Katz on 2006-07 Schedules

49ers Basketball Forum 🏀
1

Charlotte and A-10 get mentioned in Andy Katz’s take on the “Best/Worst” schedules this season. Here are the highlights (though I can’t say I agree with his comments about Karl Hobbs & Co. Still too many “cupcakes” on the GW OOC)…

[b]First-team gutsy scheduler[/b] Charlotte's Bobby Lutz. Lutz is never afraid to go anywhere and it shows. This season, the 49ers are going to Syracuse (one-way without a return), Indiana (a continuing series) and Mississippi State (a return), hosting Hofstra (a tough out from the CAA), and playing in the Rainbow Classic (more on that later).

Potential bubble teams scheduling for the NCAA Tournament
UMass, Georgia and Florida State. The Minutemen play at Louisville, Kentucky and Pitt, host BC and Miami and have six other road or neutral-site games. Georgia is at Wake Forest, Georgia Tech and Clemson and hosts Gonzaga (in Duluth, Ga.) and Wisconsin. Florida State is at Pitt, Wisconsin and Georgia State and hosts Florida.

Mark Gottfried award for heeding the call for a tougher slate
Karl Hobbs of George Washington. Gottfried got blindsided a few years back (before his recent run of five straight NCAA appearances) when the Tide didn’t reach the NCAA Tournament in large part due to its schedule. Hobbs’ GW team made it last season but a weak slate put the Colonials in as a No. 8 seed despite going undefeated in the A-10. Well, GW isn’t ducking anyone with this schedule, despite losing three key seniors. GW plays at Providence, USC in Anaheim, Air Force in Santa Clara, Calif., (and then possibly the hosts) and Virginia Tech in D.C., in addition to road trips to BU and Kennesaw State.

Undervalued tournament for competitiveness
Rainbow Classic. The matchups are: Wyoming vs. Nebraska; Hawaii vs. San Francisco, Charlotte vs. Houston; Valparaiso vs. Creighton. Creighton, Houston, Hawaii and Charlotte all are possible NCAA teams.

Time to rein it in a bit
Michigan State and Temple. The Spartans, with a younger team than Tom Izzo has had in recent years, play two neutral-site games in New York (possible opponents are Texas, St. John’s and Maryland), one true road game at Boston College (ACC-Big Ten Challenge) and one neutral court-but-not-neutral-fans game against BYU in Auburn Hills, Mich. The rest is all at home, with an unbeaten run through those likely.

Temple, which usually played a brutal schedule under John Chaney, isn’t as crazed under Fran Dunphy. The Owls go to Kent State, Towson, Ball State, Villanova, Duke and host Cincinnati in Atlantic City, N.J. Other home games include Buffalo, Rutgers, Long Beach State, Western Michigan, Drexel and Lafayette. Temple also plays Dunphy’s old Penn squad at the Palestra in January.


Link to entire piece: Andy Katz: Best/worst of the 2006-07 schedules

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This might belong in the football thread, but one reason we can’t afford football is because we have to pay Andy Katz to say nice things about our team all the time.

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I’m really surprised no one commented on Katz’s opinion of Lute Olson and Dave Odom:

[b]"Lute Olson's not afraid to take his Wildcats into hostile venues"[/b]

Guys with guts
Arizona coach Lute Olson and South Carolina coach Dave Odom. Both coaches chose to head on the road to open up opponents’ new arenas. Arizona, a potential Final Four team, is playing at Virginia on Nov. 12 in the season opener for both teams, while South Carolina is opening the Galen Center at USC on Nov. 16. The Game****s will play South Carolina State at home and at UC Irvine before that game, but they’re still walking into a sold-out atmosphere in early November – something a lot of coaches won’t ever do.


Hmmm… :rolleyes:

4

I just now read the article (thanks to 49er96) and all I have to say is Andy Katz needs to stop smokin all that crack. This guy is nutz!

5

Just surfin the net and I see Rhode Island and they got out of conference against

Houston, Boston College, Kansas, Providence, Utah, and Depaul.

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Similar to ours: Houston, Miss St, Syracuse, Indiana, Hofstra

Are any of those at home?

7

This schedule makes me VERY nervous. We’ll only have two returning starters…though very good all-conf calibre guys(DA and Threemire). EJ concerns me at PF, along with his cast of slender, inexperienced backups. And as good as Carlos Williams and Phil Jones are touted to be, neither has D1 experience and newcomers rarely measure up to the hype. Throw in a “gelling period” for seven new guys and that makes the early part of this schedule even more difficult…imho. Remember the first three games of last year? Hopefully, this year is a different story.

8

We’ll never return to Wyoming, at least to open the season, that’s for sure. Terrible start to the season, then we stabilized but never got better from that point.

You’re right, lots of talented pieces but a combination of youth and inexperience playing together could lead to a shaky beginning. We need a fast start for once!!!

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[QUOTE=LeftyNiner;190738]Are any of those at home?[/QUOTE]
Houston, home
Boston College, road
Kansas, road
Providence, road
Utah, home
Depaul, home

10
This schedule makes me VERY nervous. We'll only have two returning starters...though very good all-conf calibre guys(DA and Threemire). EJ concerns me at PF, along with his cast of slender, inexperienced backups. And as good as Carlos Williams and Phil Jones are touted to be, neither has D1 experience and newcomers rarely measure up to the hype. Throw in a "gelling period" for seven new guys and that makes the early part of this schedule even more difficult.....imho. Remember the first three games of last year? Hopefully, this year is a different story.

The doubleheader to start the season (Hofstra & North Texas) should give everyone a good idea of what type of team we have to start the year. We’ll need fresh legs against North Texas since Hofstra is surely going to take a strong effort to defeat. So we should see everybody and learn which newcomers are ready to play out of the gate and which newcomers need more work.