2012-2013 Bradley schedule

[Da Coach]

With the 2011-2012 season over, we have recruiting season to look forward to, then the 2012-2013 season.

So I thought I'd try to put together next year's non-conference schedule-
Some opponents are known, and there may be additional ones yet to come.
If anyone knows of any other games, or has any corrections to this list, post them.
These are the games that appear to be tentative games on next year's schedule.
And for the record- this is not an official list, and it contains speculation on my part-

-Home game vs. Michigan (2nd game of scheduled series)
-Home game vs. Tennessee-Martin (return game from 2010-11 BracketBusters)
-Away game at Loyola (return game for 2011-12 BracketBusters- may be played in 2012-13)
-Home game vs. George Washington (2nd game of scheduled series)
-Away game at Northeastern (possible*)
-Home game vs. Mountain West opponent (4th year of the MVC-MWC Challenge)
-Thanksgiving Tournament- likely to include 4 games- 2 home games, and 2 games at an undivulged tournament site
-Road game in 2013 BracketBusters

*- does anyone know if we will play at Northeastern? The game at home this past year against Northeastern was not announced as a 2-game deal.

[Da Coach]

With the 2011-2012 season over, we have recruiting season to look forward to, then the 2012-2013 season.

So I thought I'd try to put together next year's non-conference schedule-
Some opponents are known, and there may be additional ones yet to come.
If anyone knows of any other games, or has any corrections to this list, post them.
These are the games that appear to be tentative games on next year's schedule.
And for the record- this is not an official list, and it contains speculation on my part-

-Home game vs. Michigan (2nd game of scheduled series)
-Home game vs. Tennessee-Martin (return game from 2010-11 BracketBusters)
-Away game at Loyola (return game for 2011-12 BracketBusters- may be played in 2012-13)
-Home game vs. George Washington (2nd game of scheduled series)
-Away game at Northeastern (possible*)
-Home game vs. Mountain West opponent (4th year of the MVC-MWC Challenge)
-Las Vegas Tournament- likely to include 4 games- 2 home games, and 2 games at an undivulged tournament site
-Road game in 2013 BracketBusters

*- does anyone know if we will play at Northeastern? The game at home this past year against Northeastern was not announced as a 2-game deal.

I have found out a little more about next year's schedule-
-The Northeastern game was indeed a "buy game", and we will not return the game there.
-The return game at Loyola will most likely be played there in 2013-2014, and not next season
-And Bradley will be the "odd team out" this year in the MWC-MVC Challenge. Therefore we will not be playing in the Challenge next year.


So here is how the updated list looks-
These are the games that appear to be tentative games on next year's schedule.
And for the record- this is not an official list of opponents nor an official schedule.-

-Home game vs. Michigan (2nd game of scheduled series)
-Home game vs. Tennessee-Martin (return game from 2010-11 BracketBusters)
-Home game vs. George Washington (2nd game of scheduled series)
-Thanksgiving Tournament- likely to include 4 games- 2 home games, and 2 games at an undivulged tournament site
-Road game in 2013 BracketBusters

These changes mean we have 8 non-conference games scheduled for next season (5 home games, 1 road game, and 2 neutral games). That leaves room for about 4 more games to be added.

[LittleBrave]

Maybe we will get a MAC school to come to Carver next season?
Geno just might have a connection or two with that conference.
Anyone in the middle of that conference would probably be a good test for our team.
I'm not so concerned about SOS for next season, as it likely won't matter a whole lot. Let's get some wins vs. RPI 200-ish teams to build some confidence and chemistry.

[Toyota12]

schedule

What about Drexel? Was that a start of a series?

[LittleBrave]

What about Drexel? Was that a start of a series?

Return game of B-Busters from 2009-'10 season.
We beat Drexel at home by about 15 - CR had a great game from what I recall.

[jasonpeoria911]

Geno will schedule down as much as possible to make it appear Bradley has improved greatly over his 1st season. I don't think he'll be worse than an IL State schedule but I bet it will be close. I expect a 10+ page thread on how weak our non-conference schedule will be LOL.

Jason

[Da Coach]

I don't think the non-conference schedule will be too bad. Most of it is already decided (see above), and the 2 assigned home games in the tournament will be decided by the tournament organizers and not Bradley. Plus we'll get 2 games against a couple good teams to balance the 2 low-majors we'll get at home.

[Chico]

Geno will schedule down as much as possible to make it appear Bradley has improved greatly over his 1st season. I don't think he'll be worse than an IL State schedule but I bet it will be close. I expect a 10+ page thread on how weak our non-conference schedule will be LOL.

Jason

Those of us who remember the BU non-conference schedules of the 70's wouldn't complain.

[Bobby Parker]

Bradley will play in the 2012 Las Vegas Classic and the Braves now have 26 of 31 regular-season commitments confirmed. Here is the announcement on our participation in the Las Vegas Classic:

http://www.bradleybraves.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=3400&ATCLID=205405296

[Big Mike]

Reynolds:Las Vegas tourney...

http://www.pjstar.com/bradleyhoops/x221019648/BU-mens-basketball-to-play-in-Las-Vegas-tournament

[Da Coach]

I guess nobody caught on to the clue I included in the original post about the location of this year's tournament.
Bradley agreed a couple months ago to participate in the 2012 Las Vegas Classic tournament.

The Las Vegas Classic is run by the same group (IBN) that runs the Las Vegas Invitational, as well as the Chicago Invitational Challenge.

http://www.ibnsports.com/basketball.aspx?vid=5356&

Bradley participated in the 2009 Las Vegas Invitational.

http://www.bradleybraves.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=3400&ATCLID=3619989

Here was last year's list of participants, which included Missouri State of the MVC-

http://www.basketballtournamentsinc.com/Forms/LasVegasClassic/Schedule.pdf

http://www.msnsportsnet.com/page.cfm?story=18876

Here is the updated non-conference schedule as of now, with several more games yet to be scheduled-

-Home game vs. Michigan (2nd game of scheduled series)
-Home game vs. Tennessee-Martin (return game from 2010-11 BracketBusters)
-Home game vs. George Washington (2nd game of scheduled series)
-Las Vegas ClassicTournament-
Dec. 17 home game vs. Georgia Southern
Dec. 19 home game vs. Mississippi Valley State
Dec. 22 and Dec. 23 in Las Vegas at the Orleans Arena vs. 2 of these 3 teams- Colorado State, Virginia Tech, or Portland
-Road game in 2013 BracketBusters

[LittleBrave]

Not thrilled about the teams involved, but will nonetheless be good experience for our guys heading into the conference season.
And 2 of the 3 possible opponents in Vegas will present a major challenge for us.

And the 2 home games that are part of the tournament will be decent tests too.

[spoon]

Not thrilled about the teams involved, but will nonetheless be good experience for our guys heading into the conference season.
And 2 of the 3 possible opponents in Vegas will present a major challenge for us.

And the 2 home games that are part of the tournament will be decent tests too.

Colorado State should be the best team in that field. They return 5 of their top 6 scorers (Who will all be seniors next year) from a team that finished 20-12 and made the tournament as an 11 seed. Virginia Tech will be a challenge as well. They bring back all but 2 players from last year, and 6 of their top 9 scorers last year were freshmen or sophomores. They also have a pretty good freshman forward coming in next year. Portland was not a good team last year, but they only lose 1 minor contributor from their team team, and 6 of the top 7 scorers last year were underclassmen. Should be better.

For our two home games, Georgia Southern will be bad, but not an RPI killer. Probably around 200. Mississippi Valley State made the tournament this year, true, but their top 6 scorers last year were all graduating seniors, and they will lose 80% of their scoring. They also appear to be returning no one over 6'5". They could very well be a bottom feeder next year.

[tornado]

Not thrilled about the teams involved...

I hear ya -- let's say just based on who picks the matchups, we end up getting...
Georgia Southern & Mississippi Valley State here, then Colorado State (or VTech) & Portland in Las Vegas......
....since we weren't getting a MWC opponents this season via the MWC/MVC Challenge - then how does this batch of four opponents do us much good at all......?
Isn't this kinda janking the schedule down a little bit given we got news of playing Michigan home-and-home about this time a year ago??

[spoon]

I hear ya -- let's say just based on who picks the matchups, we end up getting...
Georgia Southern & Mississippi Valley State here, then Colorado State (or VTech) & Portland in Las Vegas......
....since we weren't getting a MWC opponents this season via the MWC/MVC Challenge - then how does this batch of four opponents do us much good at all......?
Isn't this kinda janking the schedule down a little bit given we got news of playing Michigan home-and-home about this time a year ago??

I'd love to hear your suggestions on what we should have done instead in terms of scheduling.