Here’s the link.
Of the 12 OOC games, you have 4 games against legitimate, major conference opponents (2005-06 Sagarin rankings in parentheses) – home vs. Michigan (32) and Alabama (40), away vs. West Virginia (18) and Cincy (33). That’s not too shabby, although one has to figure that West Virginia and Cincy will be appreciably worse in 2006-07. Then again, so will NC State. There is also a home game against UNC-Wilmington (42), which should be both interesting and potentially competitive. So, that’s 5 in the “good” category.
There are 2 other games against teams in the 100s – Delaware State (173) and Valparaiso (176). Of the 2, I would expect Valpo to be the more interesting opponent, given their history as a periodic mid-major “upstart.” I like playing a few games like that, since mid-majors can present a better challenge than cupcakes, while still likely resulting in a W. I am still intrigued by the idea of 3 rolling “2 for 1” series against quality mid-majors, but this is a decent start.
Last, here come the 5 pure cupcakes, all in the 200s (and frankly, Delaware State likely will belong in this category at season’s end) – Mount St. Mary’s (253), Wofford (259), Gardner-Webb (260), UNC-Greensboro (270), and bringing up the absolute rear, East Carolina (285). I guess Uncle Jed just can’t get enough of kissing the rear ends of the riot-prone folks from Greenville. We’ve also heard (to date, unsubstantiated) whispers that Fowler might have also agreed on a future freaking road game against the worst team on our schedule. That would be, frankly, the stupidest thing he has ever done, and that’s really saying something. The cupcakes on this list may be a little too sweet for my liking, as 5 teams deep into the 200s will likely drag down the non-conference SOS.
For those of you that like riots, ECU comes into town on December 28. At least you will have the holiday season as a legitimate excuse not to go. Fowler seems intent on turning our stadium and arena purple as often as possible, for no logical reason.
As far as the ACC slate goes, we don’t luck out with the weaklings – only 1 date with Miami. So, we will play the bullies (UNC, Duke) and the plankton (Miami, Wake) 3 times each – a truly balanced schedule. The Pack opens with games @UVA, home vs. BC and Clemson, then @Wake. All of these games are winnable, and if we are going to have a decent season, a 2-2 start seems absolutely essential. We get Duke and UNC in the next quadrant, so we don’t want to try playing catch-up in that stretch.
Strangely enough, we close the season at Maryland. Why, I have no idea. I guess nobody’s traditions are important other than those of UNC and Duke.
