Butler Basketball releases daunting 2019-20 non-conference slate

Butler basketball has released its 2019-20 non-conference schedule and let’s just say it’s…challenging…to say the least. Should be a fun year.

There might still be several months remaining until the 2019-20 season but Butler basketball is already starting to rev the engines. On Jun. 3, the program released its daunting non-conference schedule for the campaign, a slate that contains seven contests against high-major opponents. Although the team will only play in two true road games, there should be no doubt about the idea that this will be one of the more challenging non-conference schedules in the country.

This, though, is far from a bad thing. In the modern age of bracketology, holding a high non-conference strength of schedule can go a long way. This is especially true when you consider the weighting of strong wins over mediocre ones. If the Bulldogs are able to escape the first two months of the season with a relatively strong record, then they will likely be in great shape to reach the NCAA Tournament. Of course, there are also more opportunities for losses as well.

With this non-conference slate solidified and the Big East expected to leap back into the nation’s upper-echelon of conferences this year, Butler’s overall SOS could land in the top-10 if all goes according to plan. In order for any of this to matter, though, the Dawgs will need to win their fair share of games (obviously). Thankfully, the team is returning an All-Big East performer in Kamar Baldwin to go along with plenty of other roster members. Perhaps above all others, fans have to be excited about Jordan Tucker‘s potential in his second season with the team.

It is also important to mention with this non-conference schedule that the Bulldogs are starting out with some very winnable games before entering an absolute gauntlet. To begin the schedule, Butler will play five consecutive home games, including one against Minnesota in the Gavitt Games. Then, though, they will play five straight high-major opponents in what will be one of the most difficult non-conference stretches in program history.

Head coach LaVall Jordan clearly wanted to test his team early in the season and that panned out in the schedule. There will be very few “cupcakes” in this non-conference slate and the Butler fanbase has to be excited about having so many high-profile games early in the year. With regards to the schedule, as a whole, Coach Jordan had this to say:

"“This is a schedule that will challenge us greatly and should be highly exciting for our Bulldog fans. We have high-quality opponents coming to Hinkle Fieldhouse combined with several true road games and great match-ups on neutral courts. We always want to prepare our guys for the BIG EAST season by playing tough, talented teams. We checked all the boxes that we wanted to with this non-conference schedule.”"

It’s hard to argue with that.

This is going to be a very challenging slate and the Bulldogs will need to be ready right out of the gates. There are positives and negatives associated with putting together a schedule of this caliber and one has to hope that the Dawgs will take some big victories early in the year to build an NCAA Tournament resume. This could be very fun.