2021 nonconference schedules

Started by ronk, June 05, 2021, 11:29:18 PM

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ronk

 Looking to create a list of schools who have posted their coming nonconference/tourney schedules so that interesting matchups can be contemplated. As you become aware of such, append to the list(alphabetically). I'll start it off with:

Montclair
North Central(IL)                 https://northcentralcardinals.com/sports/womens-basketball/schedule
North Park
York(PA)

ronk

 Looking to create a list of schools who have posted their coming nonconference/tourney schedules so that interesting matchups can be contemplated. As you become aware of such, append to the list(alphabetically). I'll start it off with:

Illinois Wesleyan                  https://www.iwusports.com/sports/womens-basketball/schedule
Montclair
North Central(IL)                 https://northcentralcardinals.com/sports/womens-basketball/schedule
North Park
York(PA)

Royals85

Ronk Wheaton is up.I remember seeing them in Nashville playing lady Royals they were tall and long and after the game they ask the Lady Royals to join them in a circle at center Court for a prayer

ronk

 Looking to create a list of schools who have posted their coming nonconference/tourney schedules so that interesting matchups can be contemplated. As you become aware of such, append to the list(alphabetically). I'll start it off with:

Illinois Wesleyan                  https://www.iwusports.com/sports/womens-basketball/schedule
Montclair
North Central(IL)                 https://northcentralcardinals.com/sports/womens-basketball/schedule
North Park
Wheaton(IL)                        https://athletics.wheaton.edu/sports/womens-basketball/schedule
York(PA)


ronk

Bringing this forward(from the men's chat board, assuming that the women's schedule was done by each school if it was done on the men's side)

Region(before the realignment)
Atlantic
      Montclair
      Yeshiva

Central
      Aurora
      Cornell
      Concordia(WI)
      Edgewood
      Grinnell
      Illinois Wesleyan
      Lake Forest
      Lakeland
      North Central(IL)
      North Park
      Webster
East
       Rochester

Great Lakes
       Alma
       Calvin
       Trine

Mid-Atlantic
        York(PA)

West
        Augsburg
        Bethany Lutheran
        Carleton
        Coe
        Hamline
        Martin Luther
        North Central(MN)
        Northwestern(MN)
        St. Scholastica

gordonmann

I'm now in schedule gathering and entry mode and can note interesting non-conference games as I find them.

Illinois Wesleyan has always been very aggressive in its non-conference scheduling and it usually pays off when it's time to evaluate teams' resumes for at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament. The Titans have their traditional games against UW-Whitewater and Chicago and will participate in the Midwest Challenge (usually with DePauw, Wash U and one other school). They also fly west to play George Fox and Pacific, which was 17-9 in the last full season. Full IWU schedule here.

As noted below, Wheaton (Ill.) also has its schedule posted. The Thunder will head west to play defending SCIAC champs Redlands and Chapman. Full Wheaton schedule here.

Sticking with the CCIW, North Park's schedule is posted. The Vikings have been more competitive in the CCIW and I'll take any opportunity to mention them if it draws Greg Sager into the conversation. I assume NPU will play Maryville at Wheaton's Beth Baker Classic. That would be a good test since the Scots are usually one of the better teams in the USA South. Full NPU schedule here.

I'm very curious to see Millikin's non-conference schedule. The Big Blue are a program on the rise with one of the top rising sophomores in the country in Elyce Knudsen. I know Coach Lett has designs on competing for a national title and aggressive non-conference scheduling is usually a sign of that. The schedule isn't posted yet.

One last one for tonight. Redlands and Chapman have traditionally had very interesting non-conference schedules because SoCal is a popular trip for better-funded D3 teams over the holidays. This year the Bulldogs will get Wheaton, Wartburg and Amherst. Full Redlands schedule here.

gordonmann

Here's a look at some interesting non-conference matchups for MIAA teams.

•   With Hope graduating a historically excellent senior class, Trine might be MIAA favorites again. The Thunder play two games in Wisconsin against WIAC foes, including a road game at WIAC title contender UW-Eau Claire. Before the holiday break arrives, Trine plays two good OAC teams (at Ohio Northern, hosting Baldwin Wallace). I don't know who the Thunder will play at the Nashville holiday tournament but, if they add one more Top 25 caliber team there, plus two MIAA games against Hope, they should have a very nice strength-of-schedule. Full Trine schedule here.

•   Calvin is a couple years removed from serious MIAA title contention but, if Gabby Timmer and Leah Harris get some help, maybe the Knights can get back to that level. Calvin goes from one end of the D3 spectrum (Principia) to the other (UW-Whitewater) in its first two games. The Knights have a three-game stretch with Chicago, Hope and Trine before the holiday break. Harris, who's a Texas native, will have two good games in her home state against UW-Eau Claire and at Austin. Full Calvin schedule here.

•   Hope has its schedule posted on our site but we'll have to wait to see who their tournament participants are. That's six games with TBDs. Traditionally the Flying Dutch have had a well-designed schedule that gives them a good SOS to go with their sterling winning percentage. And recently the schedule hasn't mattered because Hope hasn't lost a game since they were eliminated from the 2019 NCAA Tournament by Wartburg what feels like a lifetime ago. Full Hope schedule here.

Flying Dutch Fan

Quote from: gordonmann on July 24, 2021, 12:15:47 PM
Here's a look at some interesting non-conference matchups for MIAA teams.

•   With Hope graduating a historically excellent senior class, Trine might be MIAA favorites again. The Thunder play two games in Wisconsin against WIAC foes, including a road game at WIAC title contender UW-Eau Claire. Before the holiday break arrives, Trine plays two good OAC teams (at Ohio Northern, hosting Baldwin Wallace). I don't know who the Thunder will play at the Nashville holiday tournament but, if they add one more Top 25 caliber team there, plus two MIAA games against Hope, they should have a very nice strength-of-schedule. Full Trine schedule here.

•   Calvin is a couple years removed from serious MIAA title contention but, if Gabby Timmer and Leah Harris get some help, maybe the Knights can get back to that level. Calvin goes from one end of the D3 spectrum (Principia) to the other (UW-Whitewater) in its first two games. The Knights have a three-game stretch with Chicago, Hope and Trine before the holiday break. Harris, who's a Texas native, will have two good games in her home state against UW-Eau Claire and at Austin. Full Calvin schedule here.

•   Hope has its schedule posted on our site but we'll have to wait to see who their tournament participants are. That's six games with TBDs. Traditionally the Flying Dutch have had a well-designed schedule that gives them a good SOS to go with their sterling winning percentage. And recently the schedule hasn't mattered because Hope hasn't lost a game since they were eliminated from the 2019 NCAA Tournament by Wartburg what feels like a lifetime ago. Full Hope schedule here.

The first tournament for Hope includes North Central, Edgewood, and Mount Union
The second one includes Baldwin-Wallace, Finlandia, and Olivet (it's a classic so Hope doesn't play Olivet in that one)
The third one (in Orlando) they will play Illinois College, and Central (IA) - a battle of the Dutch

There is also a rumor that several of the graduated SRs are still living in Holland this summer with plans to return for their 5th year - we shall see about that...
2016, 2020, 2022 MIAA Pick 'Em Champion

"Sports are kind of like passion and that's temporary in many cases, but academics - that's like true love and that's enduring." 
John Wooden

"Blame FDF.  That's the default.  Always blame FDF."
goodknight

gordonmann

Thanks very much for the insight.

I'd like to see those players come back for one more (hopefully full) run at an NCAA title. They were so good that it would really be a shame for them to have "what if..." lingering in their minds.

The only team on that list of opponents that is potentially at Hope's level is Baldwin Wallace. Edgewood is a solid team and the Eagles won 25 games in 2019-20. But they play a lot of games against teams in their own conference and were not competitive in the NCAA Tourament first round game against Oshkosh. It was 55-28 entering the fourth quarter and Oshkosh used 15 players.

That said, Coach Morehouse and his staff know what they're doing. They traditionally have a good strength-of-schedule index, even if games against Finlandia, North Central (Ill.), Illinois College and Central don't excite me as an outsider.

ronk

Baldwin-Wallace could be a good barometer then, playing Hope and Scranton a month apart.

gordonmann

Yes, those are the types of games I love when I'm trying to compare teams across regions. :)

Scranton has a good non-conference schedule this year with DeSales, Ithaca and BW. Stevens is a scrappy team and, like Ithaca, will get the Lady Royals ready for games where you need to win 47-41. I don't know if any of the local schools (Marywood, Miseri, Wilkes, King's) can compete with Scranton and that takes four of their non-conference games. But I understand the value of playing regional opponents.

gordonmann

#11
I entered some HCAC schedules last night and two caught my eye.

* Transylvania has a really good non-conference schedule with four interesting games in a row. The Pioneers will blaze their way east to play Eastern Nazarene and Tufts in what would be a really good Sweet 16 matchup. Then they return home and play Berea and Piedmont who went 1-2 in the USA South in the last full season. Transy hosts John Carroll in a game that could shape regional rankings a couple months later. Full schedule here.

* Rose-Hulman has always scheduled aggressively and the Fightin' Engineers have done so again. They open with Berea; head to North Park's tournament to play the Vikings and Elmhurst; and then are presumably the fourth team with IWU, Wash U and DePauw in the Midwestern Challenge. Rose-Hulman also hosts Rhodes which should be solid if All-American Keira Downey returns for her senior season. Full schedule here.

gordonmann

We have a bunch of schedules posted for the ARC and UMAC now, plus a few MIAC and SCIAC teams that we get automatically through Presto. A few noteworthy ones:

* Lyle Jones has been quietly building a good program at Bethany Lutheran. The Vikings are 75-18 over the last four seasons and, while the UMAC is not very deep, BLC also beat Bethel in the last NCAA Tournament. Last season Hanna Geistfeld became the program's first All-American when she put up video-game style numbers and this upcoming season has a very aggressive schedule. Bethany Lutheran plays WIAC title contenders UW-Oshkosh and UW-Eau Claire; ARC contenders Loras and Simpson; and Augsburg. That's the schedule of a team that's thinking NCAA Tournament and knows it needs to beef up its strength-of-schedule. Full schedule here.

* We've talked on this page before about how unfortunate it was that COVID prematurely ended NCAA title hopes twice for the Hope senior class of 2021. Loras suffered a similar fate when its best season in program history (25-4) ended when the pandemic hit in March 2020. I think the top two players off that team are both gone now, though the Duhawks do have the West Region Rookie of the Year Sami Martin. If Loras is going to take a step back, you can't tell from its schedule: games with UW-Eau Claire and UW-Whitewater, Bethany Lutheran, and a fun interregional game against Washington & Lee in Florida. Full schedule here.

* The MIAC's size doesn't leave much room for non-conference play. St. Thomas is headed to D1 but St. Scholastica takes the Tommies' place and teams only have three games outside the MIAC. Augsburg makes the most of that with games against Bethany Lutheran and Chicago. Gustavus opens with unbeaten-since-2020 Simpson. Concordia-Moorhead will use most of its non-conference schedule for the 2021 D3hoops Classic where the Cobbers will play Coast Guard and Conn College in must-C matchups.

* The SCIAC teams sit on a Division III island in Southern California, so it's often hard to compare them to the rest of the Division. This year one SCIAC team in particular could be the lens through which Top 25 voters sort out the top of their ballot. Redlands will host Wheaton and Wartburg and play Amherst at nearby Chapman. Full schedule here. Full schedule here.

ronk

Gordon,
  The men have entries in the D3 Scores link for their daily schedules thru Nov 13; will u be doing the same for the women?