BT projections
Robert Morris - 263
Charleston Southern - 291
Eastern Illinois - 334
St. Francis PA - 282
Maine - 310
Alabama A&M - 295
3 Likes
Even if they bombed in Maui the field is strong
Arizona
Arkansas
Cinci
Creighton
Louisville
SDSU
Texas Tech
Maybe Louisville was terrible last year 100+ in ken pom, Cinci was 101, but the rest of the field was in the ken pom top 25 except Creighton 50th. On the surface at worst they will get 2 top 30 ken pom teams imo. That ends up being a pretty good non conference schedule with UNC/Duke.
1 Like
on Kenpom (which is still 2022 rear-facing) Alabama A&M is the best of these at 314
1 Like
They are playing Maui , @Duke and CBS game right? 5 HM games away from home/neutral is pretty significant.
3 Likes
thatās only part of the equation. the committee doesnāt smile upon that many Q4 sub-300 anchors
no @steve Iām standing my ground
5 Likes
Texas Tech was a 3 seed last year and their non conference schedule was
North Florida
Praire View AM
Incarnate Word
Lamar
Omaha
Alabama St
Eastern Washington
Grambling State
Gonzaga
Tennessee
Providence
they also went 14-7 in a historically good Big 12
Iām not making an argument about the OSU team one way or another. Six KP-300s just seems like a lot
2 Likes
Definitely sucks for season ticket holders. I think thereās a very fine line for a high major between a āschedule hackā approach that doesnāt feature a lot of big high majors or MTEs but has a bunch of āslightly better than normalā buy games and scheduling a bunch of high profile games but having a lot of bad buy games.
As a CBB fan, Iād rather see more good games. OSU has traditionally not really played in MTEs, so I think this is a step forward for them in many ways.
1 Like
I would agree with that. Unfortunately programs donāt care about that they just want your money Michigan will still sell every ticket for Lipscomb so it wouldnāt matter if it was Kansas/UConn/Syracuse etcā¦ The atmosphere would be better for bigger teams but programs donāt care about that.
Virginia is the highest caliber team coming to Crisler this year and thatās fine. Nobody really does home and homes anymore. I mean Michigan is trying to do that with Kentucky but I still doubt Kentucky makes the trip to Ann Arbor.
I think Juwan has been good, borderline masterful in his first three years at the schedule hack. 2-3 bodybags, 2-3 mediums, 2-3 HMs etc. I felt last yearās was too hardā¦but it got us our bid despite our W-L record. 2020 was projected as a 6-seed by KP at 19-12 (10-10), although it helped that the B1G was #1 that year. 21 was an interesting warmup as we ended up much better in conference play than in the noncon.
2021 is basically a throwaway with COVID, but thatās an example of the kind of schedule I donāt like when teams do. In reality, thatās probably the best type of schedule to try to maximize NCAA Tournament resume, but it isnāt what leads to the best basketball. Itās fine for a mid-major or whatever, but U-M needs to focus on playing good games.
Not really sure we know what Juwan wants in a schedule yet. He seems to like big neutral games (Kentucky in London, Charlotte/Jordan series) which Iām okay with in a vacuum but it feels like those might come at the cost of home-and-homes.
The only new H&Hs he has schedule are UK 3-gamer (which feels unlikely to happen) and UCF.
From what weāve seen, U-M schedule construct will probably be: 2/3 MTE, ACC, Jumpman Game then maybe Gavitt (or some other type of showcase game?). Iād like to see a home-and-home series that mirrors the Big Ten/ACC.
And to be clear, replacing home and homes with neutral games isnāt wrong. Itās probably better from a lot of different POVs, but I personally love actual non con home and homes in CBB.
3 Likes
I am okay with neutral sites for Michigan basketball because our fanbase is so strong across the world. They are usually a significant crowd advantage for us. In composite, one neutral site game > one Crisler game + one true road game (especially vs a Kentucky type program)
not super mathematical, just my anecdotal impression
2 Likes
Thatās 5 or 6 games alone right there and you have to add in 2 B1G games in December, I think thatās enough. There arenāt enough gaps in the schedule to work around those 2 games, exams, holidays etc. and keep it reasonable. Yes avoid the 300+ teams but especially and young unproven team like we have this year, I would like to give them a little runway (In fairnessā¦our MTE and lack of competition helps with that this year.)
This year, right now it is 5 games: 2 NYC, 1 London, 1 Charlotte, Big Ten/ACC.
The question (as far as Iām concerned) is whether you would rather focus on playing Charlotte/London type of games or home and home series. Maybe it is a balance of both.
Iād much rather U-M play games like all of these than worrying about if the buy games are ranked 300th or 210th.
3 Likes
Bartholomew 
Ant
Loving extremely small sample sizes of RJ Melendez.
3 Likes
if he is RTing Dariush with a straight face it seems like he is transitioning into a full-time Illinois homer
1 Like
He took 13 catch and shoot jumpers.
9 Likes
This must be why Iām high on RJ. I probably saw all of them.
14 Likes
but he played a minimum of 10 games which is all you need for qualification 
2 Likes