2016-17 Non-Conference Schedule

[TheSultan]

They do lose their top 3 scorers and leading rebounder, but they also had some young guys who got some minutes. Like others, I have no issues with this and is also a team from the northeast, which is important for exposure

They play in a conference where they play road games in Providence, New York, New Jersey, Philadelphia and Washington.

They don't need some crap game on a Monday in December to give them exposure in the northeast.

[Alan Bykowski, "brewcity77"]

St. Francis loses three senior starters, but will likely have three seniors starting this year as well. Coach Krimmel had increased his wins each season and was on pace to do that last year before a late losing streak after some injuries. I think they'll have a decent shot at being a 12-14 win team, which is good enough for me. We don't need great teams, just good enough.

[TheSultan]

St. Francis loses three senior starters, but will likely have three seniors starting this year as well. Coach Krimmel had increased his wins each season and was on pace to do that last year before a late losing streak after some injuries. I think they'll have a decent shot at being a 12-14 win team, which is good enough for me. We don't need great teams, just good enough.

And I think regardless of who the last game is against, Marquette did a good job with this schedule. Good enough to get them in the dance with a solid BE season. (Assuming they perform well against it.)

[Alan Bykowski, "brewcity77"]

And I think regardless of who the last game is against, Marquette did a good job with this schedule. Good enough to get them in the dance with a solid BE season. (Assuming they perform well against it.)

I really like this schedule. Personally, I advocate for scheduling the middle. Play high-major teams that you expect to be bubble teams or slightly worse. Those teams don't really hurt you if you lose but look good on the resume and RPI if you win. I'd much rather play teams in the 50-100 range than the top-50. Safer, and have a similar RPI benefit as long as they can win 20 or so games. Then try to schedule buy games in the 150-250 range. Lower than that hurts you, higher gives the risk of a loss. The teams that can win 12-18 games on the season are all valuable.

I think the key to good buy games is focusing on teams that consistently win in conference. That's the bulk of their games on the season, so as long as they can do okay there, they'll be okay for your RPI. That's why I like Western Carolina and St. Francis. Neither may be great teams, but their coaches are veterans of the leagues they are in and have shown they can at least be competitive. That's all you really need. Avoid the teams that win single-digit games and you're doing pretty well.

[warriorfan4life]

I really like this schedule. Personally, I advocate for scheduling the middle. Play high-major teams that you expect to be bubble teams or slightly worse. Those teams don't really hurt you if you lose but look good on the resume and RPI if you win. I'd much rather play teams in the 50-100 range than the top-50. Safer, and have a similar RPI benefit as long as they can win 20 or so games. Then try to schedule buy games in the 150-250 range. Lower than that hurts you, higher gives the risk of a loss. The teams that can win 12-18 games on the season are all valuable.

I think the key to good buy games is focusing on teams that consistently win in conference. That's the bulk of their games on the season, so as long as they can do okay there, they'll be okay for your RPI. That's why I like Western Carolina and St. Francis. Neither may be great teams, but their coaches are veterans of the leagues they are in and have shown they can at least be competitive. That's all you really need. Avoid the teams that win single-digit games and you're doing pretty well.

I love this schedule for where we currently are as a program. Solid enough to get to 10-2/9-3 with decent wins, but not so daunting that we should not win any less then 8 non-conference games. Not a schedule that screams protected seed, but a schedule that can certainly get an at-large with 19-20 overall wins.

Now, if we can get back to being a top 20 program, I would want a couple of stiffer challenges (Nova or X likely has zero or one losses against this schedule). However, we are not ready for a schedule with multiple top 25 teams out of conference, and wisely picked a schedule against programs at similar levels currently or worse.

[MU/Panther]

Wednesday, Dec. 21
SIU-Edwardsville

Coach by Jon Harris

[Alan Bykowski, "brewcity77"]

SIUE is probably the weakest team on paper. However, they return 4 of their top 6 in terms of minutes (lost starting PG to transfer) as well as their top two scorers. They have 5 incoming freshmen as well. I don't expect them to be a great team, but they should improve on last season, they play in a strong mid-major, and Harris scheduled tougher than his predecessor ever did in his first year. There are always going to be 2-3 bad teams on any schedule, and if this is the worst, I'll happily take it.

[MU/Panther]

I think the non-conference schedule "buy games" are great! The bar was set at an all time low last season, this year it had to be better, but I was scared it wasn't going to happen. Fresno State, Western Carolina, St. Francis, Houston Baptist and SIU Edwardsville is how I would rank them that Marquette scheduled. Don't know to what control MU has in the 2K Classic in getting IUPUI and Howard.

Sure beat last season Grambling, Chicago State, Presbyterian, Maine, Stetson and San Jose State that finish sub-300 last season.

[MayorBeluga]

Wednesday, Dec. 21
SIU-Edwardsville

Coach by Jon Harris

No one can really object to hosting family in a buy game

[MU/Panther]

No one can really object to hosting family in a buy game

Agree. Very close location as well.