Your Ideal Illini Basketball Non-Conference Schedule

#1      

Fighter of the Nightman

Fighter of the Nightman
Chicago, IL
Fighter of the Nightman
You can answer this as detailed as you would like - anything from one single example of a series you wish we would set up all the way to laying out opponents game by game!

To simplify, this is the APPROXIMATE distribution of our last couple of non-conference schedules. Obviously the Big Ten/ACC Challenge is toast now, but I included it as a sort of "placeholder" for whatever people would want to take its place.

11-12 Total Games
5-6 games vs. "Cupcakes"
2-3 games in a November tournament (usually at least somewhat around Thanksgiving)
1 game for the Big Ten/ACC Challenge
1 game for Braggin' Rights
1 game vs. a Power Five opponent (separately scheduled series or sometimes the Gavitt Tipoff Games)

People don't have to get this detailed, but just for fun here is our schedule last year in order, using those classifications and excluding the December Big Ten games:

2022-23 Illini Non-Conference Schedule
(1) vs. Cupcake in Champaign (Eastern Illinois)
(2) vs. Cupcake in Champaign (Kansas City)
(3) vs. Cupcake in Champaign (Monmouth)
(4) November Tournament (vs. UCLA in Las Vegas, NV)
(5) November Tournament (vs. Virginia in Las Vegas, NV)
(6) vs. Cupcake in Champaign (Lindenwood)
(7) Big Ten/ACC Challenge (vs. Syracuse in Champaign)
(8) Power Five Opponent (vs. Texas in New York, NY)
(9) vs. Cupcake in Champaign (Alabama A&M)
(10) Braggin' Rights (vs. Missouri in St. Louis, MO)
(11) vs. Cupcake in Champaign (Bethune-Cookman)

For me personally, I would love this:

(1) vs. Cupcake in Champaign
(2) vs. Cupcake in Champaign
(3) vs. Cupcake in Champaign (preferably a step up from the first two and maybe an instate school)
(4) and (5) November Tournament ... Maui is my favorite, but it obviously can't happen every year. The only one I hate is that lame one in the Bahamas with the absolutely hideous court that is like in a hotel conference room...
(6) Cupcake in Champaign (a bad one so we can warm up for Game #7)
(7) Big Ten/Big XII Challenge to replace our previous one
(8) Cupcake in Champaign (a bit of a rest while the guys are dealing with finals)
(9) Braggin' Rights around Christmas, obviously! Don't EVER let this die, and do not EVER move it from St. Louis!
(10) Cupcake in Champaign (between Christmas and New Year's)
(11) Power Five Opponent at the United Center ... yes, it's partly selfish, but I also really do think it's an amazing recruiting tool, it helps us to get used to neutral floors (especially one the BTT will be on in a lot of years), it claims Chicago as OUR turf and history shows that it draws a great crowd when we are good (a decent Illini team has never drawn less than the capacity of State Farm Center).

I would also love another home-and-home series with Arizona (we have an astonishing amount of history with them for being in different conferences and far away), Tennessee and other programs like that instead of the Big Ten/Big XII Challenge, but a "challenge" event guarantees you a cool game.
 
#2      

dwpittman

D
dwpittman
So what you're saying is that last year's schedule was essentially your ideal except for shifting The challenge game to a new conference, and the game being in New York versus the UC? Other than a minor shuffle on the order.

I won't disagree with you.
 
#4      

IlliniwekKDR

IlliniwekKDR
Colorado Springs, CO
IlliniwekKDR
I think having a road game against a P5 opponent is a must. Need to get them ready to play on the road against a tougher opponent before conference matchups. Neutral sites help, but not nearly to the same extent.

I think a Chicago game between Xmas and NYE would make a lot of sense. Any students from the Chicago area are home and then you've got alumni that grew up in the Chicago area that moved away potentially visiting their parents for a few days over the holidays. Could draw a good crowd as opposed to having no one on campus for a cupcake game during that period.
 
#6      

sacraig

sacraig
The desert
sacraig
I'm fine with a few cupcakes to work out the kinks (2, max 3) but after that I want a schedule filled entirely with compelling games, one of which must include Mizzou. Butts in seats; eyes on screens.

I also want all cupcakes to be good enough teams that we aren't on BTN+.
 
#7      

Konnie

K
Western Suburbs
Konnie
There are just too many home cupcake games!

As a season ticket holder for 10 years, most years I feel that I am really paying for 10 B1G home games. Typically the non-conference home schedule is terrible. With that in mind, this year I am going to drop my season tickets. I will donate $100 to the IFUND so I can buy single-game home basketball tickets the day before they go on sale to the general public. The only risk that I see is my seat(s) may not be as good as my season tickets but I will not have home non-conference tickets that are hard to get rid of and I will probably not spend as much money as I would for my 2 season tickets and their required IFUND donation.
 
#9      

IlliniSaluki

IlliniSaluki
IL metro east burbs of St. Louis
IlliniSaluki
My ideal once in a lifetime never to be done again Non-con schedule. I just want to see it happen once in my life.

Eastern Illinois
Western Illinois
Northern Illinois
Southern Illinois - Carbondale
Southern Illinois - Edwardsville
University of Illinois Chicago
Illinois State

I think that takes care of all Division 1 Universities in the state with Illinois in their name. lol This will never happen but I think it would be cool just to see once. hehe
 
#10      

sacraig

sacraig
The desert
sacraig
IlliniSaluki said:
My ideal once in a lifetime never to be done again Non-con schedule. I just want to see it happen once in my life.

Eastern Illinois
Western Illinois
Northern Illinois
Southern Illinois - Carbondale
Southern Illinois - Edwardsville
University of Illinois Chicago
Illinois State

I think that takes care of all Division 1 Universities in the state with Illinois in their name. lol This will never happen but I think it would be cool just to see once. hehe
Click to expand...
No No No GIF
 
#12      

grue2

G
grue2
Ideally:
No games against teams rated 150+ the previous season. I think the MSU strategy of starting by playing a top10 team has merit. Make it clear that no matter how good the team thinks they are, major work needs to be done.

When I say 150+, choose the rating system of your choice (Sagarin, KenPom, etc).

More likely:
1 cupcake rated ~200-250 previous year (opener)
1 not-so-cupcake rated ~150 previous year (2nd game)

In some order:
1 MO
1 Big Ten / XX Challenge (One of Big12, SEC, Big East, ACC*. If unequal team counts, lowest BigTen finishes last year sit out.)
1 Big Ten / YY Challenge (Another conference from the above list - you asked what I _wanted_.)

2 A tournament with solid opponents (both top 50, one top 25)
2 games against medium opponents (75-125 range last year)
1 game against quality opponent (top 75 previous year), at least one on the road.
1 game against a strong opponent (top 20 last year) (home/away)

* The omission of the Pac12 is deliberate. They do not have the depth to provide interesting games.
 
Last edited:
#13      

BretMyBeachHouse

B
BretMyBeachHouse
I think the UC for a marquee game is tough. You've got to trade which means you need two sets of matchups going at one time. Let's say KU at the UC and Gonzaga in Seattle the same year. The following year Gonzaga comes to the UC and we go to KC. Tough logistically to pull it off year after year after year. That's part of the reason it went away.

So my UC suggestion is to set up a bragging rights type of deal and my pick would be Marquette. We'd work out a deal where we didn't get them in the Big East matchup.
 
#14      

grue2

G
grue2
BretMyBeachHouse said:
I think the UC for a marquee game is tough. You've got to trade which means you need two sets of matchups going at one time.
Click to expand...

Why is this hard? There are a lot of teams that are top 50 year in, year out. To the naive reader (me), this feels like something that should be relatively easy. You need two to say yes for any 2 year home/away period, and can schedule years in advance.
 
#15      

aaeismacgychel

A
aaeismacgychel
For me, I think the "cupcakes" need to be differentiated a bit further as we need to avoid 300+ ranked teams as much as possible as they can only negatively impact your efficiency and SOS metrics (Last year we played 5 of those, which had we lost 1 more game could have possibly gotten us in trouble with the selection committee based on how badly they decimated our numbers). As such, I'd break it down in the following manner:

1 game for the Big Ten/ACC Challenge (alternate H/A)
1 game for Braggin' Rights (Neutral)
1 Home and Home vs. a very high end opponent (alternate A/H opposite of B10/ACC Challenge)- I agree with OP that Arizona is a great pick here. Kansas, Kentucky, etc. also good)
1 game at the UC vs. a midrange P5 opponent (Neutral- one that you should win, rank 50-100, a matchup that sounds better than it actually is)
2-3 games in a November tournament (Neutral)
2 home games against 125-200 ranked midmajor teams (Home)
2-4 cupcake home games vs. 200-275 ranked midmajor teams (Home)
0-1 fattening cupcake home game vs. 275+ ranked midmajor teams
 
#16      

ChiefGritty

ChiefGritty
Chicago, IL
ChiefGritty
I think we are sincerely at a point where the NCAA Tournament Committee both:

A. Rewards good wins above all else and
B. Doesn't punish ugly W/L records

With those things being the case, I think we should basically say yes to whatever exciting, attention-grabbing opportunities we can find without regard to any worries about making our non-con too brutal, which was a legitimate concern 20 years ago but no longer is.
 
#17      

battle

battle
battle
The given: conference challenge games + Braggin'
Tourny neutral with some good P6s
A home and home like AZ, Kansas, ... we need to act like we are perennial top 10 if we are going to be perennial top 10
The cupcakes: first game should be about 250 (and a second 200-250 if we think we really need a second tune up). Agree that we must avoid 300+ but think that should be 260+. The other half cupcakes: we should target preseason projected 125-160 (quad 3 home) and the other half: 161-240 (quad 4); a road game with 100-135 (quad 2) would be good but not one early in season with all/most starters returning.
 
#18      

hoopsfan47

H
hoopsfan47
IlliniSaluki said:
My ideal once in a lifetime never to be done again Non-con schedule. I just want to see it happen once in my life.

Eastern Illinois
Western Illinois
Northern Illinois
Southern Illinois - Carbondale
Southern Illinois - Edwardsville
University of Illinois Chicago
Illinois State

I think that takes care of all Division 1 Universities in the state with Illinois in their name. lol This will never happen but I think it would be cool just to see once.
Click to expand...
What I would like to see is for the Illini to play at least 3...if not 4....of those 7 every year. It would fill seats and provide at least generally solid competition....and much more interest than playing East Georgia Institute for the Blind or Northwestern Maine Tech.

By the way, why would a Saluki leave Bradley off that list?
 
#21      

Ransom Stoddard

Ransom Stoddard
Ordained Dudeist Priest
Bloomington, IL
Ransom Stoddard
hoopsfan47 said:
What I would like to see is for the Illini to play at least 3...if not 4....of those 7 every year. It would fill seats and provide at least generally solid competition....and much more interest than playing East Georgia Institute for the Blind or Northwestern Maine Tech.

By the way, why would a Saluki leave Bradley off that list?
Click to expand...
There's no way I'm driving to Champaign, paying for tickets, parking, and beer to watch most of those teams. They're the literal equivalent of your fictitious cupcakes.
As for "generally solid competition"--end of year KenPom ratings
Eastern Illinois - 347
Western Illinois - 267
Northern Illinois - 250
Southern Illinois - Carbondale - 139
Southern Illinois - Edwardsville - 242
University of Illinois Chicago - 301
Illinois State - 289

Bradley isn't a state school, which I think was the point of Saluki's post.
 
#22      

BretMyBeachHouse

B
BretMyBeachHouse
grue2 said:
Why is this hard? There are a lot of teams that are top 50 year in, year out. To the naive reader (me), this feels like something that should be relatively easy. You need two to say yes for any 2 year home/away period, and can schedule years in advance.
Click to expand...
It's hard because Kansas is thinking the same thing. They'll go to the UC one year, but in that year, they want that home game in KC. So they need to find a partner just like we have with Gonzaga. And that partner is going to want the same thing, so they need to find a partner.

The beauty of Braggin Rights is that the venue is great for both teams so they don't need to coordinate a with any other teams. That's part of it's longevity.
 
#24      

grue2

G
grue2
Ransom Stoddard said:
There's no way I'm driving to Champaign, paying for tickets, parking, and beer to watch most of those teams. They're the literal equivalent of your fictitious cupcakes.
Click to expand...
I think the point was that it might be better to play the IL schools than their equivalent cupcakes. I'd vote for neither (maybe SIUC).

I'd like to see P6 teams schedule 0-1 Q4 games/year. Now that Q4 games can only hurt tournaments chances, I hope more teams will move in this direction.

This will cause about half of the current DI conferences to not be economically viable, and move back to DII. Some borderline conferences will need to shed their perennial deadweights in favor of the top teams from the 'relegated' conferences. The boom in D1 BB teams/conferences is a money grab - the DI appearance fees and cut of the NCAA tourney vs. additional costs. This would be, in financial terms, a correction.