2008-2009 schedule

[Da Coach]

In the thread with questions for the coach, there was a question about the teams we have committments to play next year on the 1008-1009 schedule.

For clarification, I got this information directly from the Bradley Sports Information department--

Here are the non-conference opponents we have locked in:

Home: Butler, Loyola, UIC
Road: Iowa State, Michigan State, Wisconsin-Milwaukee (payback for this year's BB), BracketBusters (assumed to be on the road, but not yet absolute)

The Wright State agreement was for two years and is now complete with the Bradley sweep.

UIC's visit next year will end a two-year agreement we had with them.

Butler and Loyola also are slated to return to Peoria in 2009-10 for the third year of four-year deals with the contract finales back on the road in 2010-11.

Road games to Iowa State and Michigan State will wrap up the three-year series for both.

One more note--
Bradley's BracketBuster game versus Milwaukee is definitely part of the ESPN TV package, but nobody knows the time and network until next week.

[mportsch]

Playing at home against Butler will be fun, although Butler might not be the great team they've been in recent years (5 of their top 6 players are graduating). They'll still have Howard and will probably still be at the top of the Horizon league.

UIC might be primed for a good year, with Mayo and Vandermeer returning for their senior years. I wonder if they might end up being a surprise top 50 RPI team next season. At the very least they'll be top 100, so that's a nice game to have at home.

Iowa State figures to improve next season, and probably be a top 80 team, if not better. Playing them on the road will be tough.

Michigan State looks to me like they'll again be a top 25 team, despite the loss of Neitzel. If Morgan leaves early, I still think they'll be a solid tourney team, if not a little better. Lots of talent waiting in the wings for them.

All in all, it already looks like a tough nonconference slate for Bradley. It will be interesting to see how Les fills out the schedule.

[ph]

I was kinda supprised to read (from post-show comments) that Jim wanted to wait another year before scheduling another elite team (liek MSU)
Personally, I'm would prefer the idea of having (3) 2 for 1 deals rotating to always give us 1 elite home game every year.

[MacabreMob]

Michigan State looks to me like they'll again be a top 25 team, despite the loss of Neitzel. If Morgan leaves early, I still think they'll be a solid tourney team, if not a little better. Lots of talent waiting in the wings for them.

I have friend who is a Michigan St fan (lives in Detroit area), and he said he thinks next year Michigan St will be better than this year.

[BradleyBrave]

I have friend who is a Michigan St fan (lives in Detroit area), and he said he thinks next year Michigan St will be better than this year.

I would probably agree. Despite Neitzel being an all-american caliber player, I think MSU will be better offensively next year, especially if Raymar Morgan stays in school. This was the year to beat MSU. I don't think we have much of a chance up there next year. Regardless, I will do 2-for-1 with an elite program anytime.

I think JL learned a similar lesson that Mo did when he ramped up the schedule in '99 (and similar to what other coaches like Izzo have learned over the years). You can make a challenging schedule to give you the computer numbers and get your team ready for conference play without completely defeating your teams confidence or record. To JL and BU's credit, their confidence never waned despite a 7-5 non-conference slate and a significant injury. However, I think there would have been less 'gloom-and-doom' from fans had BU perhaps not schedule so tough and maybe substituted UIC for a home game. I say the UIC game because just about every other road game was locked in as part of a previous commitment. There's just no reason to open up on the road against an opponent like that. I may be taking a BCS-esque attitude towards the whole thing, but it's a no-win situation IMO. BU would look a lot better sitting at 14-9 or 15-8 right now without an RPI 150 loss on the resume. Conversely, beating UIC does little for our RPI, so why play it? We had enough challenges already lined up for this team, home and away.

[thefish7]

From what I can tell MSU will still be very tough next year-- and we have to play them at their place. For my part, I hope we can renew the series beyond these first 3 years. I like MSU basketball, and I like Izzo... And I agree with BradleyBraves, we play the 2-for-1s against big time opponents if we have to... As long as we get to play them.