Ranking the Best Nonconference Schedules in College Basketball in 2016-17
With 351 schools each playing 30 or so regular-season games every year, it's understandable that schedules tend to trickle out during the offseason instead of being released in bunches like with college football. While conferences take care of the league portion, it's up to individual schools to find the opponents to make up the rest of their slates, and in a lot of cases, they're still adding games and haven't officially unveiled their nonconference schedules.
It will be another month or so, if not longer, before we have the full nonconference schedule for every Division I team, but for now, we've got a good number of them. And from what's been released to this point, there are some impressive lineups. There are plenty of weak ones too, but we're going to focus on the good ones for this piece.
Based on what's out there, here are the 20 best nonconference schedules for 2016-17 in terms of overall difficulty and quality of competition.
Rigorous Mid-Major Schedules
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While Power Five conference teams have the luxury of making their nonconference schedules as difficult (or easy) as they'd like, depending on how much stock they put into strength of schedule, the same isn't true for non-power teams. Most struggle to get any quality opponents to come to them and must resort to taking on top foes on the road, while others need as many high-paying road games as possible to cover their budgets.
The results are some ridiculously tough nonconference slates, a few of which we've highlighted below.
Long Beach State
There are enough teams in California that Long Beach could probably get away with never leaving the state during non-league play. That's not how coach Dan Monson rolls, though, as he routinely puts together one of the toughest schedules in the country. Last year, the 49ers played (and lost) at Oklahoma State, UCLA, Oregon, Arizona and Duke, in addition to facing Seton Hall and Virginia in the Charleston Classic, and the 2016-17 lineup is even tougher.
The 49ers are set to face Kansas, Louisville, New Mexico State, North Carolina, Texas, UCLA, Washington and Wichita State all on the road and will take on Oregon State in Portland. A second consecutive season of having the No. 1 nonconference SOS, per CBS Sports' Jerry Palm, is looking pretty good.
Monmouth
Coming off a breakout season in which it won 28 games, including against five power teams—Georgetown, Notre Dame, Rutgers, UCLA and USC—Monmouth has another chance for its team and the Monmouth bench to get attention.
The Hawks are scheduled to play at South Carolina and Syracuse as part of the Brooklyn Hoops Holiday Invitational, and will visit Memphis and North Carolina later.
Texas Southern
It's buy games or bust for teams at the lowest level of Division I, particularly in conferences such as the Southwestern Athletic Conference. Payments for playing on the road against power-conference competition fund not only the basketball teams but also much of the rest of those schools' athletic programs, which explains why the 10 SWAC schools are set to play more than 30 power teams in 2016-17.
Five of those are on Texas Southern's schedule, which has the Tigers playing at Arizona, Baylor, Cincinnati, Louisville and TCU along with six other road games. TSU was 1-11 against a similarly rough slate in 2015-16, but the season before, it managed to win at Kansas State and eventual Final Four team Michigan State.
Special Recognition: Indiana
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Some power-conference teams have put together easier nonconference schedules, but no one else has managed to assemble one that's both easy and challenging like Indiana has.
The Hoosiers are known for overloading their home schedule with the creamiest of cream puffs—last year's ranked 192nd in strength of schedule, per Palm—and playing on the road only when forced to, such as for the Big Ten-ACC Challenge. But they've really outdone themselves for 2016-17 despite having a slate that features games against Kansas (in Honolulu), North Carolina (at home), Butler and Louisville (both in Indianapolis).
The rest of the lineup, though, is softer than a memory foam pillow.
Eight opponents had KenPom.com ratings in 2015-16 of 206 or higher, the best of that group being Austin Peay, which made the NCAA tournament as OVC tournament champion by winning four games in four days. Five of those teams were rated in the 300s, and the only true road game on the schedule is at Indiana-Purdue-Fort Wayne.
The way this schedule is set up, Indiana could conceivably go 9-4 and head into Big Ten play in serious trouble because of a lack of quality wins. Even 10-3 would leave little room for error.
12. San Diego State
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Potential games against 2015-16 NCAA tournament teams: 3-4
Road/neutral-site games: 7
Average final KP ranking of Division I opponents: 148.71
San Diego State has become one of the most consistent programs outside of the traditional major conferences, though its streak of six consecutive NCAA tournament appearance came to an end in March. That was partly due to a poor showing against a non-league slate that was rated as the second-toughest in the country.
Another strong schedule can lead the way to the Aztecs getting back to the Big Dance as long as they do better than 5-6 like in 2015-16. But they'll have to do it away from Viejas Arena, since Arizona State is the only quality opponent coming to town, and the remaining two spots they have to fill likely will be against low-rated teams.
The Aztecs will get their challenges on the road (at Gonzaga, at Grand Canyon) and in neutral sites, first against California in Sacramento and then over Christmas in the Diamond Head Classic in Hawaii. SDSU opens against Southern Mississippi, which was 8-21 last season, but then it will get either Stephen F. Austin or Tulsa and could face Utah in the final.
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11. Michigan State
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Potential games against 2015-16 NCAA tournament teams: 4-5
Road/neutral-site games: 5
Average final KP ranking of Division I opponents: 136.75
Only 10 of Michigan State's 13 nonconference games have been unveiled at this point, but of the ones we know about, there are plenty of good ones. If the Spartans are able to fill those last slots with some decent mid-major competition, they'd move up on this list, but for now, we're holding them at 11th.
MSU begins with a doozy of a duo, first taking on Arizona in Honolulu and then Kentucky in New York City, the latter part of the Champions Classic. The Spartans go back to Hawaii before November is over to play in the Maui Invitation, where they'll open against St. John's but then get Baylor or VCU and could see Louisville in the championship game.
That's followed by a trip to Duke, where the Blue Devils have won their last 125 nonconference games, for a Big Ten-ACC Challenge clash.
What we know of MSU's other games, all at home, is what's holding back the overall schedule. On tap for East Lansing are Mississippi Valley State, Youngstown State, Northeastern and Oakland. Oakland took MSU to overtime last season, but that was with Kay Felder and Max Hooper, both of whom are gone.
10. Wisconsin
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Potential games against 2015-16 NCAA tournament teams: 3-5
Road/neutral-site games: 5
Average final KP ranking of Division I opponents: 125.38
Wisconsin was against the ropes in mid-December after struggling through non-league play. It then saw longtime coach Bo Ryan abruptly retire, but the Badgers got hot and nearly made the Elite Eight. The entire team is back, and Wisconsin will get a few good opportunities to show its growth before getting into Big Ten competition.
Trips to Creighton and Marquette bookend a slate that also includes the Maui Invitational, starting with Tennessee but then getting Georgetown or Oregon and possibly North Carolina in the title match. Syracuse and Oklahoma both come to the Kohl Center after that, the former part of the Big Ten-ACC Challenge and the latter the second half of a home-and-home with the Sooners.
Three other home games are known but not really worth mentioning: Central Arkansas and Idaho State were a combined 23-32 last season, while Green Bay made the NCAA tournament but graduated its top two scorers. Wisconsin has three open spots to fill, all likely at home, and based on past history, none of them figure to be much to rave about.
9. South Carolina
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Potential games against 2015-16 NCAA tournament teams: 4
Road/neutral-site games: 4
Average final KP ranking of Division I opponents: 123.7
South Carolina missed out on the NCAA tournament last season for two reasons: a second-half collapse and no significant nonconference wins to help the resume. Beating Tulsa in the Virgin Islands and winning at perennial underachiever Clemson aren't the kinds of things that should highlight a 13-0 non-league record.
The Gamecocks have learned from their past scheduling mistakes, making a major upgrade in that area. After having what was rated as the No. 271 strength of schedule in 2015-16, they've got a far more impressive lineup this season. It might end up rating a little lower than it does now, since there are a few open slots to fill that will most likely end up being against low-end opponents at home, but the known portion still makes the 2016-17 schedule so much better.
As part of the Brooklyn Holiday Hoops Invitational, which is basically just a five-team round robin, South Carolina gets giant-killer Monmouth to come to Columbia and will face Syracuse in Brooklyn, New York. It also gets Clemson and Michigan at home and plays Seton Hall at Madison Square Garden in New York as part of the Under Armour Reunion.
8. Memphis
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Potential games against 2015-16 NCAA tournament teams: 3
Road/neutral-site games: 3
Average final KP ranking of Division I opponents: 129.7
Tubby Smith scheduled relatively lightly during the nonconference season while at Texas Tech, trying to build confidence for players in a program that hadn't made the NCAA tournament since 2007. That paid off last season, with the Red Raiders earning a bid, and now Smith has moved on to another reclamation project at Memphis.
This one won't be as hard to turn around as Texas Tech, and as a result, the pre-league competition is stronger than what he'd faced the last few years. There's room for it to become weaker, though, since Memphis has a couple of open dates to fill and can add some soft home opponents.
The known portion has some easy parts—the first three games are currently against Texas-Rio Grande Valley, Milwaukee and Savannah State, who were a combined 44-51 a year ago—but also several challenges. The Emerald Coast Classic, in Niceville, Florida, will see the Tigers take on Providence and then either Iowa or Virginia.
There are also road games against Ole Miss and Oklahoma and a tricky home game in mid-December against Monmouth, who will be looking to add an American Athletic Conference conquest to the other power-league wins it picked up in 2015-16.
7. Duke
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Potential games against 2015-16 NCAA tournament teams: 2-3
Road/neutral-site games: 6
Average final KP ranking of Division I opponents: 146.25
Who knew politics could cause Duke's non-conference lineup to lose some strength-of-schedule punch?
The Blue Devils were originally supposed to face Albany as part of the Hall of Fame Tip-Off tournament, but New York governor Andrew Cuomo put the kibosh on that game in reaction to North Carolina's anti-LGBT law. Albany was replaced by Marist, which is also from the Empire State but is private and not state-funded.
Long story short: Marist makes Duke's overall schedule a bit softer, as the Red Foxes were 7-23 last season with a KenPom rank of 304 compared to Albany's 24-9 mark and 118 rank. That means Duke faces three teams with a 250-plus rating at home, though it also gets Michigan State to come to Cameron Indoor Stadium as part of the Big Ten-ACC Challenge.
What the Blue Devils' schedule lacks is a true road game. Instead, they play two in New York City (against Kansas in the Champions Classic and Florida in the Jimmy V Classic) and two in Springfield, Massachusetts, for the Hall of Fame Tip-Off (Penn State and either Cincinnati or Rhode Island), as well as UNLV at the new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and Elon in Greensboro, North Carolina.
6. Arizona State
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Potential games against 2015-16 NCAA tournament teams: 3-5
Road/neutral-site games: 6
Average final KP ranking of Division I opponents: 137.63
Bobby Hurley took the Arizona State job last season with the belief he could make it an upper-tier Pac-12 program; however, after going 10-3 against a solid non-league slate, the Sun Devils finished below .500. Expect an improved unit in his second go-around and another strong warmup to league play.
While the home lineup leaves a little to be desired—Creighton should never be your headliner—it helps balance out a half dozen games outside Tempe that include a trip to one of the hardest places to play in college basketball and five games on three different islands. Yes, you read that right.
The Sun Devils play in the Puerto Rico Shootout in mid-November, opening against Northern Iowa and then playing either Tulane or Oklahoma before getting Clemson, Davidson, Missouri or Xavier to finish. A week later, they're in the Bahamas to play Kentucky, and the following week, they go to Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, New York, to take on Purdue.
The lone true road game is a doozy: at San Diego State, which was nearly unbeatable at Viejas Arena until last season.
5. Kentucky
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Potential games against 2015-16 NCAA tournament teams: 4 (plus Louisville)
Road/neutral-site games: 5
Average final KP ranking of Division I opponents: 95.85
John Calipari's recruiting philosophy is to go after players he knows want to get to the NBA as soon as possible and then get them prepared for the rigors of pro basketball. Part of this process involves giving them a good pre-SEC schedule to contend with, one that's an equal mix of high-profile TV games and decent mid-major competition.
Kentucky has another one of those lineups set for 2016-17, though some of the home opponents aren't as good as in years past. UCLA and Valparaiso make for solid visitors to Rupp Arena, but the rest of the pre-Christmas foes (Canisius, Cleveland State, Duquesne, Stephen F. Austin and Tennessee-Martin) aren't as impressive. Yes, SFA nearly made the Sweet 16 last season, but it lost its best player and its coach and will be playing its opener under new coach Kyle Keller in Lexington.
Kentucky's best non-league home game actually comes smack dab in the middle of conference play, when Kansas visits in the SEC-Big 12 Challenge.
The road and neutral-site games save the Wildcats' schedule. They play Michigan State in the Champions Classic in New York City and North Carolina in the CBS Classic in Las Vegas, and also have random games against Hofstra in Brooklyn and Arizona State in the Bahamas. They finish non-league play with the annual clash against Louisville, this one at the KFC Yum! Center.
4. Louisville
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Potential games against 2015-16 NCAA tournament teams: 3-5
Road/neutral-site games: 4
Average final KP ranking of Division I opponents: 83.18
Louisville has put together one of its best non-league schedules in recent memory and a significant upgrade from the 2015-16 slate that was rated 168th despite including games at Kentucky and Michigan State. It's because almost everything else was either at home, against teams that would end up with losing records or both.
That could end up being the case with a lot of this year's nonconference opponents, but based on how they fared last season, the overall quality is much better. Though there's only one road game, at transitioning Division I member Grand Canyon, there are no scheduled opponents against a team rated lower than 173rd by KenPom last season.
Among the home opponents are Purdue and Kentucky, and at 15-16 Eastern Kentucky is the only one that finished below .500 last season.
The Cardinals will get also get a strong SOS boost from playing in the Battle 4 Atlantis, where after opening with Old Dominion, they will play LSU or Wichita State and then possibly face Baylor, Michigan State or VCU to finish the tournament.
3. Xavier
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Potential games against 2015-16 NCAA tournament teams: 6-7
Road/neutral-site games: 6
Average final KP ranking of Division I opponents: 104.36
Xavier's nonconference schedule can best be described as consistent. There are no super-tough games but also none that you can already mark down as a 30-point win. Instead, it's a lot of good matchups—just what the Musketeers need to prepare themselves for Big East play.
Unless it ends up facing Tulane on the final day of the Puerto Rico Shootout, Xavier won't face a team that had a KenPom rating in the 200s or worse last season. Currently, its worst scheduled opponent is Eastern Washington (196), which is Xavier's last foe before starting the league schedule.
The Musketeers play three true road games, and none are in friendly locales: they'll visit crosstown rival Cincinnati at a date to be determined and also visit Baylor and Colorado, facing those last two in consecutive games in early December. They open the Puerto Rico Shootout against Missouri and then face either Clemson or Davison, and could meet Northern Iowa or Oklahoma, both NCAA tournament teams, on the final day.
Northern Iowa also comes to Cincinnati as part of an eight-game home slate that also includes 2016 NCAA qualifiers Buffalo and Utah.
2. North Carolina
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Potential games against 2015-16 NCAA tournament teams: 5-7
Road/neutral-site games: 7
Average final KP ranking of Division I opponents: 102.18
North Carolina brings back a solid nucleus from the team that might have been the defending national champion if not for a last-second three-pointer. The quest to get back to the title game begins with a strong pre-ACC schedule where half of the games are away from the Dean Smith Center.
Only two of the Tar Heels' first eight games are in Chapel Hill, as they start out at Tulane and new coach Mike Dunleavy Sr. before hosting Southern Conference champion Chattanooga and Long Beach State. They then head to Hawaii for four games, first against the Rainbow Warriors (who made the NCAA tourney in 2015-16 but are banned from postseason play in 2016-17 and aren't expected to be very good) and then in the Maui Invitational.
They open Maui with Division II school Chaminade but then play either Connecticut or Oklahoma State. They then get Georgetown, Oregon, Tennessee or Wisconsin. And their first game back on the mainland is at Indiana in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge.
UNC also faces Radford, Davidson, Tennessee, Northern Iowa and Monmouth at home and faces Kentucky in Las Vegas in the CBS Sports Classic. Not many walkovers.
1. Kansas
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Potential games against 2015-16 NCAA tournament teams: 4
Road/neutral-site games: 7
Average final KP ranking of Division I opponents: 100.75
Kansas has won the last dozen Big 12 regular-season titles, and there are plenty of reasons for this. But talent aside, something must be said for Bill Self's willingness to test his team as often as possible during the first half of the season, thus steeling his players for the conference schedule and making that stretch easier to handle.
The Jayhawks' 2016-17 nonconference slate is no different, packed with not just notable neutral-site matchups but also a rather strong home slate as well as two road games. And those are the last two non-Big 12 games, a pre-December trip to UNLV and a return game at Kentucky in late January as part of the SEC-Big 12 Challenge.
Kansas' start is pretty strong, too. It opens against Indiana in Honolulu and then takes on Duke in the Champions Classic, this time in New York City. It doesn't leave the state again until going to UNLV, but in between is decent competition either in Lawrence or Kansas City. Coming to Allen Fieldhouse are Siena, UNC-Asheville, Long Beach State, Stanford, Missouri-Kansas City and Nebraska, which isn't exactly a murderers' row but also isn't super soft. The Jayhawks will be decided favorites in all of those games, but they won't be able to sleepwalk to victory.
Also on tap are three games in Kansas City: the CBE Hall of Fame Classic against UAB and either Georgia or NIT champion George Washington, as well as a one-off game against Davidson.
All statistics courtesy of Sports-Reference.com, unless otherwise noted. All analytics from KenPom.com, unless otherwise noted.
Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.
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