (more on that later). Gray's rapid adjustment to college basketball is remarkable, and if more established candidates are out of reach Gray is looking like a solid option to lead the Niners.

#3- Aaron Fearne (Charlotte)

The first six games for Charlotte have been encouraging but far from groundbreaking. It's clear that the hole in scoring left by Aly Khalifa and Brice Williams has set the offense back. However, the team is finally delivering on the effective defense which was first expected when Ron Sanchez was hired 5 years ago. Charlotte has only been outclassed in one game, a 12-point loss to a Liberty team which has since climbed into the KenPom Top 40. The victory over George Mason to open the Jacksonville Classic is the bright spot of the season, however, the UCF game exposed some weaknesses as Charlotte failed to close out the fame from a very favorable position.

UCF were playing a different class of athlete than Charlotte, and jumped out to an early 15-6 lead with Dishon Jackson already on the bench in foul trouble. But Coach Fearne fine tuned Charlotte's approach and the Niners found ways to score against their longer opponents while also slowing down their scoring, leading to a 39-21 run during the middle-half of the game. At this point, Dishon Jackson was reintroduced while having 4 fouls to his name. UCF immediately capitalized, by targetting Jackson on several possessions, scoring easy baskets and regaining momentum. Both in regulation and in overtime Charlotte held narrow late leads, but mental errors and poor free throw shooting opened the door to defeat, which UCF was more than happy to waltz through. 

At home against Georgia State the Niners fell into an early hole, as 5/9 3-point shooting propelled the Panthers to a 13-point lead just prior to half-time. In something foreign to Charlotte fans, an improved squad hit the floor following the intermission. The Niners scored the first 12 point of the 2nd-half, and while the lead traded hands a few times Charlotte always looked in control, going on a 10-0 run after the score was knotted at 53 to close out the game.

#4- Mike Jones (UNC Greensboro)

Coach Jones, according to some reports, may have been the closest coach to taking the Charlotte job back in June. Coach Jones is in his 3rd-season leading the Spartans after 10 years at Radford, where he had won at least 12 conference games in each of his final four seasons leading the Highlanders. So far UNC Greensboro have climbed up 92nd in KenPom (highest in the SoCon) as a result of their 5-1 record, including six-point win at Arkansas.

#5- Will Wade (McNeese State)

Well, well, well, look who we have here. Back in 2015 Will Wade flirted with the Charlotte job, but reports say he was not sold by then AD Judy Rose's pitch. Days later Wade would ultimately replace Shaka Smart at VCU, likely indicating any marriage at that point in time between Charlotte and Will Wade would have been short lived. But here we are 9-years later. Wade moved on to LSU from VCU, but things went sour during a recruiting scandal (involving things which can be done above-board these days). Wade took the McNeese State job to rebuild his career, and in-spite of being suspended for the first several games his team managed to spoil Ryan Odom's debut at VCU and has also taken Western Carolina to the wire. The Cowboys have a couple of tough tests remaining in the non-conference schedule (away games at UAB and Michigan) but are, at this point, the runaway favorites for the Southland Conference. It's easy to see Will Wade's tenure at McNeese State being a short one if the right opportunity presents itself.

Charlotte Coaching Search Power Rankings (Preseason)

Entering the season with an interim coach gives Charlotte supporters an interesting perspective, as we're essentially beginning the season amidst an active coaching search. A lot of names were tossed around in June after the resignation of Ron Sanchez, but ultimately the timing of his departure locked our fate into a season with an interim coach the moment he resigned. 

Charlotte's financial and NIL situations were scapegoats for the coaching search coming up dry, and  there is certainly a need for improvement on both of those fronts. However, the opportunity to spectate a program like West Virginia go through the same process and end with the same result offered some consolation to Charlotte's situation. Mike Hill is certainly not above criticism over his hiring tactics for Charlotte's two main sports, but the coaching search going the way it did shows that he had a well placed insistence on hiring a turnkey solution, meaning a head coach with meaningful experience and success. These rankings will be updated periodically as the season progresses based on how the coaches on our radar perform.

#1- Aaron Fearne (Charlotte)

Coach Fearne enters the season with the Charlotte job being his to lose. What exactly is the bar that must be cleared to win it? It's very hard to nail down but it should be obvious to everyone if and when it is cleared, much like with Rodney Terry at Texas last year. Certain benchmarks could make it clear: A deep run in the AAC Tournament or an invite to the NIT would show an ability to get the most out of a roster which has not been seen here for a long time. If there is a threat that Coach Fearne could be hired away to a peer program come March, that would be the clearest sign that Fearne is it.

#2- Bob Richey (Furman)

Richey's sustained level of success at Furman will have him at the top of a lot of lists by the time the season ends, and should be at the top of Charlotte's as well. Whether or not his next move is to a level beyond Charlotte is not yet written, but if any power conference program in the Southeast decided to move on from their coach I would imagine that Richey's agent would be one of the first to receive a phone call. No one would blame him for leaping to the ACC or SEC over Charlotte in that scenario.

#3- Mark Byington (James Madison)

Coach Byington is on the second stop of his career, and led James Madison to a 12-6 record their first season in the Sun Belt. Prior to coaching the Dukes, Byington spent seven years at Georgia Southern where he reached 20 wins four times and 10+ conference wins his last six seasons in charge. At only 47 years old he still has a lot of his career in front of him. He's an example of a coach that's already been rewarded for his display in the head coaching chair, and would bring that motivation to Charlotte. 

Note: This was written before James Madison's opening victory over Michigan State.

#4- Mike Morell (UNC Asheville)

Morell is coming off the first NCAA Tournament appearance in his young career. He rebuilt the Bulldogs from scratch following the departure of Nick McDevitt and showed clear improvement of quality in each year of his career, per KenPom rankings (347th > 302nd > 244th > 209th > 148th). Morell worked with Shaka Smart at VCU and Texas prior to becoming a head coach. His experience on the sidelines of programs at multiple levels of the sport, and geographic experience in North Carolina are both assets that could be used at Charlotte.

#5- Matt Langel (Colgate)

Langel is an outsider that we, and Mike Hill, need to keep our eyes on. The 45-year old is beginning his 13th season as a head coach, all of them at Colgate. He has led the Raiders to 23 or more wins four of the last five seasons, the only blemish being the 2020-21 season in which Colgate only played 16 games (going 14-2 and making the NCAA Tournament). Colgate has also represented the Patriot League in four of the last five tournaments, and would have been an NIT Auto-Bid in 2020 had the postseason not been cancelled. Langel is a 2000 Penn graduate, and was an assistant to Fran Dunphy at both Penn and Temple. Having been looked over for the Temple job a second time in spite of his success could motivate him to take a job in the Owls conference.

Retread Watch

#1- Mark Turgeon

Turgeon should be the highest priority retread candidate. He has sat through a couple of coaching cycles without being called back up to a Power 5 opening, which is on Charlotte's side in as much that he may need to take a job outside of that realm to get back into coaching. What puts Turgeon at the top of my retread list is he has seen success outside of the Power 5, having taken Wichita State to the 2006 Sweet Sixteen. While, admittedly, he fell short of expectations placed upon him at Maryland, his Terrapins were ranked 52nd or better in 9 of his 10 seasons as head coach. Coach Turgeon also made the NCAA Tournament all four of his seasons at Texas A&M.

#2- Chris Mack

Coach Mack has proven to be a coach worthy of our attention, the only checkmark he lacks which we are in need of is "program builder". He took over high quality programs at Xavier and Louisville and did a fantastic job of maintaining the high standards set by previous coaches. His tenure at Louisville unraveled due to scandal but the fall-off following his departure certainly cements the influence he can have over a program. Like with Bob Richey, Coach Mack will likely get offers from programs higher up the pecking order than Charlotte. The West Virginia job seems perfect for him, having spent his whole career in the Ohio River Valley. I was quite surprised Coach Mack didn't end up at West Virginia this summer. However, the transfer portal being closed would have hand-cuffed him this season, keeping a rebuilding season with minimal control off of his CV may have motivated him to sit out another year.

#3- Tom Crean

I really hope this is the only time his name shows up here.

#4- Stay tuned.

There are several retreads that Charlotte should welcome with open arms if the opportunity presents itself. Success outside of the Power 5 would be a great indicator for success at Charlotte. No one should be overlooked because expectations were not met at a program in a conference on a different financial plateau.

Contract Duffle Bag: Country Roads

It's mid-February, which can only mean that we all have one thing on our minds: 

Only six weeks until we can focus full-time on basketball schedule leaks!

Even though not all of us have checked out on this season (thanks a lot, Niners) I was relentless at filling out my collection of contracts FOIA request after FOIA request. As a result The D1 Docket will be ready for viewing earlier and with more information at launch than ever before. Given that for most programs actual basketball is still being played and dominating the news cycle I will keep tidying up The Docket through March, but look out for a big dump of information the morning after the National Championship game. 

However, last year I was caught flat-footed by perennial schedule early bird West Virginia dropping their non-conference schedule on March 4th, leading to a three and a half month wait for schedule number two. After a quick scan for when 2022 contracts were signed I scheduled a request to maximize my return.

2023-24 West Virginia Men’s Basketball Schedule (Tentative)
Date	Opponent	Location	Terms
November 10th	Monmouth	Morgantown, WV	$80k Guarantee
November 20th	TBD	Fort Myers, FL	Fort Myers’ Tip-Off (SMU, Virginia, Wisconsin)
November 22nd	TBD	Fort Myers, FL	Fort Myers’ Tip-Off (SMU, Virginia, Wisconsin)
November 26th	Bellarmine	Morgantown, WV	$80k Guarantee
December 9th	Drexel	Morgantown, WV	$75k Guarantee
December 16th	Massachusetts	Springfield, MA	1st Game of 2-Game Series
December 20th	Radford	Morgantown, WV	$90k Guarantee
December 30th	Toledo	Morgantown, WV	$85k Guarantee
TBD	Pittsburgh	Morgantown, WV	Rivalry Series

So far, the Mountaineers have 9 games on the books, with the date for the Backyard Brawl yet to be finalized. Opening night is still open for West Virginia, and the early December gap is ripe for a Big East-Big XII Battle game. 

Leaky Docket: Ole Miss' 2023 SEC Schedule

 Sources close to The D1 Docket have shared the preliminary SEC Schedule for Ole Miss. Mid-week games were yet to be determined when this information was shared.

• December 28th: Tennessee
• January 3rd/4th: @ Alabama
• January 7th: @ Mississippi State
• January 10th/11th: Auburn
• January 14th: Georgia
• January 17th/18th: @ South Carolina
• January 21st: @ Arkansas
• Jan 31st/Feb 1st: Kentucky
• February 4th: @ Vanderbilt
• February 7th/8th: @ Georgia
• February 11th: South Carolina
• February 14th/15th: @ Florida
• February 18th: Mississippi State
• February 21st/22nd: @ Auburn
• February 25th: LSU
• Feb 28th/Mar 1st: Texas A&M
• March 4th: @ Missouri

Early Season Event Bracket Predictions

Anticipated in the next week are the brackets for the ESPN operated and broadcasted multi-team exempt events. Eight of these events follow a standard 8-team, 3-round format. The line-up is usually highlighted by the Maui Invitational and the Battle 4 Atlantis, but this year the quinquennial (I looked this word up) tournaments honoring Nike figurehead Phil Knight join the fray of elite events. The other such events include the Myrtle Beach Invitational, Charleston Classic, ESPN Events Invitational at Disney World and the Diamondhead Invitational in Honolulu. 

Predictions for these tournaments were based off several factors, including favorable match-ups for presumed favorites, instigating rivalries and, in this active climate of conference realignment, keeping teams from the same conference on opposite sides of the bracket. 2023 preseason T-Ratings from Bart Torvik were used to classify the teams.

Charleston Classic

This event features a slew of teams from the Carolinas and Virginia but just one team cracking the Top 50 in preseason ratings, with Virginia Tech being at #22. This makes the Hokies the overwhelming favorite, likely earning them a favorable, and in-commonwealth, opponent in Old Dominion for round-one. 

On the other side of the bracket are three Palmetto State teams, the lowest ranked of which being from a power conference. A first-round match-up between form SoCon rivals Furman and Charleston will create an great atmosphere, with the game being played at Charleston's arena. The Gamecocks playing in the adjacent game will guarantee two games between teams from the host state, with either Furman or Charleston getting a shot at their SEC big brother.

Bracket Prediction

Virginia Tech vs. Old Dominion
Penn State vs. Davidson

Colorado State vs. South Carolina
Furman vs. Charleston

Myrtle Beach Invitational

This is another event with only one Top 50 team, however Loyola-Chicago is just on the outside at 51st, behind Texas A&M in 19th. This bracket is also complicated by joint A10 membership by Massachusetts and Loyola-Chicago, and a separate non-conference match-up between Texas A&M and Boise State. An Aggies-Ramblers final is what this bracket will lead towards, and match-ups against my, sigh, 49ers and the rebuilding Racers will help the odds of that happening.

 Bracket Prediction

Texas A&M vs. Charlotte
Colorado vs. Massachusetts

Boise State vs. Tulsa
Loyola-Chicago vs. Murray State

ESPN Events Invitational

The quality of this field would be on par with the premier events if not for the MAAC's token participant as tournament host, Siena, being ranked 329th entering the season. Six of the seven other teams are all in the Top 75, with Nebraska just missing out in 91st. The only limitation to this event is a non-conference game scheduled between Ole Miss and Memphis, splitting those teams in the bracket.

 Bracket Prediction

Memphis vs. Siena
Stanford vs. Seton Hall

Ole Miss vs. Florida State
Oklahoma vs. Nebraska

Diamondhead Invitational

This is a West Coast heavy field that is not brimming with a ton of quality, with 53rd ranked Washington State the early favorite. Aside from 67th ranked Utah State the remaining teams are between 132nd and 173rd. Rick Pitino's Iona Gaels always have the potential to make some noise while Hawaii's home court (and time zone) advantage could propel them far into the event.

Bracket Prediction

Washington State vs. Pepperdine
Hawaii vs. Seattle

Iona vs. SMU
Utah State vs. George Washington

Phil Knight Legacy

This is certainly an interesting field with two Top 5 teams, two teams outside the Top 250 and the remaining four all between 21st and 29th. Gonzaga and Duke will play what are essentially first round byes, I predict Duke to draw Oregon State as a move from the Deep State to keep a power conference win off Gonzaga's resume. A Gavitt Games match-up between Xavier and West Virginia should split these two teams to opposite sides of the bracket. There is no way to sort out the four middle teams that wouldn't create a compelling first round.

 Bracket Prediction

Gonzaga vs. Portland State
Xavier vs. Purdue

Florida vs. West Virginia
Duke vs. Oregon State

Phil Knight Invitational

The local representative in this Phil Knight tournament definitely has more bite than their cross-town rival. The Portland Pilots should be locks to face of against the 4th-ranked Tar Heels, but are good enough to give any of the participants trouble, especially in front of a home crowd. The bracket needs to split up Big East members Connecticut and Villanova, which slots in Iowa State as the first round opponent for the Wildcats in Kyle Neptune's first spotlight game at the helm. 

 Bracket Prediction

North Carolina vs. Portland
Michigan State vs. Connecticut

Oregon vs. Alabama
Villanova vs. Iowa State

Battle 4 Atlantis

The fields keep getting better as we go, with Butler at 101st taking on the role of caboose to this field. However, it would not shock anyone to see Thad Matta outplay that initial prediction. Kansas and Tennessee get split up to set-up a final round game between the two Rop-10 teams. And who could resist the urge to showcase a future Big Ten rivalry and pit some Mormons against some Catholics?

 Bracket Prediction

Tennessee vs. Butler
Dayton vs. BYU

USC vs. Wisconsin
Kansas vs. NC State

Maui Invitational

This year's Maui field lives up to this event's reputation, including three teams in the Top 15 and no team ranked lower than 89th, in rebuilding Louisville. Arkansas and Texas Tech share one side of a bracket, setting up a potential South West Conference throwback. On the other side of the bracket Arizona and San Diego State could meet in a celebration of West Coast hoops, but Creighton may have other ideas.

 Bracket Prediction

Arizona vs. Louisville
San Diego State vs. Creighton

Texas Tech vs. Cincinnati
Arkansas vs. Ohio State

Contract Duffle Bag: July 15th, 2022

Division 1 has started to show some signs of life with 10 schools having released their schedules this week and on top of that contract duffle bags keep popping up. Below is a list of game contract received in the last week:

Game: Cal State Fullerton vs. Pepperdine
Date: November 11th, 2022
Terms: 1st game of 2-Game Series, Site of 1st game is TBD

Game: Princeton at UMBC
Date: November 14th, 2022
Terms: 2nd game of 2-Game Series

Game: Cal State Fullerton at Pacific
Date: November 18th, 2022
Terms: 1st game of 2-Game Series

Game: Western Illinois at UT Rio Grande Valley
Date: November 21st, 2022
Terms: 1st game of 2-Game in-season Series

Game: Marist at Maryland-Eastern Shore
Date: November 22nd, 2022
Terms: 1st game of 2-Game Series

Game: Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at Lamar
Date: November 24th, 2022
Terms: 2nd game of 2-Game Series

Game: Lamar at SMU
Date: November 27th, 2022
Terms:  $80,000 Guarantee

Game: Coppin State at UMBC
Date: November 30th, 2022
Terms: 1st game of 2-Game Series

Game: Lehigh at Maryland-Eastern Shore
Date: November 30th, 2022
Terms: 2nd game of 2-Game Series

Game: Northern Illinois at Eastern Illinois
Date: November 30th, 2022
Terms: 2nd game of 2-Game Series

Game: Maryland-Eastern Shore at Liberty
Date: December 2nd, 2022
Terms: $60,000 Guarantee

Game: UMBC at Lehigh
Date: December 3rd, 2022
Terms: 1st game of 2-Game Series

Game: UT Rio Grande Valley at Western Illinois
Date: December 3rd, 2022
Terms: 2nd game of 2-Game in-season Series

Game: Brown at Rhode Island
Date: December 7th, 2022
Terms: Perpetual Series

Game: Maryland-Eastern Shore at George Mason
Date: December 6th, 2022
Terms: $65,000 Guarantee

Game: Ball State at Eastern Illinois
Date: December 7th, 2022
Terms: 2nd game of 2-Game Series

Game: UMBC at Loyola-Maryland
Date: December 13th, 2022
Terms: 1st game of 2-Game Series

Game: Maryland-Eastern Shore at Columbia
Date: December 28th, 2022
Terms: $25,000 Guarantee    

Contract Duffle Bag: July 8th, 2022

The first sign that the 2020-21 season would not go as planned was at the slow pace at which teams released their non-conference schedules. However, this rate appears to the new norm as the quantity of released schedules thru early July remains in single-digits, while from 2014-2019 that total was between 38 and 64. The most likely factor to this could be the growing divide, financially, between the power conferences and the rest of the division. This gap is on full display in conference realignment tug of war being played out the last two summers. Behind the scenes it is playing out differently as more and more teams find themselves looking to collect guarantee checks rather than writing them.

While complete schedules are few and far between, the non-conference canvas is still being pieced together, and somehow these contracts keep finding their way into my duffle bag.

Below are a collection of contracts received in the last couple of weeks:

Game: Eastern Illinois at Illinois
Date: November 7th, 2022
Terms: $100,000 Guarantee

Game: Alabama A&M at Illinois
Date: December 17th, 2022
Terms: $92,500 Guarantee

Game: Bethune-Cookman at Illinois
Date: December 29th, 2022
Terms: $95,000 Guarantee

Game: Tarleton State at Arizona State
Date: November 7th, 2022
Terms: $80,000 Guarantee

Game: Weber State at Tarleton State 
Date: November 29th, 2022
Terms: 2nd game of 2-Game Series

Game: Maryland-Eastern Shore at Charlotte
Date: November 14th, 2022
Terms: $60,000 Guarantee

Game: Presbyterian at Charlotte
Date: November 26th, 2022
Terms: $65,000 Guarantee

Game: Appalachian State at Charlotte
Date: December 2nd, 2022
Terms: 4th game of 4-game series

Game: Navy at William & Mary
Date: November 7th, 2022
Terms: 2nd game of 2 Game Series

Game: William & Mary at Old Dominion
Date: December 7th, 2022
Terms: 1st game of 4-Game Series

Game: William & Mary at UMBC
Date: December 18th, 2022
Terms: 1st game of 2-Game Series

Game: Montana at Southern Miss
Date: November 29th, 2022
Terms: Return game for MTE participation

Game: Maryland-Eastern Shore at Old Dominion
Date: November 7th, 2022
Terms: $70,000 Guarantee

Game: East Carolina at Old Dominion
Date: November 26th, 2022
Terms: 2nd game of 2-Game Series

Game: Old Dominion at Charleston
Date: November 29th, 2022
Terms: 2nd game of 2-Game Series

Game: Valparaiso at Toledo
Date: November 7th, 2022
Terms: 2nd game of 2-Game Series

Game: Toledo at George Mason
Date: December 3rd, 2022
Terms: 1st game of 2-Game Series

Game: Toledo at Marshall
Date: December 17th, 2022
Terms: 3rd game of 4-Game Series

Game: Toledo at Vermont
Date: December 20th, 2022
Terms: 1st game of 2-Game Series

Game: Alcorn State at Stephen F. Austin
Date: November 15th, 2022
Terms: $48,000 Guarantee

Game: Jackson State at Stephen F. Austin
Date: December 2nd, 2022
Terms: $50,000 Guarantee

Contract Duffle Bag: VMI & Radford

Two Virginia schools released their contracts to The D1 Docket in the last week, the Interstate 81 corridor neighbors of VMI and Radford also happen to be playing each other for just the 3rd time since VMI departed the Big South for the Southern Conference in 2014.

Both teams are also playing in MTE's hosted by other in-commonwealth institutions. Radford will visit William & Mary for a 3-team MTE, also facing Army West Point in Williamsburg while VMI will visit Longwood for a 4-team MTE which also includes SIU-Edwardsville and Fairleigh Dickinson.

Radford Highlanders Tentative 2022-23 Men’s Basketball Non-Conference Schedule
Date	Opponent	Site	Terms
Nov. 7, 2022	Marquette	Milwaukee, WI	$95,000 Guarantee
Nov. 10, 2022	Notre Dame	South Bend, IN	$85,000 Guarantee
Nov. 20, 2022	Army West Point	Williamsburg, VA	William & Mary MTE
Nov. 23, 2022	William & Mary	Williamsburg, VA	William & Mary MTE
Dec. 4, 2022	George Washington	Radford, VA	2nd leg, Home & Home
Dec. 10, 2022	VMI	Lexington, VA	1st leg, Home & Home
Dec. 17, 2022	Eastern Kentucky	Richmond, KY	2nd leg, Home & Home
Dec. 14, 2022	VCU	Richmond, VA	$85,000 Guarantee
Dec. 21, 2022	Kansas State	Manhattan, KS	$90,000 Guarantee

Along with previously revealed games at Marquette, Notre Dame and Kansas State the Highlanders will also play a guarantee game at VCU in mid-December. Radford will also wrap-up series with George Washington and Eastern Kentucky

VMI Keydets Tentative 2022-23 Men’s Basketball Non-Conference Schedule
Date	Opponent	Site	Terms
Nov. 7, 2022	Richmond	Richmond, VA	$80,000 Guarantee
Nov. 13, 2022	Davidson	Davidson, NC	$80,000 Guarantee
Nov. 18, 2022	SIU-Edwardsville/ Fairleigh Dickinson/ Longwood	Farmville, VA	Longwood MTE
Nov. 19, 2022	SIU-Edwardsville/ Fairleigh Dickinson/ Longwood	Farmville, VA	Longwood MTE
Nov. 20, 2022	SIU-Edwardsville/ Fairleigh Dickinson/ Longwood	Farmville, VA	Longwood MTE
Dec. 3, 2022	Navy	Lexington, VA	No other terms.
Dec. 10, 2022	Radford	Lexington, VA	1st leg, Home & Home
Dec. 22, 2022	Fordham	Bronx, NY	$80,000 Guarantee

VMI will open the season with two Atlantic 10 Guarantee games in the first week, with trips to Richmond and Davidson. A visit from Navy will start the month of December, while a trip to the Bronx for a 3rd Atlantic 10 guarantee game at Fordham will be the Keydets final game before Christmas.