Ladies and gentlemen, we have a schedule!
I love it when the “TBA” slots get filled in. It felt like it took forever for it to finally come out but in reality, last year’s non-conference slate didn’t come out till Aug. 25 and the SEC slate didn’t come out until Sept. 7, so they’re actually a little early this year. In fact, according to The D1 Docket on Twitter (by far my favorite account when it comes men’s basketball schedules), Mizzou is the 121st team in the country to drop their 2024-25 schedule, meaning there are still two-thirds of the NCAA who have still yet to do so with school about to start — seriously, what have they been doing all summer?
To be fair to all schedule-makers out there, these things are ridiculously difficult to assemble. Staffs start trying to put it together as soon as their season’s over, or earlier in some cases, and most of them still don’t get finished until the start of the next season is two months out. As one coach told me back when I covered Texas State, “Nobody wants to play.” Everyone is trying to get over on each other because everyone wants to win. Coaches put a lot of research into every potential opponent they might add. They have to think about both the short- and long-term ramifications of any kind of series — “We’re better than this team now, but what about the return trip when our star players graduate?” A truckload of money’s involved, which never makes things less complicated.
But that much effort goes into scheduling because it’s that important in building up a program. Dennis Gates has it 1A-1B with recruiting and he is far from the only head coach to think that way.
We now have the third iteration of Missouri’s schedule since he took over and, in many ways, it looks similar to the one from Gates’ first year. There are 20 home games this season. TWENTY. I went on KenPom to check to see who had the easiest non-conference strength of schedule last season. Minnesota took the title. Do you know how many home games the Golden Gophers played last year? TWENTY. It is a notable feat that Memphis is the lone true road game before SEC play starts. That’s what long-term planning gets you and it's a reason I think the second game of Mizzou’s home-and-home with Minnesota got pushed down the line — they’ll play it down the line in a year that the Tigers needs more opponents at home.
A hat tip to @MIZDSP for grabbing Bart Torvik’s preseason ratings of all of the team’s non-conference opponents so that I didn’t have to:
Memphis - 25
Howard - 224
Eastern Washington - 311
Mississippi Valley State - 363
Pacific - 321
Arkansas-Pine Bluff - 360
Lindenwood - 322
Cal - 108
Kansas - 4
LIU - 349
Jacksonville State - 192
Illinois - 20
Alabama State - 271
I understand if fans are a little upset that there aren’t more big games on the slate. But there are two points I want to make here.
1) Coaches do not care what fans think about the schedule. Their job is to win games and they’re going to do what it takes to put themselves in the best position to do that. Now, folks in the athletic department who have to sell tickets might care and might nudge the staff in that direction. But unless the program’s tight on cash, the coaches are usually given the freedom to schedule how they see fit.
2) After last season’s record, can you really blame Mizzou for wanting to take it a little easier this year?
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