Weak schedule makes .500 possible.
When last we left the Falcon Basketball team, we looked at a team with single-digit wins that had some of the worst statistical numbers in the entire country. Since then, the team's only two point guards have left school, and once again we feature a team with a half dozen or so players seeing their first action.
Add that Coach Dakich is in the final year of his contract, and you have a year that is likely to feel like it is mired in malaise.
With the opener coming this Saturday, we need to begin to take a look at what could happen this year. Below, I've predicted each of the games in the season (to a great deal of hilarity, if you look at my picks for MAC football.) I can't pick the Bracket Buster or the UWGB tourney since I don't know who we play. With that in mind....
13 wins, 13 losses. A .500 season is possible for this team. However, the MAC record is only 7-9, and that's probably generous.
Here are the assumptions.
- The out of conference schedule is very weak. Yes, it is all Division I, but Arkansas State (who we play twice), Troy, Furman, and Central Arkansas are all picked to finish low in sad sack conferences. Further, more of these games are at home, so we should hit Christmas in pretty good shape.
- If the MAC tourney doesn't work out I think we will qualify for the Sun Belt tourney.
- On paper, every team in the MAC is better than us. I'm not picking us to win in the MAC on the road, and we probably will, but I'm also picking us to beat Kent at Anderson near the end of the year (on the hope we have brought around the team by then), and that might not happen, either.
- I think I've picked near the upside. If anything, we could drop some of those early home games.
- It is possible we are on the verge of turning this around. I hope so. But I cannot find a valid reason to think this group of players will produce this season. If they give me one, I am happy to take it.
| 11/11/06 | vs. Denison | Bowling Green, Ohio | W |
| 11/16/06 | at Arkansas State | Jonesboro, Arkansas | L |
| 11/19/06 | vs. Furman | Bowling Green, Ohio | W |
| 11/25/06 | vs. South Alabama | Bowling Green, Ohio | L |
| 12/02/06 | vs. Troy | Bowling Green, Ohio | W |
| 12/04/06 | vs. Arkansas State | Bowling Green, Ohio | W |
| 12/09/06 | vs. Central Arkansas | Bowling Green, Ohio | W |
| 12/16/06 | at Wright State | Dayton, Ohio | L |
| 12/19/06 | vs. Northern Colorado | Bowling Green, Ohio | W |
| 12/22/06 | at Marshall | Huntington, W. Va. | L |
| 12/27/06 | UWGB Tournament | Green Bay, Wisconsin | TBA |
| 12/29/06 | UWGB Tournament | Green Bay, Wisconsin | TBA |
| 12/30/06 | UWGB Tournament | Green Bay, Wisconsin | TBA |
| 01/07/07 | vs. Buffalo | Bowling Green, Ohio | W |
| 01/11/07 | at Ohio | Athens, Ohio | L |
| 01/14/07 | vs. Akron | Bowling Green, Ohio | L |
| 01/17/07 | vs. Miami (Oh) | Oxford, Ohio | L |
| 01/20/07 | at Kent State | Kent, Ohio | L |
| 01/24/07 | vs. Western Michigan | Bowling Green, Ohio | W |
| 01/27/07 | at Central Michigan | Mt. Pleasant, Mich. | L |
| 01/31/07 | vs. Ball State | Bowling Green, Ohio | W |
| 02/03/07 | at Toledo | Toledo, Ohio | L |
| 02/07/07 | at Northern Illinois | DeKalb, Illinois | L |
| 02/10/07 | vs. Eastern Michigan | Bowling Green, Ohio | W |
| 02/13/07 | at Buffalo | Amherst, N.Y. | L |
| 02/17/07 | Bracket Buster | TBA | TBA |
| 02/21/07 | vs. Ohio | Bowling Green, Ohio | W |
| 02/24/07 | at Akron | Akron, Ohio | L |
| 03/01/07 | vs. Kent State | Bowling Green, Ohio | W |
| 03/04/07 | vs. Miami (Oh) | Bowling Green, Ohio | W |
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