Irish Hoops Release Season Schedule

While Irish basketball fans knew most of the games on the 2015/16 schedule, there were still a number of non-conference home games left to announce.

*=Advocare Invitational &=ACC/Big Ten Challenge #=Crossroads Classic

At first glance, this year's schedule looks a bit tougher than last year's with multiple tough opponents in Orlando's Advocare Invitational (Iowa or Dayton, then potentially Wichita State), Illinois on the road in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge, and Indiana in the Crossroads Classic. Additionally, the bottom of the schedule got a bit more difficult. Last season, ND's RPI was stuck in the 30s for much of the year due to some terrible teams at the bottom of the schedule. The Irish played multiple teams with a 300+ RPI (Binghampton, Grambling State, Coppin State, Chicago State, and Fairleigh Dickenson) in the 14/15 season, and despite blowing most of these teams out by 30+ points, the Strength of Schedule hit probably kept ND from earning a two-seed come March. Using last year's RPI as a guide, this year's schedule has just one 300+ team (Liberty), and two more 250+ opponents (UMass-Lowell and Youngstown State). While teams like Stony Brook (112), Monmouth (178), St. Francis (193), and Loyola-Chicago (87) aren't the most exciting opponents, they are all top 200 opponents that should help the Irish with seeding come March.

In ACC play, the Irish drew relatively easy repeat opponents. Notre Dame will face Boston College, Wake Forest, Miami, and Georgia Tech twice, and the rest of the conference just once. ND does open conference play with a tough game at Virginia, and has road games at Duke and Syracuse in January, but the stretch run is relatively manageable giving ND a chance to build momentum for another run in the ACC Tournament. The home ACC schedule is highlighted by games against Louisville and North Carolina both on Saturdays in early February. Pittsburgh, Miami, and NC State should also be exciting home dates. While the 2015/16 schedule isn't perfect since it lacks a truly exciting OOC home game, it should put the Irish in better position for seeding come March which is a vast improvement over last year's.