SLU coach Rick Majerus likes his team's schedule. There's no denying the talent and mystique of playing Duke, and Majerus is expecting big things from opponents Georgia, Portland and Missouri State, which he thinks will be major factors in their conferences.
ESPN's Andy Katz has made Georgia, which was 14-18 last season and finished sixth in its division in the SEC, No. 25 in his preseason rankings.
Majerus wouldn't have minded having a bit more on the schedule.
"I play great schedules," Majerus said. "That why my teams always had such great tournament seeds (at Utah). But you can't play teams that won't play you. ... It's a monster schedule; it's a great schedule for our fans."
Majerus said SLU once again approached Missouri about a game, and the schools had common open dates that would have made it work, but they were turned down. Majerus said they offered to play a one-shot game at Michigan State but were turned down.
"I stand ready to play anybody, at any time," Majerus said. "We always begin with asking Missouri. ... It would be good for basketball in Missouri. It would be very lucrative for Missouri and St. Louis. It would be a grand slam, it would touch all the bases. At Utah, we played every Utah school. At Ball State, we played Purdue twice, we finally got Indiana on the schedule. Notre Dame wouldn't play us. We're open to play."
The need to have 18 home games for financial reasons got in the way of another big-name opponent. There was an opportunity for a home-and-home series with Seton Hall of the Big East, but Seton Hall wanted the series to start at their place this season, while SLU needed it to start at Chaifetz.
Instead, SLU added Rockhurst. "We'll make a ton of money on the Rockhurst game, rather than playing a Big East team home and home," Majerus said. "I'm a team player, I understand that financially. Hopefully it doesn't come back to haunt us when the NCAA field is picked."
Though the game with Chicago State may look like one of those games that's on the schedule to fill it out - Chicago State was 9-23 last season with an RPI of 347 - it's actually the first game of a home-and-home because next season, it's Kwamain Mitchell's homecoming game. Majerus said efforts to get a school in Mitchell's hometown of Milwaukee or one of the bigger schools in Chicago such as DePaul were unsuccessful.
Majerus said SLU was continuing to approach other Jesuit schools, such as Boston College, which it earlier had a series with, or Georgetown, but so far, to no success. "I tell people, 'If you can get Georgetown on our schedule, I'll give you a finder's fee,' " Majerus said.
In a quirk that probably makes SLU unique in the world of college basketball in 2010-11, it will play the winners of three of the four postseason tournaments from last season: Duke, which won the NCAAs, Dayton, which won the NIT, and Missouri State, which won the collegeinsider.com tournament. SLU, of course, lost in the final of the CBI to Virginia Commonwealth.
Other than requesting who you can play twice, there's not much you can do about the conference schedule. Majerus said SLU asked to play Dayton, Xavier and Temple, which are likely to be three of the other top teams in the Atlantic 10, and got Dayton, Xavier and Duquesne as the teams they'll face twice.
He would have liked the team's games at George Washington and Richmond to be packaged together, and the Richmond game is part of a tough 1-2 with St. Bonaventure. Since traveling to Olean, N.Y., in February isn't a gimme - one of the first things I was told by other writers in the league when SLU joined the A-10 was never try to fly into Bonnie on the day of the game and always rent a car with four-wheel drive on that trip - so SLU will likely fly out Monday morning for a Wednesday game, if not earlier. Though SLU should be able to get out of Richmond on Saturday after a noon start there, if they can't, they'll basically be getting off one plane and getting on another.
(By the way, no word yet on whether SLU will be flying charters this season.)
SLU will open and close its conference season at home, starting with Dayton and ending with Xavier. While that's a good thing from SLU's standpoint, Majerus also thinks it's unfair. He thinks each team should be able to open at home or close at home, but not both. "We shouldn't have that," he said.
Majerus didn't say it, but SLU might have been better off not having Dayton as the home A-10 opener because it's before school resumes in January. That usually means a much smaller student section, and the fans in the west bleachers are one of the things that has made Chaifetz Arena a tough place to paly.
But there's a lot that can happen between now and then, and what looks like a good thing now may be bad when it finally happens, and vice versa.
Here's the schedule, with last season's record and RPIs, and an occasional comment:
Nov. 2: Cardinal Stritch (exhibition) Stritch is coached by former Billiken Drew Diener, which is how they got on the schedule. "We're all Diener, all the time here," said Majerus, who has Rachel Diener working on his staff.
Nov. 6: Nova Southeastern (exhibition). It's the school that SLU assistant Chris Harriman used to be at.
Nov. 12 Austin Peay - 17-15, 159 RPI
Nov. 15 Rockhurst - If SLU needs a going home game for Willie Reed next season in Kansas City, could Rockhurst be the one?
Nov. 20 Georgia 14-17, 109 RPI
Nov. 23 Tennessee State, 9-23, 260 RPI
Nov. 27 IUPUI, 25-11, 86 RPI - SLU almost played IUPUI in the semis of the CBI, got IUPUI lost to Princeton in overtime.
Nov. 30 at Portland, 21-11, 84 RPI - Brian Conklin goes home.
Dec. 11 at Duke, 35-5, 2 RPI - This would be SLU's first game on an over-the-air network since it was last in the NCAAs.
Dec. 15 Jacksonville, 20-13, 131 RPI - beat Arizona State in the first round of the NITs last year, in Tempe.
Dec. 18 at Missouri State, 24-12, 75 RPI
Dec. 22 vs. Northeastern (at Cancun), 20-13, 77 RPI - went to the NIT last year
Dec. 23 vs. East Tennessee State/Southern Miss (at Cancun) 118/121 on ESPNU if SLU wins first game
Dec. 24 vs. Appalachian State/Colorado State/Ole Miss/Texas State (at Cancun) 93/132/54/243 on ESPN2 if SLU wins first game
Jan. 1 Bowling Green, 14-16, 188 RPI - beat SLU easily last season
Jan. 3 Chicago State, 9-23, 347 RPI
Jan. 6 Dayton 24-12, 36 RPI - NIT champ
Jan. 9 at Temple 29-6, 11 RPI - made NCAAs
Jan. 12 at Duquesne 16-16, 145 RPI
Jan. 15 St. Joseph's 11-20, 184 RPI
Jan. 19 vs. Fordham (at Izod Center, East Rutherford, N.J.) 2-26, 305 RPI - If SLU flies into Newark, they may not set foot in New York on this trip.
Jan. 26 Rhode Island, 26-10, 38 RPI - gave SLU painful loss in quarters of A-10 tournament
Jan. 29 at George Washington, 16-15, 148 RPI
Feb. 2 Massachusetts 12-20, 179 RPI
Feb. 5 at Xavier 26-9, 17 RPI - on ESPNU
Feb. 9 La Salle 12-18, 171 RPI
Feb. 12 at Richmond 26-9, 26 RPI - on ESPN or ESPN2
Feb. 16 at St. Bonaventure 15-16, 156 RPI - league's most fun trip
Feb. 19 Charlotte 19-12, 79 RPI
Feb. 26 Duquesne 16-16, 115 RPI
Mar. 2 at Dayton 24-12, 36 RPI - SLU pulled off major win there last year
Mar. 5 Xavier 26-9, 17 RPI - could first in league be at stake?
Mar. 8 A-10 tournament first round (campus sites) - If SLU's in top four, this gets scratched off schedule
Mar. 11-13 A-10 tournament at Atlantic City, N.J.
