The Bobcat Nation

Let's get this started. I think CSU-Northridge owes us a return game from this past year when we got beat down at Northridge right before the Xmas Break.

Other than that, no clue about our schedule.

Is the Big Sky vs Summit thing happening again this year? Really liked that last year, was good to see a couple different teams on the schedule. If so I think that was roughly based on previous season standings so may be able to take some guesses at what matchups we might get there.

I want Grambling... lol.

Cats played Washington in Seattle last year. Don't suppose it was a home and home but wouldn't it be fun to play Danny's team here next fall.

Yes, the Big Sky v. Summit League Challenge is in play. We will get a home and away game next year and those pairings and dates should be announced in the next few weeks. Actually I think the Challenge dates are set for Wednesday, Dec. 4th and Saturday, Dec. 7th this year, so they shouldn't interfere with the conference schedule.

4th, 5th, and 6th in the Summit League this past season were St. Thomas, NDSU, and Omaha. Those would seem to be likely opponents for MSU if they're matching teams up based on last year's standings. I'll guess MSU gets NDSU at home and travels to St. Thomas.

Schedule Intel - got a scoop on a few of next year's non conference opponents:

CSU-Northridge
@ UC-Riverside
Northwestern
Denver
Southern Miss
@ TCU
@ University of Southern California (USC)
Montana State-Billings (exhibition)
@ Utah Valley (exhibition)
NW Indian College

Clipped this from the Hattiesburg American …

The Golden Eagles will play a midseason tournament at Montana State. Ladner said Abilene Christian is one of the confirmed participants.

Here’s the link to the article. Yes, I am bored and have some down time

https://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/sto ... 076858007/

I'm hearing rumors of a possible game at Wisconsin next season.

Wisconsin may well be the season opener since November 4 is the first date teams can play regular season games this year.

This is the downfall of beating Cal and then winning the Big Sky Tourney for the 3rd year in a row... You end up playing at Wisc and Wichita State to start your season. I have heard it is getting hard to find schools to play in Bozeman. And even schools like Gonzaga and Washington State are saying "No Thanks" to us going there.

SACCAT wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 15, 2024 7:35 am

This is the downfall of beating Cal and then winning the Big Sky Tourney for the 3rd year in a row... You end up playing at Wisc and Wichita State to start your season. I have heard it is getting hard to find schools to play in Bozeman. And even schools like Gonzaga and Washington State are saying "No Thanks" to us going there.

I would love for the Cats to come play here in Spokane. Not sure why the Zags wouldn’t want that.

Common Cat wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 15, 2024 9:42 am

SACCAT wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 15, 2024 7:35 am

This is the downfall of beating Cal and then winning the Big Sky Tourney for the 3rd year in a row... You end up playing at Wisc and Wichita State to start your season. I have heard it is getting hard to find schools to play in Bozeman. And even schools like Gonzaga and Washington State are saying "No Thanks" to us going there.

I would love for the Cats to come play here in Spokane. Not sure why the Zags wouldn’t want that.

Non-conference scheduling these days is all about strength of schedule and maximizing your Quad 1 and Quad 2 wins for NCAA Tournament seeding. Playing a team like MSU has little benefit to Gonzaga as we aren't good enough to help with SoS but are good enough to potentially cause an upset that would be very harmful. Wisconsin probably cares less about non-conference SoS since they play in an extremely strong conference and can build their tournament resume through conference play which Gonzaga can't do as effectively blowing out far weaker teams in the WCC.

AFCAT wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 18, 2024 11:41 am

Interesting that in all cases, teams start and end the season playing the same team. Is this always the case? I've never seen the schedule laid out like this, so it may be a dumb question...

grizzh8r wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 22, 2024 10:52 am

AFCAT wrote: ↑

Thu Jul 18, 2024 11:41 am

Interesting that in all cases, teams start and end the season playing the same team. Is this always the case? I've never seen the schedule laid out like this, so it may be a dumb question...

The past two seasons have been similar, although in those seasons MSU finished the season against their second opening weekend opponent instead of the first one like this year. The two weeks in which teams play a Thursday/Saturday/Monday schedule are due to the Big Sky Tournament schedule being moved up a couple years ago, which left one fewer weekend available for regular season conference games.