There has been lots of concern about "unknowns", and there is plenty for the coming season. Looking at the schedule, I see 11 games before So. Alabama Dec 30. Seems to me that should be plenty of time to learn about the players and get organized. And about unknowns. I'm sure Pappy and others know about some of those teams but I know practically nothing about their strengths etc. Such as San Diego State, E.Carolina, Tulsa,Idaho, DePaul, Northern Arizona, and Texas Tech. Seems like a pretty tough schedule for the Trojans at this particular time.

That is a nice slate of non-conference games, made tougher by the fact that most of the meaningful games are not at home. SD State is coming off a 27-win season and first place in the Mountain West. They will be a tougher draw than most money-conference teams. East Carolina is in the AAC, which was the 8th ranked conference last year, but were only 6-12 in conference games. Tulsa, of course, is on the rise, and were 2nd behind SMU in the AAC. Idaho was 7th in the Big Sky, so we ought to be able to get a win there. DePaul is EXACTLY the kind of games we need to be scheduling. They are in the 2nd-ranked Big East, but they were only 6-12 in conference. Get the bottom feeders in the big conferences. So, we have two of those this year, since we also get Texas Tech, which was last place in the Big 12. Northern Arizona has been a very nice program recently. They are in the Big Sky, not a particularly tough conference, but they are generally one of the better teams in that league. That is a tougher game than non-basketball fans will realize.

This is a nice schedule and one that should challenge us to get ready for Belt play, but not one that would be noticed particularly because it does not have a string of money conference teams.

Game 3, 4 and 5 will tell us much about this team. Three games with teams from conferences above ours. If we can compete there, we ought to be able to compete in the Belt. San Diego State, East Carolina and Tulsa ended the season as 15, 1, and 10 point favorites over us on a neutral court.

Thanks Pappy. That response was exactly what I wanted to hear. We do know that even if the regular conference is a success, non-conference games can be very important at end of season.

I'm planning on going to the Tulsa game. It will be a good barometer for this team to see how they are progressing.

The part of the schedule that really concerns me, though, is February 11-18, when we get the Big Three - on the road - back to back to back.

(08-23-2015 07:50 PM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  The part of the schedule that really concerns me, though, is February 11-18, when we get the Big Three - on the road - back to back to back.

Yea, that one week stretch might just separate the men from the boys.

Other than the fact that most are on the road, this appears to be one of the most favorable OOC schedules we have had in a long time. Only San Diego State is a Top 40 team. All the other games appear winnable. Not saying we will win, but I wouldn't count us out in any game other than SDST. And one of these days we will pull a major upset. Can't really remember one since Wimp and Miss State.

One thing I do NOT like about our non-conference schedule. It is possible (probable) that SD State will be our toughest non-Belt game of the year, and we will have had only two non-D1 games to get ready. It would have been nice to have had at least one game against someone a little tougher. If we could manage to beat SDS, that would be a big feather in our cap.

(08-25-2015 09:04 AM)MICHAELSPAPPY Wrote:  One thing I do NOT like about our non-conference schedule. It is possible (probable) that SD State will be our toughest non-Belt game of the year, and we will have had only two non-D1 games to get ready. It would have been nice to have had at least one game against someone a little tougher. If we could manage to beat SDS, that would be a big feather in our cap.

We really need to do something to get non-season ticket holders in Central Arkansas excited (99.9% of the population). While SDST is obviously the best team we play, wins against TT (old Southwest Conference team and Tubby Smith is their coach) or DePaul (much longer basketball tradition) may resonate more with the folks in Central Arkansas. DePaul is certainly beatable, but we are playing them in their small oncampus arena (the only game they will be playing there) which will make it tougher. We really need to get one win out of SDST, TT, DePaul, or Tulsa. I think we do that. If we could split those games (pretty unlikely) that would really get folks excited heading into conference play.