The Virginia men’s basketball team announced its non-conference schedule with 11 games on tap. It didn’t take long for Hoo fans to start breaking down their thoughts on upcoming season’s slate.
Campbell (14-18), Coppin State (2-27), Manhattan (7-23), Holy Cross (10-23), Bethune-Cookman (17-17), and American (16-16) combine to form the six home games at John Paul Jones Arena. None achieved a winning record last season and project to be Quad 4 games in the NCAA Tournament sorting rankings.
Neutral site games with Villanova (18-16) and two of St. John’s (20-13, bypassed on the bubble while UVA made it into the First Four), Baylor (24-11, NCAA Tournament second round), and Tennessee (27-9, Elite 8) figure to be bigger tests. A road trip to Florida (24-12, NCAA Tournament first round) and a home game with Memphis (22-10, missed NCAA Tournament and did not seek NIT spot) will be more challenging than the six home games mentioned above too.
As a whole, the five contests that are not ‘buy games’ on the schedule will likely fall into Quad 1 or Quad 2 when tournament time rolls around, though it is possible for any to slip into Quad 3 pending how seasons unfold. See West Virginia last season, which became a Quad 3 neutral site win by the time the field was selected. The Cavaliers went 9-2 in last season’s non-conference games overall with victories against WVU, Florida, Texas A&M, Tarleton State, North Carolina A&T, Texas Southern, North Carolina Central, Northeastern, and Morgan State and losses to Wisconsin and Memphis.
Of note when talking tourney time, the NCAA also adopted small changes with two metrics – Torvik and Wins Against Bubble (WAB) rankings – added to the team sheets.
Check out this thread for fellow Hoo opinions on the season ahead. Click here for thoughts on the team sheet changes and here for a conversation about UVA on Torvik’s talent metric.
With that as the backdrop, let’s check the fan pulse on the schedule with a couple of poll questions.
What do you think of the non-con schedule for Virginia?
Loading ...Who do you think is the toughest game based on way too early guesses?
Loading ...And now for the weekly fan picks …
Fan(s) Of The Week
U-V-A!
Student Fan(s) Of The Week
JPJ fun!
Feature Photo Of The Week
Virginia sports teams will return to action in approximately a month. Ashley Le and the volleyball Hoos host JMU for an exhibition game on Saturday, Aug. 24 while the regular season begins in Norfolk at the Quest For The Crown Tournament against Marist on Friday, Aug. 30.
