Arizona basketball's non conference schedule is complete 👀

[KansasCityCats]

To prove how difficult it is to schedule home and home matchups...check out how many power 5 schools traveled to Spokane prior to last season: prior to last season, nobody visited the Zags since the winter of 2012 (ironically, Baylor, Illinois and WVU).

Gonzaga plays away and at neutral sites to compensate for being in a weak conference.

We need to do the same, but our overall SOS is never below the D-1 average.

[eggdog]

The thing is Duke and all your other top programs play in tough conferences so the non-conference is not as important to them as it would be for a program like Arizona who's stuck in the Pac 12. Just take a look at Gonzaga's schedule home games against Washington and A&M, at the road against a top 10 UNC and at Creighton, neutral game against another top 10 team in Tennessee and a slot in the Maui tournament. That's the type of non-conference Arizona needs to schedule in my opinion especially with the state the Pac 12 has been in recently.

And our schedule isn't bad Gonzaga is a legit top 10-15 squad, Baylor and NMSU are tournament teams and Illinois should be improved but is playing one top 15 team all year really preparing us for a deep run in the tournament. If we had scheduled a legitimate non conference tournament I think I'd be good with the schedule as it is but the field for the Wooden Legacy leaves a lot to be desired.

Many great points here. The biggest problem is the PAC-12 was not much better than the West Coast Conference last season and we need the rest of the league to step up. As it is we probably need to schedule more like a Gonzaga than a Duke given the level of play in conference.

[MDcAtZ]

The thing is Duke and all your other top programs play in tough conferences so the non-conference is not as important to them as it would be for a program like Arizona who's stuck in the Pac 12. Just take a look at Gonzaga's schedule home games against Washington and A&M, at the road against a top 10 UNC and at Creighton, neutral game against another top 10 team in Tennessee and a slot in the Maui tournament. That's the type of non-conference Arizona needs to schedule in my opinion especially with the state the Pac 12 has been in recently.

And our schedule isn't bad Gonzaga is a legit top 10-15 squad, Baylor and NMSU are tournament teams and Illinois should be improved but is playing one top 15 team all year really preparing us for a deep run in the tournament. If we had scheduled a legitimate non conference tournament I think I'd be good with the schedule as it is but the field for the Wooden Legacy leaves a lot to be desired.

Many great points here. The biggest problem is the PAC-12 was not much better than the West Coast Conference last season and we need the rest of the league to step up. As it is we probably need to schedule more like a Gonzaga than a Duke given the level of play in conference.

Agree with both of you. It's ridiculous that Arizona should now have to schedule like a mid-major. Fucking Larry Scott!and the idiots in SF have absolutely killed the conference.

[Liquidated]

I would rather schedule Grand Canyon over Northern Arizona.

I'd rather not play a for profit religious school.

But not for profit instruments of the state are OK?

[eggdog]

Agree with both of you. It's ridiculous that Arizona should now have to schedule like a mid-major. Fucking Larry Scott!and the idiots in SF have absolutely killed the conference.

Washington and Oregon seem to be doing well and even ASU is better than usual but what happened to the Cali schools? UCLA, USC, Stanford and Cal used to be good/great pretty consistently and they've become almost entirely irrelevant by tourney time. Utah isn't far behind them either.

[Liquidated]

UCF, Baylor and NMSU all figure to be worse next year, they all lost key players. But let's say that Taco returns and they are all as good as they were last year.

PBCatfan is right - they do not prepare us for the tournament. Preparing for the tournament means playing final four teams, the best of the best. On neutral sites, fine... nothing wrong with that. Literally 1 ranked team is not going to cut it.

The TV revenue from a Kentucky-AZ match up (for example) in Los Angeles or Chicago or New York would more than offset any lost home revenue.

UNC last year played:

Stanford (in a home and home series)
Texas (Las Vegas Invitational)
UCLA (Las Vegas Invitational)
Michigan (ACC-Big10 challenge)
Gonzaga (@UNC)
Kentucky (CBS Challenge - Chicago)

All but Stanford were ranked when they played... I included Stanford because if UNC will do home and home with them, why wouldn't they with us?

Baylor, New Mexico State and UCF are not Michigan, Kentucky or even UCLA or Texas.

[eggdog]

UCF, Baylor and NMSU all figure to be worse next year, they all lost key players. But let's say that Taco returns and they are all as good as they were last year.

PBCatfan is right - they do not prepare us for the tournament. Preparing for the tournament means playing final four teams, the best of the best. On neutral sites, fine... nothing wrong with that. Literally 1 ranked team is not going to cut it.

The TV revenue from a Kentucky-AZ match up (for example) in Los Angeles or Chicago or New York would more than offset any lost home revenue.

UNC last year played:

Stanford (in a home and home series)
Texas (Las Vegas Invitational)
UCLA (Las Vegas Invitational)
Michigan (ACC-Big10 challenge)
Gonzaga (@UNC)
Kentucky (CBS Challenge - Chicago)

All but Stanford were ranked when they played... I included Stanford because if UNC will do home and home with them, why wouldn't they with us?

Baylor, New Mexico State and UCF are not Michigan, Kentucky or even UCLA or Texas.

You're right about UCF, Baylor and NMSU - Tacko is gone and they lost Dawkins kid so they should take a big step back. St. John's also lost just about everyone. I'm not sure when those games were scheduled but sometimes you schedule a school when they're doing well and by the time you play them they're having a down year, like we saw last year with UConn and Alabama. In 2014 we played possibly the worst Michigan team who was coming off an elite 8 appearance so some of this you can't control. If you count tournaments and the other challenges we did play Iowa State, Gonzaga, Auburn, and Baylor last season - that's one final four team and Gonzaga who many expected to make it that far. That's not a terrible schedule. This year's schedule is lacking for sure but the weak Wooden field really hurts as the Iowa State, Gonzaga and Auburn games were set up for us.

And I don't think Kansas scheduling ASU or UNC playing Stanford means they'd consider us just because we're in the same conference since playing in McKale is much more difficult than playing at those other schools, outside last season you're pretty much guaranteed to put an L on your record.

[MDcAtZ]

UCF, Baylor and NMSU all figure to be worse next year, they all lost key players. But let's say that Taco returns and they are all as good as they were last year.

PBCatfan is right - they do not prepare us for the tournament. Preparing for the tournament means playing final four teams, the best of the best. On neutral sites, fine... nothing wrong with that. Literally 1 ranked team is not going to cut it.

The TV revenue from a Kentucky-AZ match up (for example) in Los Angeles or Chicago or New York would more than offset any lost home revenue.

UNC last year played:

Stanford (in a home and home series)
Texas (Las Vegas Invitational)
UCLA (Las Vegas Invitational)
Michigan (ACC-Big10 challenge)
Gonzaga (@UNC)
Kentucky (CBS Challenge - Chicago)

All but Stanford were ranked when they played... I included Stanford because if UNC will do home and home with them, why wouldn't they with us?

Baylor, New Mexico State and UCF are not Michigan, Kentucky or even UCLA or Texas.

You're right about UCF, Baylor and NMSU - Tacko is gone and they lost Dawkins kid so they should take a big step back. St. John's also lost just about everyone. I'm not sure when those games were scheduled but sometimes you schedule a school when they're doing well and by the time you play them they're having a down year, like we saw last year with UConn and Alabama. In 2014 we played possibly the worst Michigan team who was coming off an elite 8 appearance so some of this you can't control. If you count tournaments and the other challenges we did play Iowa State, Gonzaga, Auburn, and Baylor last season - that's one final four team and Gonzaga who many expected to make it that far. That's not a terrible schedule. This year's schedule is lacking for sure but the weak Wooden field really hurts as the Iowa State, Gonzaga and Auburn games were set up for us.

And I don't think Kansas scheduling ASU or UNC playing Stanford means they'd consider us just because we're in the same conference since playing in McKale is much more difficult than playing at those other schools, outside last season you're pretty much guaranteed to put an L on your record.

You guys apparently have not seen the most recent preseason rankings. Baylor is in almost every ranking now ... usually ahead of Arizona.

Gary Parrish: 20
Jon Rothstein: 13
Andy Katz: 17

So not sure how Baylor figures to be worse than last year... guess we're making shit up again. Illinois is starting to get attention, and nothing indicating NMS won't win the WAC again, and be a tournament team again.

If Illinois achieves (Andy Katz has them at 21), and Gonzaga and Baylor stay ranked, that's three ranked opponents... but I guess anything short of 9 ranked opponents is a cupcake schedule.

[eggdog]

You guys apparently have not seen the most recent preseason rankings. Baylor is in almost every ranking now ... usually ahead of Arizona.

Gary Parrish: 20
Jon Rothstein: 13
Andy Katz: 17

So not sure how Baylor figures to be worse than last year... guess we're making shit up again. Illinois is starting to get attention, and nothing indicating NMS won't win the WAC again, and be a tournament team again.

If Illinois achieves (Andy Katz has them at 21), and Gonzaga and Baylor stay ranked, that's three ranked opponents... but I guess anything short of 9 ranked opponents is a cupcake schedule.

My bad, I missed that - thanks for pointing it out. I do think the Wooden tourney field is pretty weak compared to the Iowa State, Gonzaga, Auburn games we played last season but there's nothing we can do about it now - we've just got to go out and beat whoever's on our schedule. With so many new faces next season having a weaker schedule might actually allow more players to get pt early on and we should be much better in March than we will be to start the season.

[MDcAtZ]

You guys apparently have not seen the most recent preseason rankings. Baylor is in almost every ranking now ... usually ahead of Arizona.

Gary Parrish: 20
Jon Rothstein: 13
Andy Katz: 17

So not sure how Baylor figures to be worse than last year... guess we're making shit up again. Illinois is starting to get attention, and nothing indicating NMS won't win the WAC again, and be a tournament team again.

If Illinois achieves (Andy Katz has them at 21), and Gonzaga and Baylor stay ranked, that's three ranked opponents... but I guess anything short of 9 ranked opponents is a cupcake schedule.

My bad, I missed that - thanks for pointing it out. I do think the Wooden tourney field is pretty weak compared to the Iowa State, Gonzaga, Auburn games we played last season but there's nothing we can do about it now - we've just got to go out and beat whoever's on our schedule. With so many new faces next season having a weaker schedule might actually allow more players to get pt early on and we should be much better in March than we will be to start the season.

No worries. I agree, the Wooden Classic is a bit of a dud, but that's kinda beyond Arizona's control. The Maui tournament is one of the only tournaments guaranteed to produce top competition.