College basketball games are almost here. Yes, almost being the key word. November is fast approaching. And while many people are excited about college football starting in a few weeks, others are excited that college basketball will start in four months.
More non-conference games are being announced. And the WAC is no different. On Monday, the WAC put out its conference matchups. On Wednesday, California Baptist became the first team to put out its slate of non-conference games. Also on Wednesday, schedule guru Rocco Miller put out a tweet regarding Sam Houston and one of its non-conference games.
The Oklahoma State schedule is nearing completion and should grade out well in the end. #BigXII #OklahomaState pic.twitter.com/u75ffKMsXD
— Rocco Miller (@RoccoMiller8) August 3, 2022
Last week, news came out about one of Utah Valley’s non-conference games. And it was a bit of a shocker. The Wolverines will get a chance to break their 13-game losing streak against Utah State on Nov. 7 in Logan. It is the first time the two teams have met since 2018 when the Aggies won 65-46 in Logan.
Along these lines, ACU has announced a pair of games at Kansas State and at Texas A&M. New Mexico State head coach Greg Heiar made mention of the Aggies playing at Saint Mary’s and that was confirmed on Tuesday when the Gaels released their non-conference schedule.
Saint Mary's has released its non-conference schedule for the 22-23 season. pic.twitter.com/Gd2soOm8QZ
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) August 2, 2022
And on Wednesday, the official announcement game out for the Hall of Fame Classic in Kansas City. Grand Canyon will face Wichita State on Nov. 21.
#HOFClassic matchups are officially ? in!@UNImbb vs. @USFDonsMBB @GCU_MBB vs. @GoShockersMBB pic.twitter.com/iPWgilNaBz
— Hall of Fame Classic (@HOFClassic) August 3, 2022
As of now, WAC schools have games against the Pac-12, WCC, Mountain West, Summit League, Big Sky, Missouri Valley, Conference USA, ACC, and the Big Ten among others. And most of those are not part of an MTE. Yes, Utah Valley plays at Wake Forest as part of the Jamaica Classic and California Baptist plays Minnesota as part of the SoCal Challenge. But schedules are taking shape.
Sam Houston has road games at Nevada, at Utah, at Oklahoma, at Oklahoma State and at Missouri State as of this writing.
Utah Valley is set to play at Utah State, at Boise State, at Wake Forest, at BYU, at Oregon and has a home and home with Northern Arizona.
Utah Tech, California Baptist and Seattle are all slated to play at Washington.
There are just a ton of opportunities starting to rack up for WAC schools. The non-conference slate of games in the WAC will be significant.
CBU First WAC Team to Release Non-Conference Slate of Games
Ready for action!
? – https://t.co/KL4HMui8VW
? – https://t.co/MXaJCcUAGk#LanceUp⚔️ pic.twitter.com/ZfqBct8L0u— California Baptist Men's Basketball (@CBUmbb) August 3, 2022
For perhaps the first time in the Division I era, California Baptist will play less than two non-DI opponents in its non-conference slate. About the only issue with the schedule is that the Lancers will travel out of the state of California just once in the non-conference slate.
But, make no mistake, the schedule is solid for a veteran Lancer squad. Big Sky, WCC, MAC, Pac-12 and Big Ten opponents grace the schedule. CBU will also get a shot at UNLV out of the Mountain West and a trio of games against Big West opponents. CBU opens with a trio of home games before heading to Seattle to take on the Washington Huskies.
The Lancers have just three true road games in the non-conference slate. Along with the game at Washington, CBU also has games at Cal Poly on Dec. 3 and at San Diego on Dec. 10. The Lancers finish up the non-conference slate hosting Big Sky foe Portland State on Dec. 22.
Here are the NET rankings as of April 4, 2022 for CBU’s non-conference opponents.
UNLV – 97
Minnesota – 109
Washington – 113
Long Beach – 159
UC Riverside – 163
Weber State – 166
San Diego – 219
Portland State – 271
Cal Poly – 308
Central Michigan – 318
CSUN – 326
NJIT – 332
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