Getting to play a home game against a quality program like UMass is a major benefit of playing in
the 2K Sports Classic. The Minutemen come in at #57 on the college hoops net pre-season rankings.On the flip side, the Salukis had previously scheduled California (Pa.) on Nov. 16th but apparently the 2k Sports people could not find another team to come play in Carbondale. So to accommodate the tournament organizers the game was changed to a first round tournament game. I get the feeling the 2k Sports folks ran into the same problem that the Salukis have every year- teams don't want to come to SIU Arena because they know they'll probably get beat.
Now the Salukis are a short a home game, and it's getting pretty late in the year to get something else setup. Maybe the coaching staff has a trick up their sleeve, but I'd be surprised if the Salukis can get a quality opponent to come to SIU Arena on this late of notice.
The process of creating a schedule in NCAA basketball is no easy task and is often misunderstood. Here are a few of the basic guidelines as I understand them.
NCAA rules allow teams to play up to 33 games, not including conference tournament or NCAA tournament games. Teams can schedule less than 33 games but it's obviously advantageous to play as many games as possible.
Teams can play two exhibition games. The Salukis will use these games as home game tune-ups against DII competition.
Teams can play up to 4 games in an exempt tournament. That's the 2k sports classic this year. As long as they make it to New York they'll play the max total of 4 games. Evan if they fall in the semis, there is a 3rd place game in this tournament.
That puts the number of remaining regular season games at 27.
18 of those 27 games are conference games leaving SIU with 9 non-conference games to play this season. It's important to get high quality teams in these games to build a high RPI but it's also important to get some home games to generate revenue.
Two of these remaining 9 games are the Bracket Buster, the Wooden Classic (vs St. Mary's).
That left SIU with the flexibility to schedule 7 more games against opponents of their choice. So far 6 of those spots are filled. There are 3 homes games against St. Louis, Charlotte, and Western Michigan; and 3 road games at Western Kentucky, Northern Illinois, and Nevada.
The California (Pa.) game was originally scheduled for Nov. 16th but is now an empty space. If this game isn't replaced and the dawgs were to (gasp) get beat by UMass on Nov. 12th they would have a two week stretch in the middle of November where they would not play a basketball game. So while this game doesn't have to be replaced it would be nice to give this young team another home game, as well as additional game experience before potentially taking on Duke, UCLA, or Michigan at MSG.
