It was a good time wish more fans would come. Aaric Armstead was voted team MVP. Monty challenged team, it's time to get to NCAA Tourney. Next years schedule has, Ohio St, Missouri, UIC, Bradley. He said there will be 5 Freshman and most likely a transfer. I am sure the transfer will be a big! Frazier was there and he firmly said he is not going anywhere. Loves NIU and there is a lot to get done here.

Didn't attend myself but was told that schedule looks like this for now:
Four team tourney in DeKalb with NIU, South Dakota, Wright State and Cal Northridge.
At Ohio State, Missouri, UIC
Possibly Bradley at home, Chicago State at home
At least 2-4 D2, D3 or NAIA teams at home not including the exhibition. If you look at Eastern Michigan's schedule from this year, that's what I think they might have done.

(04-20-2015 01:46 PM)sportsfan Wrote:  Didn't attend myself but was told that schedule looks like this for now:
Four team tourney in DeKalb with NIU, South Dakota, Wright State and Cal Northridge.
At Ohio State, Missouri, UIC
Possibly Bradley at home, Chicago State at home
At least 2-4 D2, D3 or NAIA teams at home not including the exhibition. If you look at Eastern Michigan's schedule from this year, that's what I think they might have done.

Ew

(04-20-2015 03:12 PM)niusfactuary Wrote:  

(04-20-2015 01:46 PM)sportsfan Wrote:  Didn't attend myself but was told that schedule looks like this for now:
Four team tourney in DeKalb with NIU, South Dakota, Wright State and Cal Northridge.
At Ohio State, Missouri, UIC
Possibly Bradley at home, Chicago State at home
At least 2-4 D2, D3 or NAIA teams at home not including the exhibition. If you look at Eastern Michigan's schedule from this year, that's what I think they might have done.

Ew

What are we ewwing here? All 20 people who go to games won't like the schedule? It'll hurt or NCAA at large chances?

As we saw this year it doesn't matter what the MAC does out of conference in terms of post-season so I don't think anyone is concerned about that. It would be nice to create a buzz though for ticket sales/fan excitement/etc. Having said that, we learned from a group of mid major coaches last year that in many cases, bigger schools are not even returning the phone calls about scheduling so there is only so much you can do. A team like Valpo would be a great target if you can schedule it on a semi-regular basis.

It would be great if we could schedule annual games with UIC, Loyola, and DePaul on a home-and-home basis. We do play them often, but it would be nice to do it every year and even create a Chicago (area) tournament (and even bring in other teams like Chicago State).

(04-20-2015 03:46 PM)7 Wrote:  

(04-20-2015 03:12 PM)niusfactuary Wrote:  

(04-20-2015 01:46 PM)sportsfan Wrote:  Didn't attend myself but was told that schedule looks like this for now:
Four team tourney in DeKalb with NIU, South Dakota, Wright State and Cal Northridge.
At Ohio State, Missouri, UIC
Possibly Bradley at home, Chicago State at home
At least 2-4 D2, D3 or NAIA teams at home not including the exhibition. If you look at Eastern Michigan's schedule from this year, that's what I think they might have done.

Ew

What are we ewwing here? All 20 people who go to games won't like the schedule? It'll hurt or NCAA at large chances?

I just don't see how scheduling multiple <D-1 teams helps this program go from joke to not a joke.

(04-20-2015 04:03 PM)Dog Fan Wrote:  It would be great if we could schedule annual games with UIC, Loyola, and DePaul on a home-and-home basis. We do play them often, but it would be nice to do it every year and even create a Chicago (area) tournament (and even bring in other teams like Chicago State).

That idea makes too much sense. It would be a great warm up for all the teams and would be a big local draw. It could be held at DePaul or Loyola.

(04-20-2015 08:22 PM)niusfactuary Wrote:  I just don't see how scheduling multiple <D-1 teams helps this program go from joke to not a joke.

Because at that point of the season all you want to do is get guys playing time so that they can gel and compile as many wins as possible.

Monty said they would probably get a transfer. He got his guy, what a outstanding 2015 class!

Zelis tweeting he's a Huskie!

I'm proud to say I'm going to be a Huskie!! Let's go to work! #NIU

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nBOJdSA-YWk


Zelis is at about the 1:50 minute mark.

Northern Illinois lands a quality big in 7'0 C Andrew Zelis. Great job by HC Mark Montgomery & Huskies staff.

Illinois prepp bullseye-Roy Schimdt

More on Andrew Zelis: he chose Northern Illinois over St. Bonaventure who he had recently taken an official visit to.

(04-20-2015 08:22 PM)niusfactuary Wrote:  I just don't see how scheduling multiple <D-1 teams helps this program go from joke to not a joke.

It doesn't.
But it cuts down on the number of wins needed to finally get above .500.

Not sure exactly what the schedule will look like. Probably a lot like 2 years ago. And some what like last year. With 6 newcomers, I would say every time they play together is a plus. CMU 23-9, MAC season champs, no.1 seed played, Alma College, Youngstown St, Concordia and Central Penn. Non-conference doesn't seem to matter that much. I personally would like to see as many Illinois schools as possible. Our teams are based on how they fair in the MAC.

http://t.co/E1Y7MzC3Va

(04-20-2015 03:57 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  As we saw this year it doesn't matter what the MAC does out of conference in terms of post-season so I don't think anyone is concerned about that. It would be nice to create a buzz though for ticket sales/fan excitement/etc. Having said that, we learned from a group of mid major coaches last year that in many cases, bigger schools are not even returning the phone calls about scheduling so there is only so much you can do. A team like Valpo would be a great target if you can schedule it on a semi-regular basis.

You never give up on a bad idea.

Last year, the MAC went 0-8 against top 25 RPI teams. 0-8 against teams ranked 26-50. 4-6 against teams ranked from 51-100. 17-21 against teams ranked 101-200. But they did some SOLID bumslaying by whomping teams ranked 201+ by going 59-7.

That's 0-16 against the top 50 (you know, tournament teams) and 4-22 against teams in or bubbling on the tournament.

The. MAC. IS. NOT. VERY. GOOD. AT. BASKETBALL. And this was your golden year?

(04-20-2015 11:00 PM)uiniu57 Wrote:  

(04-20-2015 08:22 PM)niusfactuary Wrote:  I just don't see how scheduling multiple <D-1 teams helps this program go from joke to not a joke.

It doesn't.
But it cuts down on the number of wins needed to finally get above .500.

I think it's the same number of wins, but I think you meant to say that these wins will be easier to achieve. I won't even go that far. To me, those wins will not be automatic. Nothing is a guarantee for the Huskies.