This Blog of the Day post is courtesy of One Fan's UCLA Basketball Blog, daily thoughts on the Bruin men' s
basketball program.
***
Based on what's been reported, here is a tentative schedule for your UCLA
Bruin men's basketball team for next year. RPI numbers are from
Ken Pomeroy's site.
| Date | Opponent | 2005 RPI |
| ? | at Michigan | 157 |
| ? | vs Albany | 195 |
| ? | vs Sacramento State | 279 |
| ? | vs Wagner | 221 |
| ? | vs Delaware State | 128 |
| ? | vs Coppin State | 151 |
| ? | at/vs West Virginia | 34 |
| 11/15/05 | vs New Mexico State (Preseason NIT)* | 292 |
| 12/10/05 | Nevada (Wooden Classic at Anaheim Pond) | 32 |
| 12/29/05 | vs Stanford | 40 |
| 12/31/05 | vs California | 127 |
| 1/5/06 | at Arizona | 8 |
| 1/7/06 | at Arizona State | 68 |
| 1/12/06 | vs Washington | 3 |
| 1/14/06 | vs Washington State | 95 |
| 1/21/06 | vs USC | 130 |
| 1/26/06 | at Oregon | 81 |
| 1/28/06 | at Oregon State | 103 |
| 2/2/06 | vs Arizona State | 68 |
| 2/4/06 | vs Arizona | 8 |
| 2/9/06 | at Washington State | 95 |
| 2/11/06 | at Washington | 3 |
| 2/18/06 | at USC | 130 |
| 2/23/06 | vs Oregon State | 103 |
| 2/25/06 | vs Oregon | 81 |
| 3/2/06 | at California | 127 |
| 3/4/06 | at Stanford | 40 |
| 3/9/06 | Pac-10 Tournament (at Staples Center)** |
*Preseason NIT could be a
total of four games, including two at Madison Square Garden.
**Pac-10 tournament could be a total of three games.
If you're wondering how strong our non-conference schedule is compared to
this past season, the average RPI for our 2005-06 opponents (based on
final 2005 numbers) is 165.44. Our 2004-05 non-conference opponents had an
RPI of 151.56 (based on final 2005 numbers) and 148.44 (based on final
2004 numbers). Obviously, measuring next year's opponents' strength based
on the previous year's RPI is a crude approach at best, but that's all I'm
going to do :). This "analysis" indicates that the upcoming season's
non-conference opponents are notably weaker than this past year. This
certainly is true for the top teams, as the trio of Boston College,
Michigan State, and Notre Dame were miles ahead of the top three of
2005-06 (presumably West Virginia, Nevada, and Michigan). That said,
winning at Michigan and against Nevada in the Wooden Classic would be
extremely significant for us with the current emphasis by the NCAA tourney
committee on doing well away from home. Advancing in the Preseason NIT
also would be a big deal, as it would give us opportunities to play tough
competition, perhaps on a neutral court. And I don't mean to overlook our
conference games - it's just that we have no control over those, unlike
the non-conference schedule.
As a Bruin fan, I would like to see us play against some higher profile
schools in our non-conference matchups. Perhaps Ben Howland doesn't
believe we're ready for that yet, or perhaps he couldn't find any takers.
Either way, come Nov. 20, 2006, we will be in
the Maui Invitational with several other marquee teams - I'm already
looking forward to it.
***
This Blog of the Day post is courtesy of One Fan's UCLA Basketball Blog, thoughts on the Bruin men' s basketball program.
***
If you would like your blog to be included in the list of blogs that CHN visits each morning to choose their Blog of the Day, email Shawn at collegehoopsnet@aol.com
