Utah State released it's full 2015-16 basketball schedule on Wednesday.
Date | Opponent | Last Season's RPI |
10/31 | vs. Oklahoma Panhandle St. (Exhibition) | N/A |
11/6 | vs. Cal State Monterey Bay (Exhibition) | N/A |
11/13 | at Weber State | 263 |
11/17 | vs. Adams State | N/A |
11/20 | Union NY | N/A |
11/24 | Utah Valley | 308 |
11/29 | at Duke | 6 |
12/1 | at Missouri St | 246 |
12/5 | vs. UC Davis | 75 |
12/9 | at BYU | 36 |
12/12 | vs UC Irvine | 88 |
12/21 | vs Texas-Rio Grande Valley | 334 |
12/22 | vs Idaho State | 343 |
12/23 | vs North Dakota State | 92 |
12/30 | at San Jose State | 336 |
1/2 | vs SDSU | 26 |
1/6 | vs Boise State | 40 |
1/9 | at New Mexico | 172 |
1/13 | vs Air Force | 240 |
1/16 | at Colorado State | 29 |
1/20 | vs UNLV | 112 |
1/23 | at SDSU | 26 |
1/30 | vs Nevada | 306 |
2/3 | at Boise State | 40 |
2/6 | at Wyoming | 71 |
2/10 | vs New Mexico | 172 |
2/17 | vs Colorado State | 29 |
2/20 | at Fresno State | 183 |
2/24 | at Nevada | 306 |
2/27 | vs San Jose State | 336 |
3/2 | at Air Force | 240 |
3/5 | vs Fresno State | 183 |
The first thing that jumps off the Aggies schedule is the road game against the defending National Champion Duke. The early season game at Cameron Indoor will be an incredible test for the Aggies. While USU probably won't win it's not the 'body bag' game many think it is.
Next is the four games against non-division one opponents. This combined with the five out of conference opponents who finished with RPI's over 245 do not bode well for USU's strength of schedule. Head coach Tim Duryea has insisted this year is the last year of the Gossner Classic, replacing this tournament and a couple of the lower division games with a higher profile tournament will go a long way in upping both the Aggies RPI and SOS.
In terms of in conference games, Utah State misses UNLV on the road and Wyoming at home due to the unbalanced scheduling. Utah State's schedule sets them up for a lot of wins but if they want to get an at-large big to the NCAA tournament they will most likely need over 22 wins with one or no bad loses.