bills07

http://siuecougars.com/sports/m-baskbl/2015-16/schedule

Per the same sources above, North Florida (Last Season: 23-12, 12-2 A-Sun, NCAA participant) appears to replace Columbia in the Brooklyn event and is likely headed to SLU in November as well. Columbia is already in the CBE Classic, so it would make sense for them to no longer be a part of a second exempt event. Not that this matters due to the exhibition nature of the event, but North Florida just finished three games on the same Bahamas tour as SLU and went 3-0. They defeated the Bahamas All-Stars (SLU's opponent today) 102-84.

St. Francis Brooklyn (Last Season: 23-12, 15-3 NEC, NIT participant) is the 5th team in the Brooklyn Hoops Classic. SLU will play them at Chaifetz in November. Sources: http://www.hartfordhawks.com/schedule.aspx?path=mbball http://www.bloggingthebracket.com/2013/12/2/5166356/2015-16-college-basketball-early-season-tournaments-events-MTE

The following page will provide game recaps, highlights, and photos from each game in the Bahamas for this "Summer of Thunder" event: http://10thyearseniors.com/tag/summer-of-thunder/ This article gives some details about the annual event, in which 14 D1 teams will be taking part in: http://10thyearseniors.com/2015/06/03/summer-of-thunder-teams-announced/ From the looks of the action so far, it appears the quality of the teams that SLU will play will step up each game. Results so far: Atlantis All-Stars: vs. Georgia Tech - L 101-60 Bahamas All-Stars: vs. North Florida - L 102-84 PJ Stingers: vs. Southern Utah - W 79-77 Full game video (broken up by quarter) is available on Youtube at the "10th Year Seniors" page: https://www.youtube.com/user/10thyearseniors1/videos

Definitely. There are a ton of events that have had releases stating dates for games at the Barclays Center for this season. Here is a summary below. Right now that Friday (11/27) would look pretty crowded with games if all the releases have been accurate. We'll wait and see until the official release comes out through SLU. 11/23 - 11/24 Legends Classic (Arizona State, LSU, Marquette, NC State) 11/26 - 11/27 NIT Season Tip-Off (Arkansas, Georgia Tech, Stanford, Villanova) *This is being moved out of Madison Square Garden and I have seen it listed as being at Barclays 11/27 - 11/28 Barclays Center Classic (Cincinnati, George Washington, Nebraska, Tennessee) 11/27 Brooklyn Hoops Classic (Louisville vs. Saint Louis) 12/19 CBS Sports Classic (North Carolina vs. UCLA; Kentucky vs. Ohio State) 12/22 Atlantic 10/ACC Showcase (Virginia Tech vs. George Washington; Boston College vs. Fordham)

It also appears that SLU will likely be in the Paradise Jam during the 2016-2017 season. The Paradise Jam is a traditional bracketed 8 team tournament held in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. The other teams would be NC State, Purdue, Creighton, Ole Miss, Washington State, Loyola-Chicago, and 1 other TBD. Source: http://www.backingthepack.com/nc-state-basketball/2015/6/9/8750175/nc-state-playing-paradise-jam-in-2016-battle-4-atlantis-in-2017

SIUC is hosting Air Force on opening night (Nov. 13) in the Missouri Valley - Mountain West Challenge, then hosts Florida A&M on Nov. 15, so SLU likely won't see them until after Thanksgiving. Especially considering there will need to be the three home games for the Brooklyn Hoops Classic during the Nov. 13-24 period before the trip to NYC.

SIU Edwardsville has released their 2015-2016 schedule (http://siuecougars.com/sports/m-baskbl/2015-16/schedule). Will host SLU on November 17th.

Kansas State in at #134. Listed as 9th in the Big 12, presumably ahead of only Tubby Smith's Texas Tech team. We'll know a lot more about them as we'll see them late in nonconference, after they have played the likes of @ Georgia, @ Texas A&M, Colorado State (in Wichita), and two of North Carolina, Northwestern, and Mizzou in the CBE Classic in Kansas City.

Yes, SLU gets both the 3 games in the Bahamas in August, then the 2 exhibition games vs. D2/NAIA level opponents (or 1 exhibition vs. D2/NAIA and 1 closed door scrimmage vs. a D1 opponent) in October/November just before the start of the regular season the weekend of November 13th. NCAA rules allow programs to take a foreign tour once every four academic years. To give a reference point, the last foreign tour SLU took was during the 2011-2012 season to Canada where they played 5 games in August vs. Carleton, Windsor, etc. Then in November they had exhibition games at home vs. Cardinal Stritch (NAIA) and St. Ambrose (NAIA) before the Conklin Smash season took off.

3 Games in Preseason Foreign Tour in the Bahamas (Aug. 7 - TBD) 2 Exhibition Games at Home (or 1 exhibition game at Home and 1 closed door scrimmage) Home vs. Columbia (Brooklyn Hoops Classic - Nov. 14-24) Home vs. Hartford (Brooklyn Hoops Classic - Nov. 14-24) Home vs. Opponent TBD (Brooklyn Hoops Classic - Nov. 14-24) Louisville in Brooklyn, NY (Brooklyn Hoops Classic - Nov. 27) Home vs. Wichita State (Dec. 5) @ Kansas State (Dec. 29) Southern Illinois (no date known yet - I believe season ticket holders have stated SLU has this game at home this year) @ SIUE (no date known yet) There will 5 more nonconference games (may include the following): @ Missouri State? Rockhurst? A-10 Home Games - George Washington, Davidson, Fordham, Richmond, St. Bonaventure, Duquesne, Dayton, VCU, George Mason A-10 Away Games - UMass, St. Joseph's, La Salle, Rhode Island, St. Bonaventure, Duquesne, Dayton, VCU, George Mason That is all I am aware of at this point unless anyone has any additional information.

I have no idea what the connection is between the teams outside of the former C-USA days and the recent NCAA round of 32 matchup. There are a few other events out there with identical formats (3 mid-majors, 2 higher-level teams) that also have some puzzling headliner neutral site games in my opinion. For example: Pittsburgh vs. Davidson in NYC in the Gotham Classic Ohio State vs. Memphis in Miami in the Naismith Hall of Fame Invitational Kentucky vs. South Florida in Miami in the Naismith Hall of Fame Classic (I suppose I understand this one since the USF head coach is Orlando Antigua who was formerly a UK assistant) There were also a few like this last year. SMU played in an event that gave them three home games against mid-majors and then a 4th game on Indiana's home floor. Didn't seem like a very attractive exempt event for a team that had top-25 potential last season.

Also, my guess for the third home opponent with the sub-200 RPI will be someone like St. Francis-Brooklyn (RPI 165, 23-12 last year, not committed to an exempt event yet) that is in the northeast since the three mid-majors will all play each other in a round-robin type format for their remaining two games on their home floors outside of their road trips to STL and Louisville.

I'm not sure if this has been posted since confirmation of the Louisville game Thanksgiving weekend in Brooklyn by CBS' Jon Rothstein, but we have some additional sources and information on the game now. Per the Louisville Courier-Journal, the game is a part of an exempt event that will give SLU the following schedule in November: Nov. 14-24 - Columbia, Hartford, opponent TBA* (3 Brooklyn Hoops Classic Home Games) Nov. 27 - Louisville (Barclays Center, Brooklyn) http://www.courier-journal.com/story/sports/college/louisville/2015/06/29/louisville-basketball-close-to-completing-2015-16-schedule/29460653/ *"The Brooklyn Hoops Classic contract stipulates that Louisville's third home opponent, which hasn't been finalized, must have ranked better than 200 in last season's final RPI." Based on the event format, that team would be SLU's other home opponent as well. http://www.bloggingthebracket.com/2013/12/2/5166356/2015-16-college-basketball-early-season-tournaments-events-MTE

The bracket for the Cancun Governor's Cup is out. Kwamain is on the front page of the tournament's website. Release: http://cancungovernorscup.com/release080510.php Bracket: http://cancungovernorscup.com/pdfs/Cancun%...CT)%20FINAL.pdf Bills draw Northeastern (20-13, 14-4 CAA last season) in the first round at 11 a.m. CST. Northeastern finished 3 games ahead of VCU in the CAA last season and received an NIT bid. Second round will be against either Southern Miss or East Tennessee State. A win against Northeastern will put the Bills on ESPNU for the second round. Championship and Third Place games will be on ESPN2.

One quick note. I know that RM mentioned the possibility of Saint Mary's being involved in the Cancun Governor's Cup, but unfortunately it appears they have been confirmed as a part of the South Padre Island Invitational: http://www.bloggingthebracket.com/2010/4/2...the-south-padre

Mississippi will be in Cancun, but Mississippi State is already in the Diamond Head Classic, New Mexico is in the Las Vegas Classic, and New Mexico State is in the Philly Hoop Group Classic, so not sure what RM meant about New Mexico being in the field. The field tentatively looks to have the following five teams (last year's postseason tourney in parentheses): Mississippi (NIT), SLU (CBI), Colorado State (CBI), Houston (NCAA), and East Tennessee State (NCAA). RM mentioned the possibility of Saint Mary's (NCAA) being in the field, and there is a very strong possibility that San Diego State (NCAA) will be involved, so hopefully those two teams are a part of the tournament to give it some firepower at the top.

Houston could be very likely. Virginia Tech and Seton Hall are in other tournaments, 76 Classic and Paradise Jam, respectively, so they will not be making another trip to Cancun.

Saint Mary's is certainly a possibility since they have not been announced as a participant in any major tournaments yet, at least that I know of. They were a part of ESPN's inaugural Diamond Head Classic last year, which is also held on Dec. 22, 23, and 25. Texas, on the other hand, will not be a participant, as they are already confirmed as a part on the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic and a team cannot appear in two exempt tournaments in one season. With Conference USA as the tournament host, there will be one team from that conference, and at least one blogger has rumored the idea of Memphis being in Cancun.

For what it's worth, here is an early look of a top 50 for next season. http://www.onlinesportsfanatic.com/?p=2086 SLU is 32. Other teams of potential interest to SLU fans: Illinois (9), Xavier (10), Temple (28), VCU (47).

Yes. Two different tournaments. The Cancun Challenge is run by Triple Crown Sports and is a 2 home game, 2 neutral site type format in its third year in existance. The Cancun Governor's Cup (produced by ESPN) will be a traditional bracketed style tournament over Christmas and is set up in the same format as the other ESPN tournaments (76 Classic, Charleston Classic, Puerto Rico Tip-off, Old Spice Classic, Diamond Head Classic) where you get three games at the neutral site. Virginia Tech and Seton Hall played a game this season in Cancun as a "kickoff" for next season's inaugural Cancun Governor's Cup. Hopefully higher profile teams such as those will be included in the field if SLU is indeed in the tournament. Conference USA is the tourney's sponsoring conference.

Game at Georgia is this season. Not sure of the date yet, but we are headed to Athens sometime during the non-conference season.

A couple more home dates: Saturday, December 5 vs. Southern Illinois Wednesday, December 16 vs. Belmont

Home game against Missouri State is on Saturday, December 19.

Unfortunately, to quote Guy Phillips, "Correction." Neutral: Iowa State (Friday, Nov 27 at Sears Centre) Notre Dame/Northwestern (Saturday, Nov 28 at Sears Centre)