Contract Unload: Utah State

The Docket has obtained contracts from Utah State University. Below are the games that Utah State has agreed to play in per these contracts. All games reported have had contracts signed by all parties, but are still subject to being amended at the discretion of both parties.

Date	Opponent	Terms
November 10th	UC IRVINE	$90,000 Guarantee
November 18th	TBD (Conway, SC; Myrtle Beach Inv)
November 19th	TBD (Conway, SC; Myrtle Beach Inv)
November 21st	TBD (Conway, SC; Myrtle Beach Inv)
November 27th	NEW ORLEANS	$90,000 Guarantee
December 5th	BYU	5-year Series
December 12th	SAINT MARY’S	Home & Home
December 15th	DIXIE STATE	$60,000 Guarantee
December 18th	@ WEBER STATE	6-year Home & Home
December 21st	Mississippi State (Panama City, FL	$10,000 Entry Fee

Utah State is currently locked into 10 non-conference games, including the Myrtle Beach Invitational, an exempt event. Utah State is a member of the Mountain West Conference with a league slate of 18 games in 2020-21. They are locked into 28 of the 31 games they are eligible to compete in this season.

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. 

Contract Unload: Long Beach State

The Docket has obtained contracts from California State University, Long Beach. Below are the games that Long Beach State has agreed to play in per these contracts. All games reported have had contracts signed by all parties, but are still subject to being amended at the discretion of both parties.

Date	Opponent	Terms
November 16th	@ VIRGINIA	$80,000 Guarantee
November 20th	TBD (St. Thomas, USVI ; Paradise Jam)
November 21st/22nd	TBD (St. Thomas, USVI ; Paradise Jam)
November 23rd	TBD (St. Thomas, USVI ; Paradise Jam)
December 4th	@ SAN DIEGO	Home & Home
December 6th	SEATTLE	Home & Home
December 11th	@ CAL BAPTIST	$80,000 Guarantee

Long Beach State is currently locked into 8 non-conference games, including the Paradise Jam, an exempt event. Long Beach State is a member of the Big West Conference with a league slate of 20 games in 2020-21. If Long Beach State is eligible to schedule three more non-conference games in addition to the games listed above.

Contract Unload: North Texas

Contract Unload: North Texas

The Docket has just obtained contracts from The University of North Texas. Below are the games that North Texas has agreed to play in per these contracts. All games reported have had contracts signed by all parties, but are still subject to being amended or terminated at the discretion of both parties. Several games have already been disclosed via open records requests to other institutions and diligence from other media outlets.

Date	Opponent	Terms
November 17th	@ LSU	$95,000 Guarantee
November 29th	CHICAGO STATE	$75,000 Guarantee
December 2nd	@ WICHITA STATE	$75,000 Guarantee
December 6th	@ MISSISSIPPI STATE	$95,000 Guarantee
December 15th	ARKANSAS-PINE BLUFF	$85,000 Guarantee
December 18th	HOUSTON BAPTIST	$70,000 Guarantee
December 22nd	TBD (Honolulu, HI Diamond Head Classic)
December 23rd	TBD (Honolulu, HI Diamond Head Classic)
December 25th	cv TBD (Honolulu, HI Diamond Head Classic)

Other records obtained from North Texas reveal potential opponents and dates on the Mean Green's schedule, opponents will not be disclosed since games are yet to be finalized with the exception of one game, which was part of an ongoing series.

Date	Opponent	Terms
November 13th	@ Undisclosed Power Conf. Team	-
November 20th	Undisclosed Southland Conf. Team	-
November 23rd	UT ARLINGTON	Tow For One
December 10th	Undisclosed Non-D1 Team	-
December 13th	Undisclosed Non-D1 Team	-

Records also indicate that North Texas is pursuing participation in an exempt event. A full field for this event has already been announced, so out of respect for the process these details will not be shared until anything is finalized but The D1 Docket is working to secure the correct information at the moment.

These contracts lock North Texas into 7 non-conference contests and pursuing an additional 7 games, North Texas is a member of the Conference USA with a league slate of 18 games. In total, the Mean Green is committed to 25 games with the option to add 6 more contests of the 7 it is pursuing to their schedule.

Edit: Jon Rothstein reported what documents indicated, which is that North Texas intends to replace Western Michigan in the 2020 Diamond Head Classic

Contract Unload: Radford

Contract Unload: Radford

The Docket has just obtained contracts from Radford University. Below are the games that Radford has agreed to play in per these contracts. All games reported have had contracts signed by all parties, but are still subject to being amended at the discretion of both parties.

Date	Opponent	Terms
Hall of Fame Classic		$150,000 Guarantee
November 12th	@ SOUTH CAROLINA	HOF Classic
November TBD	@ TCU	HOF Classic
November TBD	ELON	HOF Classic
November TBD	@ NORFOLK STATE	HOF Classic
November 17th	@ VMI	Home & Home
November 27th	@ JAMES MADISON	Home & Home
December 5th	LIBERTY	Home & Home
December 12th	@ NC STATE	$85,000 Guarantee
December 16th	@ EAST CAROLINA	$60,000 Guarantee
December 19th	@ VANDERBILT	$85,000 Guarantee

These contracts lock Radford into 10 non-conference contests, Radford is a member of the Big South Conference with a league slate of 18 games. In total, Radford is committed to 28 games with the option to add 3 more contests to their schedule

Contract Unload: Morehead State

Contract Unload: Morehead State

The Docket has just obtained contracts from Morehead State University, below are the games Morehead State has agreed to play in per these contracts. All games reported have had contracts signed by all parties, but are still subject to being amended at the discretion of both parties.

Date	Opponent	Terms
November 10th	XAVIER	-
November 17th	PRESBYTERIAN	HOME & HOME
December 2nd	NORTH ALABAMA	HOME & HOME
December 13th	@ SAMFORD	H & H & H & H
December 15th	@ CLEMSON	$90,000 Guarantee
December 22nd	@ OHIO STATE	$95,000 Guarantee

These contracts, along with previously announced games at Xavier and Ohio State, locks Morehead State 6 games, none of which are tied to an exempt event, Morehead State is a member of the Ohio Valley Conference with a league slate of 18 games. If Morehead State agrees to participate in an exempt event they can have up to 31 games on their scheduling, leaving them with up to 7 games to fill their schedule with.