Some teams make their mark in March, riding momentum to a spot in the Big Dance. Others schedule up in November in December, win some games that carry positive computer and/or “eye test” implications through the season and into the days when resumes are squarely in front of selection committee members. For these teams, early season exempt tournaments can provide fertile opportunity for valuable wins.
With the proliferation of exempt tourneys and different formats, you almost need a 101 course (oh wait there is one) on how these are set up. Also, these tournaments are planned years in advance, as seen in our future schedules page, with the hope that the teams that agree to play will be on the national radar when that season rolls around. The way these turn out could make or break the non-conference schedule boost that teams look for to take them into conference season.
So how did the Big East do for the 2016-17 season? Here is the breakdown of the best to the worst exempt tournaments for the 10 Big East teams this season.
Georgetown is looking to get back to the top tier of the Big East. The Maui Invitational could be key. (Streur / WBR) CLICK TO BUY
1. Georgetown @ Maui Invitational
The Maui Invitational is one of the exempt tourney originals that has always been able to draw top teams, or at least teams that casual fans are familiar with. It doesn’t hurt that it is in Hawaii either. I am pretty bullish on the Hoyas and think that if the cards fall right, they could be in the top four in the Big East this season after finishing eighth in the league and missing the postseason last year. In name alone, Georgetown can play in pretty much any exempt tournament they want to. We’ll find out early where the Hoyas stack up early in the season.
Georgetown opens up against a top 10 team in Oregon. Win or lose they play either Tennessee or Wisconsin. The Badgers will be a top 25 team heading into the season. Ironically, this is the third straight season that Georgetown and Wisconsin are playing in the same exempt tournament. Georgetown beat Wisconsin last season in the 2K Sports Classic semifinals, while the Badgers beat the Hoyas in the 2014 Battle 4 Atlantis. Tennessee is on the way back up in the SEC and would still make for a good second round matchup.
For their final game of the tournament, North Carolina would be the ultimate prize. UConn and the Hoyas meet up later in the season to rekindle their old Big East days, while Oklahoma St. has a new coach — you never know how that’ll wind up. The big downer is if the Hoyas end up playing Chaminade. If that is the case, they are likely playing not to be last. That would be, um, not great.
Georgetown also gets a 4th non-bracket mainland game at home before heading to Hawaii, but as of this writing that matchup has yet to be released. Options include Army, Central Arkansas, or a third TBA team.
Chris Mullin has a young team, but a big opportunity in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament. (Williams / WBR) CLICK TO BUY
2. St. John’s @ Battle 4 Atlantis
Battling a close second in the exempt tournament options and teams is the fairly new Battle 4 Atlantis down in the Bahamas. The quick rise of this tournament wasn’t necessarily because of the venue, but because of the lure of money to get the best teams available to come to the Bahamas to play. Ironically, St. John’s played in the Maui Invitational last season, which was probably one of their worst seasons in recent history going 1-17 in Big East play, with first-year head coach Chris Mullin. However, maybe this season’s high-profile tournament can be used as an opportunity.
St. John’s gets to open up the tournament against top 10 Michigan St. The good news for St. John’s is that they have one of the top incoming classes in the Big East this season. The bad news is that they will be thrown into the fire early against the Spartans. Okay, no biggie. Well, the second round would be either Baylor or VCU. While both of those teams may not be as good as they have been in the past, they still won’t be easy. The final game gets Louisville, Wichita St., LSU or Old Dominion. Had this been played a year ago, St. John’s would have no chance of winning a game in this tournament. However, with the rest of the field doing a little rebuilding of their own, except for Michigan St. and Louisville, the Johnnies could come out of this with a win or two.
St. John’s has a 4th non-bracket game against Binghamton at home before heading for the Bahamas.
3. Seton Hall @ Advocare Classic
Trying to rank these tourneys was a little harder after the top two, but the next four are pretty close. Seton Hall will be the Neutral Nomads of the Big East during the non-conference season. The Hall will play neutral games in Hawaii and at Madison Square Garden in addition to the tournament format of the Advocare Classic (formerly the Old Spice Classic) down in Orlando over Thanksgiving.
Many are interested to see how Seton Hall does without Isaiah Whitehead and others from a team that was really hot heading into the NCAA Tournament last season. The opening game against Florida in the Advocare will be key to making this tournament fruitful for them. If they win, they get the good fortune of playing a top 15 Gonzaga team. If they lose, then they play Quinnipiac, who last season was in the 200+ in the different rankings. That could lead ultimately to a game against Indiana St., probably one they really won’t want. A perfect scenario puts Seton Hall down the path to face Iowa St. or maybe Miami in a title game or third place game, however, it is Gonzaga that is a perfect 7-0 in this tournament, winning it twice. It is a bit of a quirky field, but this could go really good or really bad for the Pirates in a span of three days.
4. Xavier @ Puerto Rico Tipoff
Yes, I still see messages from Xavier fans that they are upset they didn’t get into the Gavitt Games this season. However, they can get over that pretty quickly when they have a non-conference schedule that is probably one of the best in the Big East. The Puerto Rico Tipoff gives them an opportunity to score some wins against teams in the top conferences.
The Musketeers got probably got themselves the best opening game they could against a “name” team in Missouri. Xavier is familiar with the Tigers as they just finished a home and home series last season, winning both games. Clemson is another “name” team from the ACC which will likely be the top conference again this season. Even a game against Davidson isn’t too bad as they are better than the casual fan realizes.
The final game will be a quality game unless it is against Tulane. Oklahoma, despite the loss of Buddy Hield and crew, will still be a tough team while UNI and Arizona St. have an opportunity to be tough teams this season. In fact, Xavier took advantage of the 4th non-bracket game in the tourney and will start a home and home series with UNI the following week after Puerto Rico and go to Cedar Falls during the 2017-18 season.
Xavier is expected to be a top 5 team this season. Anything less than winning this tourney will be a bit of a disappointment.
Coach Merfeld helps craft the Bluejays non-conference schedule. Usually they play in exempt tourneys they can be in a position to win (Williams / WBR) CLICK TO BUY
5. Creighton @ Paradise Jam
The Bluejays ending up in the middle of the exempt tourney rankings isn’t too much of a surprise. While other teams are playing in Maui, the Bahamas, or even making the full tour of the ESPN sponsored events, the Coach Greg McDermott and his staff are always positioning the Bluejays in a tournament that they should theoretically win. This season it is the Paradise Jam. We took a look at Creighton’s exempt tourneys over the past 10 years and they haven’t played in top tier tourneys for the most part. They even had some missed opportunities over the years. However, maybe this tournament is just what is needed early in the season with Marcus Foster getting back into the groove playing games, letting the coaching staff see how multiple players come back from offseason injuries and surgeries, and getting Justin Patton comfortable after his redshirt season.
The Bluejays open up against Washington St. from the Pac-12. It isn’t Oregon or Arizona, but a decent middle of the pack team that is a winnable game. If everything goes as plan, Creighton would face North Carolina St. Again, not Duke, North Carolina, or Virginia, but a middle of the pack ACC team that will help things if Creighton gets a win. Creighton could face Ole Miss in the finals. They aren’t Kentucky or Texas A&M, but another team from a power conference that will look good in the win column. St. Joseph’s wouldn’t be a bad game either. Creighton has played them plenty of times in the past, with some memorable games.
Let’s just say if things go the other way for Creighton, this tournament really won’t help them with getting quality wins or a confidence booster. A loss to Washington St. could mean a game with Montana instead in the second round. Nothing against Montana, but to Creighton fans, NC State would be better. The third game could end up being against Loyola-Chicago, which the Jays lost to last season when they shouldn’t have, or against Oral Roberts, who the Jays will see almost a month later as the 4th non-bracket game at the CenturyLink Center.
Anything less than Creighton in the Paradise Jam finals would be a disappointment.
The defending National Champs are easily the favorites in the Charleston Classic (Spomer / WBR) CLICK TO BUY
6. Villanova @ Charleston Classic
Villanova, the defending national champions, are easily the favorites in this year’s Charleston Classic. The Wildcats were the only team in the field that went to the NCAA Tournament last season. All of the teams in the field are in that 150-range of RPI that a lot of power schools like to schedule all of their non-conference games against, to average out to that number. So, in reality, any of these teams Villanova could have scheduled as a buy game, or likely a home and home with Wake Forest or Mississippi St., but in the format of a tournament, that just means they get three more games than they would otherwise.
The College of Charleston did schedule a game against Villanova after the tourney for the non-bracket game. In the meantime, the Wildcats should beat Western Michigan, probably face Wake Forest in the second round from the ACC, and then meet SEC member Mississippi St. in the finals. While that would be the best path for Villanova, I am guessing that UTEP, Boise St., or even UCF sneak in to face the defending champs.
7. Marquette @ 2K Sports Classic
Marquette starts the bottom four tournaments that are split up into two games at home with a predetermined semifinal and finals bracket where the higher perceived teams play each other. The pitfall to that format is that the home games are against teams that are usually in the lower third of D-1. In the case of Marquette’s home games they face Howard and IUPUI at home, one before New York, the other one afterwards. Howard was in the 300+RPI range last season while IUPUI was in the lower 200’s. But hey, Marquette fans should be used to this after the constant ribbing of coach Wojciechowski’s non-conference scheduling last season.
Once Marquette gets to New York, they take on Michigan first. The Wolverines suffered from some transfers in the offseason, so it is hard to tell how they will be. Then they either play SMU, with Larry Brown suddenly resigning, or Pitt, who at times is still trying to figure out where they fit in the ACC. For Marquette, this premade final four offers an opportunity to get a couple quality wins.
Ironically, Marquette and Michigan are expected be together again in 2017 as a part of the Maui Invitational field.
8. Providence @ Emerald Coast Classic
Playing in the Emerald Coast Classic is probably good for Providence, since they may be rebuilding a bit early in the year after losing Kris Dunn and Ben Bentil to the NBA Draft. Again they get two games at home in the 275+ range as a part of this, Grambling and St. Francis, before heading to Florida to take on Memphis and then either Iowa or Virginia. Memphis will have their own growing pains with a new head coach in Tubby Smith. Iowa and Virginia have holes to fill. It is really a toss-up on whether Providence can win this one, but it will get them some confidence builders with the games at home and some higher level teams in Florida.
9. Butler @ Las Vegas Invitational
The Las Vegas Invitational was one of those 2 game at home, 2 games at a neutral venue that in the past gathered some very high-level teams. Again with the expansion of events available for teams to play in, the organizers probably had fewer teams interested. Unfortunately for Butler, that could hurt them if they don’t win their first game in Vegas against Vanderbilt. The Dawgs really want to face Arizona in the finals of this event. Santa Clara is the 4th team in the higher level field, but are still in the 200+ range just like Butler’s home opponents Bucknell and Norfolk St.
10. DePaul @ Las Vegas Classic
DePaul is DePaul. Sure, the Blue Devils be a little better this season, but if they are miraculously sitting on the bubble in February, the non-conference schedule, including their exempt tourney, isn’t going to help them. The Las Vegas Classic has fallen down the ranks of the exempt tourney formats. At the same time, DePaul has played in this tournament in the past, losing to Creighton back in 2008. The home games for this event are against Chicago St. and SE Missouri State — both teams almost at the bottom of Division I. Once they get to Vegas, they will play Wyoming and then either USC or Missouri St. The Bears are already on DePaul’s schedule for a game on November 23 in Chicago, before the two programs possibly meet each other again in December.