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Today, Kentucky published their men’s basketball non-conference schedule for 2015-16. As usual, it is a mix of easy and hard games, and as normal lately, it is five really challenging games against some of the highest-quality programs in America.
Lets take a quick look:
November
| Date | Note | Opponent |
|---|---|---|
| Nov 13 | 1 | Albany |
| Nov 14 | 1 | NJIT |
| Nov 17 | 2 | vs. Duke |
| Nov 20 | Wright St. | |
| Nov 24 | 1 | Boston |
| Nov 27 | 3 | vs. South Florida |
| Nov 30 | Illinois St. |
December
| Date | Note | Opponent |
|---|---|---|
| Dec 3 | at UCLA | |
| Dec 9 | Eastern Kentucky | |
| Dec 12 | Arizona State | |
| Dec 19 | 4 | vs. Ohio St. |
| Dec 26 | Louisville |
January
| Date | Note | Opponent |
|---|---|---|
| Jan 30 | 5 | at Kansas |
Notes:
- Home games in bold
- 1-Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Classic (Rupp Arena)
- 2-Champions Classic (United)
- 3-Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Classic (American Airlines Arena, Miami)
- 4-CBS Sports Classic (Barclays Center)
- 5-Big 12/SEC Challenge (Allen Fieldhouse)
Some quick observations:
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Man, November is a busy month, particularly early. Four games in seven days, including two back-to-back, and a total of seven games in 17 days.
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December is a correspondingly quiet month with only five games. Louisville is once again on the day after Christmas.
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We haven’t had a non-conference game in the middle of conference season since back in 2004, according to my reckoning. By that time, both Kansas and UK should be pretty good. That will be a most interesting game.
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North Carolina, in case you are wondering, will resume in 2017.
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Think UCLA won’t be stoked for UK’s visit in early December? I might have to think about making that scene, it will be memorable.
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We haven’t played Ohio State since that dramatic win in the Elite Eight.
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Arizona State has a lot of returning players from a pretty good team last season, and a very good shooting guard incoming freshman. The last time UK played ASU was in 2002 at the Maui Classic.
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I wonder when was the last time UK played two Pac-12 schools in the same year not including the NCAA Tournament?
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Can't wait to play Duke. That one should be fun, and we need to win. We haven't beaten the Blue Devils in a while, and losing to them is officially old.
Overall, this looks like a good schedule. There are some tough games and some easy ones, but it looks very much like every other schedule in the John Calipari era when it comes to non-conference. Gone are the days of brutal schedules like 1999-00:
| Date | Opponent | Result | Score | Notes |
| 11/17/99 | Pennsylvania at (#14) Kentucky | W | 67 - 50 | Preseason NIT (at Lexington, KY) |
| 11/19/99 | (#16) Utah at (#14) Kentucky | W | 56 - 48 | Preseason NIT (at Lexington, KY) |
| 11/24/99 | (#11) Kentucky vs. (#22) Maryland | W | 61 - 58 | Preseason NIT (at New York, NY) |
| 11/26/99 | (#11) Kentucky vs. (#8) Arizona | L | 51 - 63 | Preseason NIT Championship (at New York, NY) |
| 11/29/99 | (#13) Kentucky vs. Dayton | L | 66 - 68 | (at Cincinnati, OH) |
| 12/04/99 | (#13) Kentucky vs. (#23) Indiana | L | 75 - 83 | (at Indianapolis, IN) |
| 12/07/99 | UNC Asheville at (#23) Kentucky | W | 86 - 41 | - |
| 12/11/99 | (#23) Kentucky at (#21) Maryland | L | 66 - 72 | - |
| 12/18/99 | Louisville at Kentucky | W | 76 - 46 | - |
| 12/23/99 | (#5) Michigan State at Kentucky | W | 60 - 58 | - |
I think this one is quite tough enough, though.