The Husky Haul
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Grading the UW Men’s Basketball Schedule

By Mark Knight

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Yesterday, the UW Men’s Basketball schedule was released and the biggest surprise was the two games at Madison Square Garden versus Marquette and Duke. But the real question is; how does the rest of the schedule look? What are the winnable games, games that present a challenge, and the highlights of the schedule.

To view the schedule click here.

Every game should be a winnable game, however, the ones listed under winnable are the ones that UW should win. While, the games listed under the tough games, are ones UW will have to really fight to win or are predicted as underdogs.

Winnable Non-Conference Games

  • Seattle Pacific University
  • All of the Teams in the BTI Tournament (Florida Atlantic, Georgia St., Portland)
  • St. Louis
  • Houston Baptist
  • Nevada
  • UC Santa Barbara
  • South Dakota State
  • Cal State Northridge
  • Seattle University

Difficult Non-Conference Games

  • Marquette
  • Duke

Winnable Conference Games

  • Oregon State (Home)
  • Oregon (Home)
  • Utah (Away)
  • Washington State (Home)
  • California (Home)
  • Stanford (Home)
  • Arizona State (Away)
  • UCLA (Home)
  • USC (Home)
  • Oregon (Away)
  • Oregon State (Away)
  • Arizona State (Home)
  • Washington State (Away)
  • USC (Away)

Difficult Conference Games

  • Colorado (Away)
  • Arizona (Away)
  • Arizona (Home)
  • UCLA (Away)

Highlights in the Schedule

  • UW will not face Stanford or California away
  • Washington is hosting the BTI Tournament
  • There are 18 Home Games (not counting 2 at MSG where the Huskies are listed as the home team)

Difficult Road Trip

  • Going first through Nevada and then playing the 2 games at MSG against Marquette and Duke should be a tough road trip.
  • However, the final 3 games of the year are also not going to be easy to end the year; playing in Pullman and then flying to LA to play both USC and UCLA should not be underestimated.

Longest Homestead

  • From 12/16 to 12/31 UW plays 5 home games all against winnable opponents; UC Santa Barbara, South Dakota State, Cal State Northridge, Oregon State, and Oregon.

Toughness of Schedule Grade: B-

  • The schedule isn’t that tough for UW, if it wasn’t for the Duke, Marquette, and some good conference games the schedule would be slightly mediocre.

My Overall Grade: B+

  • The highlights of the schedule and playing 2 marquee east coast schools at MSG make this year an interesting scheduling year.
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