Basketball Schedules are Released

 I went to the UT Arlington volleyball match on Thursday against Cal Baptist and when I got s program, I happened to see a paper with the men's basketball schedule for the 2023/24 upcoming season. Thought I had the chance to post the schedule before the University formally released it, they formally released it on Friday.

There wasn't much we didn't know by piecing together the schedules other teams released, with my most recent post about the topic listing it here.

The missing pieces are a November 11th homecoming match against U of Texas-Tyler, another non-DI home game against North Texas-Dallas and the known-opponent, unknown-date road contest against North Texas on December 23. 

Overall, I'm happy with what I see. Coupled with a new coach, new roster with proven skins and a different vibe coming from College Park Center, I'd expect several indicators to be pointing up for the program. I'll give my impressions of the 31-game schedule. 

I'll start with the downside before giving the up.

I was disappointed that there were two non-Division I games on the schedule. It does fall in line with the guidelines set from the Western Athletic Conference. To improve conference performance, potentially improve seeding for the conference representative in the NCAA tournament, the conference wants less games against non-DI games, which don't count towards the rankings. The conference reduced the number from three last year to two this year. It will be one next year. I mentioned in the post linked above that it looked like there might not be any this year.

And that's about it. As for the upsides, there's quite a bit.

First, there's a good balance here. There are winnable games, guarantee games and games against our peers in Oral Roberts, Texas State, Air Force and North Texas. 

Speaking of guarantee games, there four this year, which has been the norm for the past several seasons.  New Mexico is a challenging, but winnable one, similar to San Francisco last year. Arizona will gladly pay the Mavs (and in return we get a home game with DI Alcorn State). Texas Tech likely came about when Grant McCasland took over the coaching reins this year, leaving the well-known North Texas.

And then there's the Texas-Austin game. It will be roughly four years since the last match-up, a loss, but seven years from UTA's first and only win in the series. But added in the mix this year is what I call the recruitment of the reigning WAC freshman of the year in Chendall Weaver. After numerous reports of him staying, he entered the transfer portal, and in less than a week signed with the Longhorns. No way there wasn't a recruitment there. It will also be the first trip to UT-Austin's College Park Center-inspired arena in Moody Center.

There are few home games over the winter break. There are no home games after the December 6 match-up with UNT-Dallas until January 11 against Utah Valley. The January 13th game against Seattle is the only other game until classes start on the 16th. Now this is not entirely in UTA's control as the conference sets the conference schedule and games. Why the WAC sets regional games in Stephenville and Nacogdoches over the break at their place boggles my mind. Set those dates for the time-zone road trip and boost attendance for regional games when students are on campus. 

There is a big game in February with Stephen F. Austin in town, followed by nearby Tarleton. I'm also excited about Texas State coming back to Arlington. 

The non-conference slate is about as tough as one could get. Obviously the previous season's performance isn't indicative of the next, but six postseason teams from 2022/23 are on the schedule this year. That should give UTA fans an idea of where they are as a team.

The thing I'm confused by is the NCAA allows 28 games in the regular season along with a three-game multi-team event. UTAMavs.com lists the Air Force game as part of the US LBM Coast-to-Coast Challenge, but I don't see which other games would accompany that.

Overall, this is the kind of schedule that UTA needs to continue to make in the future.