Arizona has added a Dec. 1 road game at Texas Tech to finish its 2012-13 basketball schedule, as part of a home-and-home series that will put the Red Raiders in McKale during the 2013-14 season.
The Wildcats' nonconference schedule is now set with road games at Texas Tech and Clemson; a tournament appearance in the Diamond Head Classic; and home games with Charleston Southern, UTEP, Long Beach State, NAU, Southern Mississippi, Florida and Oral Roberts.
Arizona's Pac-12 season is tentatively scheduled to start on Jan. 3 against Utah at McKale Center.
While the Red Raiders will likely improve under new coach Billy Gillispie, the Wildcats risk an RPI hit by playing them. Texas Tech had an RPI of 241 last season after finishing 8-23 overall and 1-17 in the Big 12 under coach Pat Knight.
Arizona's nonconference schedule now has a collective RPI from last season of 148, not counting its possible opponents in the Diamond Head Classic. The other seven teams in the Honolulu tournament had an average RPI of 119 last season.
The Wildcats' 2013-14 schedule should be tougher, however: They have home games with UNLV and Texas Tech, road games at Michigan and San Diego State, and they will play in the preseason NIT (formally known as the NIT Season Tip-Off).
The complete schedule is below:
(*Note that all Pac-12 games can change dates or be flip-flopped on a particular weekend due to the new Pac-12 media rights schedule -- the only thing for sure is that the opponent will be played at some point during the Wednesday-Sunday window that weekend.)
Home games in CAPS. Times and TV coverage TBA.
Date / team / 2011-12 RPI
Oct. 21 RED-BLUE GAME (scrimmage)
Oct. 31 HUMBOLDT STATE (exhibition)
Nov. 6 CHICO STATE (exhibition)
Nov. 11 CHARLESTON SOUTHERN 163
Nov. 19 LONG BEACH STATE 37
Nov. 28 NAU 338
Dec. 1 at Texas Tech 241
Dec. 4. SOUTHERN MISSISSIPPI 26
Dec. 8 at Clemson 150
Dec. 15 FLORIDA 19
Dec. 18 ORAL ROBERTS 65
Dec. 22-25 Diamond Head Classic (3 games), at Honolulu
(East Tennessee State 172,Indiana State 137, Hawaii 203, Miami, Fla 71, Mississippi 74, San Diego State 31, San Francisco 148)
Jan. 3* UTAH 270
Jan. 5* COLORADO 51
Jan. 10* at Oregon 52
Jan. 12* at Oregon State 132
Jan. 19* at ASU 240
Jan. 24* UCLA 123
Jan. 26* USC 265
Jan. 31* at Washington 54
Feb. 2* at Washington State 184
Feb. 7* California 45
Feb. 9* Stanford 69
Feb. 14* at Colorado 51
Feb. 16* at Utah 270
Feb. 21* WASHINGTON STATE 184
Feb. 23* WASHINGTON 54
Feb. 28* at USC 265
March 2* at UCLA 123
March 9* ASU 240
--
Arizona's schedule was released on its summer prospectus, which includes a few notes of interest, roster information, and quotes from Sean Miller.
Of the incoming players, here are the jersey numbers:
1 Gabe York
2 Mark Lyons
4 T.J. McConnell
21 Brandon Ashley
31 Matt Korcheck
33 Grant Jerrett
35 Kaleb Tarczewski
50 Jacob Hazzard (an invited walk-on)
--
Also in the prospectus, Miller is quoted saying there is no question "a lot of our season will depend on how much of an impact this group can have."
Miller also spoke excitedly about the team's upcoming exhibition trip to the Bahamas, saying it will be valuable to start meshing the new guys with veterans such as Solomon Hill and Kevin Parrom in August.
"I'd like to think that a trip like this could be beneficial," Miller said. "It could get us off to a better start."
Finally, Miller said he didn't plan to change too much in what the Wildcats will do despite having much more size but noted that "hopefully our size is something we can use to our advantage."
--
On the previous discussion thread, Billy Bob asked about the Bahamas schedule. The practice schedule has not been released but there are 10 practices allowed and UA will likely use a big chunk of them after the July 29 recruiting period ends. The trip is August 9-14. (And yes they can do a total of two hours of basketball per week now with small groups).
There were also questions about Jordin Mayes and Kevin Parrom. Both players have been around for both summer sessions, and I hope to have updates on them later this summer. In both cases, I suspect we really won't know their progress until the season begins.
Also, apologies for the infrequent posts to this blog while I take some vacation time. Please keep posting any relevant links or questions to the comment threads as always and we'll have any breaking news posted to the UA sports page of StarNet...
Please Wait…