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Northwestern's non-conference basketball schedule is out - several months earlier than normal, we normally get the first look at it sometime around the time the first football game is kicking off. And here it is:
Nov. 13: vs. Texas Southern
Nov. 15: vs. Mississippi Valley State
Nov. 18: vs. Fairleigh Dickinson
Nov. 20: vs. Delaware State
Nov. 23/24: South Padre Invitational, Opponents TBA
Nov. 27: vs. Maryland (ACC/Big Ten Challenge)
Dec. 1: vs. UIC
Dec. 4: @ Baylor
Dec. 8: vs. Butler
Dec. 18: vs. Texas State
Dec. 21: vs. Stanford
Dec. 23: vs. Brown
There's a bit of a lack of enterprise on display by only having one true road game. Suffice it to say, it doesn't really look like this is going to ramp up the RPI much. The toughest opponent is likely to be Baylor, who just lost three NBA draft picks, although Butler and Stanford will be interesting tests.
All in all, it doesn't look too dissimilar from a typical Northwestern non-con schedule, which isn't exactly a great thing when thinking about the tournament. Loretta should analyze more later.