2021-22 Non Conference Schedule

[GoYotes]

Per Husker Online the Yotes play the Huskers in Lincoln on November 27 and will also play Southern and Tennessee State during the same week. Since both Southern (on November 21) and Tennessee State (on November 23) are also playing at Lincoln, my guess is they will both visit Vermillion as well on the alternating dates.

[jp]

It looks like USD will play at Iowa.
www.goiowaawesome.com/iowa-hawkeyes-basketball/2021/07/5347/iowa-hoops-non-conference-schedule-basically-set

[GoYotes]

Yotes will hit the road to take on Tim Miles new team on November 30 per San Jose State schedule release

[Yotes]

Earlier today I had to ask myself if Air Force is the toughest opponent we have on our non-conference schedule. I then saw that Air Force went 5-20 last year and have to assume they are not. This led me to dive a little deeper, and holy smokes we have a weak non-conference schedule. I haven't paid any attention to the schedule until now and decided to rank our opponents with some quick amateur analysis (note: I didn't bother looking at any roster or coaching changes):

1. Drake is resoundingly our toughest non-conference opponent. I forgot that they went to the NCAA tourney last year and won a "First Four" game. Preseason favorite to win the Missouri Valley.

2. Our only Power 5 opponent, Nebraska lost to Western Illinois last night to open year 3 under Fred Hoiberg. Bad omen for a team that's won 5 conference games the last 2 years. Picked 11th in Big Ten preseason poll.

3. Bellarmine, a school that began their D1 transition last year. Besides Drake, they are the only non-conference opponent we face that actually had a winning record last year. Picked 4th in the Atlantic Sun preseason poll. I considered putting Bellarmine 2nd but travelling to Lincoln will be harder than hosting these guys.

4. Northern Colorado went 8-11 against D1 competition last year. 1 more win than Nebraska but against much lesser competition. Picked 5th in Big Sky preseason poll.

5. Air Force went 5-20 but did find two wins over decent Mountain West teams during a real long 3-17 conference campaign. Picked last in preseason Mountain West Poll.

6. Southern also posted a 8-11 record against D1 competition last year, same as UNC, but plays in what is consistently the worst conference in the NCAA. Picked 5th in SWAC preseason poll.

7. Northern Arizona went 6-16. 3 of those wins were against Idaho and Denver, who each won 1 game, but they did get 3 more against middle-of-the-pack Big Sky teams. Picked 9th in Big Sky preseason poll.

8. San Jose State went 3-16 against D1 competition, with 2 of those wins coming against Air Force. The third came against a 2 win New Mexico team. All 3 wins happened in the same week in January. Picked 10th (only ahead of Air Force) in preseason Mountain West poll.

9. Tennessee State. 3-19 against D1 schools, wins against Tennessee-Martin, Tennessee Tech, and Eastern Illinois. These guys don't look dramatically worse than the rest, but someone had to finish last. Picked 5th in OVC preseason poll.


It would be nice to have more than one Power 5 team on the schedule. Otherwise, I can't get mad about a schedule of Big Sky, Mountain West, Missouri Valley, OVC, ASUN games. These are conferences we are supposed to play. Still, this schedule is astoundingly weak. I'll mostly chalk it up to "luck of the draw". I think everyone agreed that we have a team that's going to be doing more learning than most during the non-conference season, but I'm not sure we don't go 7-2 against this slate anyways.

[Coyote Fan]

The only thing is that if you want to draw interest in the program it is a bit hard to do that without many interesting opponents. Football, women's basketball and maybe even volleyball are more interesting right now. Men's hoops has alot of competition from other SD programs right now and so far have been a bit of an after thought. With no AJ or Stan the hoops program is gonna have to show something to get attention. I only have so many trips to Vermillion to make. Right now football, women's hoops and even potentially the summit volleyball tourney are perhaps a bigger priority for in game attendance.

[elcoyote]

Nov 10, 2021 20:04:21 GMT -6 Yotes said:

Earlier today I had to ask myself if Air Force is the toughest opponent we have on our non-conference schedule. I then saw that Air Force went 5-20 last year and have to assume they are not. This led me to dive a little deeper, and holy smokes we have a weak non-conference schedule. I haven't paid any attention to the schedule until now and decided to rank our opponents with some quick amateur analysis (note: I didn't bother looking at any roster or coaching changes):

1. Drake is resoundingly our toughest non-conference opponent. I forgot that they went to the NCAA tourney last year and won a "First Four" game. Preseason favorite to win the Missouri Valley.

2. Our only Power 5 opponent, Nebraska lost to Western Illinois last night to open year 3 under Fred Hoiberg. Bad omen for a team that's won 5 conference games the last 2 years. Picked 11th in Big Ten preseason poll.

3. Bellarmine, a school that began their D1 transition last year. Besides Drake, they are the only non-conference opponent we face that actually had a winning record last year. Picked 4th in the Atlantic Sun preseason poll. I considered putting Bellarmine 2nd but travelling to Lincoln will be harder than hosting these guys.

4. Northern Colorado went 8-11 against D1 competition last year. 1 more win than Nebraska but against much lesser competition. Picked 5th in Big Sky preseason poll.

5. Air Force went 5-20 but did find two wins over decent Mountain West teams during a real long 3-17 conference campaign. Picked last in preseason Mountain West Poll.

6. Southern also posted a 8-11 record against D1 competition last year, same as UNC, but plays in what is consistently the worst conference in the NCAA. Picked 5th in SWAC preseason poll.

7. Northern Arizona went 6-16. 3 of those wins were against Idaho and Denver, who each won 1 game, but they did get 3 more against middle-of-the-pack Big Sky teams. Picked 9th in Big Sky preseason poll.

8. San Jose State went 3-16 against D1 competition, with 2 of those wins coming against Air Force. The third came against a 2 win New Mexico team. All 3 wins happened in the same week in January. Picked 10th (only ahead of Air Force) in preseason Mountain West poll.

9. Tennessee State. 3-19 against D1 schools, wins against Tennessee-Martin, Tennessee Tech, and Eastern Illinois. These guys don't look dramatically worse than the rest, but someone had to finish last. Picked 5th in OVC preseason poll.


It would be nice to have more than one Power 5 team on the schedule. Otherwise, I can't get mad about a schedule of Big Sky, Mountain West, Missouri Valley, OVC, ASUN games. These are conferences we are supposed to play. Still, this schedule is astoundingly weak. I'll mostly chalk it up to "luck of the draw". I think everyone agreed that we have a team that's going to be doing more learning than most during the non-conference season, but I'm not sure we don't go 7-2 against this slate anyways.

Nice synopsis! Don't know if this easier schedule was by design as it seems we've played these teams before...some of them anyway. Probably a good way to find out who fits what roll and to establish a rotation. I hadn't heard that Western beat the Huskers last night. Hoiberg was supposed to be the savior for UNL hoops. Bring back Tim Miles!

[Coyote Fan]

Nebraska is just never good in the Big 12 or Big 10 or whatever. They have barely ever been good so I would supposed that is where good basketball coaches go to die. Same for Kansas football as they will just never be that good. Nebraska has and will probably always be about football. Kansas has and will probably always be about basketball. In the off season Nebraska still thinks about football and KU about hoops.

[kiyoat]

Nice job on the schedule breakdown! Although I understand the desire from fans to get interesting games, If this team needs a softer schedule to get things figured out, then that’s what they need. I’d rather they do whatever it takes to be as competitive as possible come tournament time, then schedule a bunch of interesting non-con games that will destroy their confidence. I trust coach Lee to make that call, I guess.