Men's Basketball Non-Conference Schedule Released

The schedule for Huger Year 2 has been released...at least the non-conference portion of it.

The highlight for Falcon fans is the Bill Frack Tournament.  Last year, there was a Bill Frack Challenge, where BG played UC at the Stroh.  So, the Bill Frack Tournament is a three-day round robin deal where BG will host UMKC, Green Bay and Murray State on consecutive days over a weekend before Thanksgiving.  This is not unlike when BG hosted something similar as part of (I think) the pre-season NIT a couple of years ago.

It would appear to me that this schedule is tougher than what we had last year.  First, there is only one non-D1 game.  There are three teams who finished last year with a sub-100 kenpom rating:  Oakland, UC and Evansville, all of whom BG plays on the road.  There are three more that were in the top half of teams...Green Bay, Murray State (both in the Fracker) and UD, a frequent BG opponent.  The softest teams are SD (221), San Jose State (260), UMKC (264), Morgan (305) and Alabama A&M 313).

Green Bay is the top team to play at the Stroh, and they are a consistent quality opponent.

Fri, Nov. 11 at Oakland Rochester, Mich.
Sun, Nov. 13 at South Dakota Vermillion, S.D.
Sat, Nov. 19 UMKC Bowling Green, Ohio
Sun, Nov. 20 Green Bay Bowling Green, Ohio
Mon, Nov. 21 Murray State Bowling Green, Ohio
Sat, Nov. 26 Morgan State Bowling Green, Ohio
Tue, Nov. 29 Notre Dame College Bowling Green, Ohio
Sun, Dec. 4 at Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio
Tue, Dec. 6 at Evansville Evansville, Ind.
Sat, Dec. 10 Detroit Bowling Green, Ohio
Sun, Dec. 18 at San Jose State San Jose, Calif.
Thur, Dec. 22 Alabama A&M Bowling Green, Ohio
Fri, Dec. 30 Norfolk State Bowling Green, Ohio

Obviously, I haven't done any research to determine whether any of these teams are supposed to be better this year or not, but I think this schedule represents a decent mix between some challenge games and having some games for BG to gain some confidence in a year where I think there is some optimism based on the finish, but where we might still be challenged with a younger team.

One more thing....the Falcons are also going to Italy on Monday for 10 days of basketball and cultural immersion.  These types of trips can be very helpful to young teams, with earlier practices and a jump start of learning to play, as well as an experience of a lifetime.

Looking forward to it.