Creighton’s full 2016-17 basketball schedule was released on Tuesday, following the announcement of the non-conference portion in July. The Big East schedule is highlighted by an opening homestead featuring defending Big East Tournament champ Seton Hall on December 28 and defending National Champion Villanova on December 31.
That one-two punch out of the gate is tough, but for a Bluejay team expected to contend for the league title, it’s an opportunity to make an immediate statement as both the Pirates and Wildcats are expected to be among the league leaders again this year. The league has scheduled just two games on New Years Eve this year, opting not to counter-program the College Football Playoffs — in addition to the Jays hosting Villanova at noon, Georgetown will host Xavier at 10:00am central.
“I guess we’ll find out right away what we’re made of,” head coach Greg McDermott commented in a video posted on GoCreighton.com. “Seton Hall was playing as well as anyone at the end of last season, and then to have Villanova come in on New Years Eve will certainly be a challenge. This gives us an opportunity to see some of the best in our league right away. Hopefully we can protect our home floor, as that’s really going be critical in terms of who comes out on top in this league.”
A two-game road swing to St. John’s and Providence is next, with the game against the Red Storm coming at the on-campus Carnesecca Arena for the second straight year, instead of Madison Square Garden where St. John’s will play six of their nine Big East home games. The stretch is one of just two times during conference play that the Jays play back-to-back road games.
The Jays return home to play Butler on January 11, wrapping up a rugged slate of five games — four of them against 2016 NCAA Tourney teams — in 15 days. They come up for air, so to speak, with a game against DII Truman State on Saturday, January 14 — a noon start on FS2. It remains a controversial decision to schedule a DII opponent, and particularly to play them in the middle of conference action. DII games count in your won-loss record and season statistics, but not in RPI, KenPom, schedule strength, or other metrics, which makes it a glorified exhibition game.
McDermott hinted at a possible reason for the DII contest’s timing.
“It’s really important to get off to a good start. It’s also important to be healthy at that time when you’ve got so many games jammed into a short period of time.”
Following what most assuredly will be a blowout win, Creighton travels to Cincinnati for a Monday afternoon matinee. The 1:00pm game at Xavier is part of the Big East Marathon, which takes place on Martin Luther King Day this year. It’s televised on FS1 (or for the vast majority of fans working that day, on FoxSports GO).
Home games with Marquette and DePaul bookend a road contest at Georgetown to wind up the first half of the league schedule. It’s a first half that features five home games (and thus, four roadies) and interestingly, no repeat opponents — a true round-robin with games against each team in both the front nine and the back nine. The back half begins with a trip to Indianapolis to take on Butler, and continues with the first of two games on “Big FOX” (in other words, network FOX as opposed to FS1/FS2), a Saturday afternoon tilt against Xavier on February 4.
Then they get a “bye” with no midweek game, with the next contest coming the following Saturday (February 11) at DePaul. It’s the first time in four years of the Big East that the game at DePaul comes on a weekend, which is welcome news for Jays fans itching for a close road trip, but there won’t be any double-dipping — Doug McDermott and the Bulls are on the road in Minneapolis that weekend.
A trip to Seton Hall rounds out the trip, and then the Jays return home for back-to-back home games against Georgetown and Providence. The road game at Villanova on Saturday, February 25 is their second appearance on network Fox, and is the first of two times CU plays on an opponent’s “Senior Night.”
They wrap up the season with a final week featuring games against St. John’s on Senior Night for the second straight year, and a regular season finale at Marquette.
Here’s some of what fans and media had to say about the schedule:
https://twitter.com/JoeESPN590/status/775727301082439684