Taking an Early Look at Colorado’s Non-Conference Schedule

Earlier today, the Colorado men’s basketball team released their non-conference schedule for the upcoming season.  Finally! I’m sure you all have been dying to see who we’re playing this year.  I know I have been.  Here’s the rundown:

2014-15 COLORADO MEN’S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE

DATE                                     OPPONENT                                                                         Time (MST)         TV

Fri.          Nov. 14                  DREXEL                                                                                TBA

Mon.       Nov. 17                  #AUBURN                                                                              11 p.m.                  ESPN2

Sat.          Nov. 22                  at Wyoming                                                                          TBA

Tue.       Nov. 25                  AIR FORCE                                                                          TBA

Sun.       Nov. 30                  LIPSCOMB                                                                           TBA

Wed.       Dec.   3                   SAN FRANCISCO                                                                TBA

Sun.        Dec.   7                   at Georgia                                                                              TBA

Wed.       Dec.  10                 COLORADO STATE                                                           TBA

Sat.          Dec.  13                 NORTHERN COLORADO                                                 TBA

Mon,       Dec. 22, 23, 25     ^Diamond Head Classic (Honolulu, Hawai’i)               TBA                        ESPN2/ESPNU

Tue., Thu.                              (Hawai’i, DePaul, George Washington, Loyola Marymount,

Nebraska, Ohio, Wichita State)

The schedule obviously includes some of Colorado’s best non-con opponents from last season such as Wyoming, Georgia and Colorado State.

If Wyoming and Georgia are as good as they were last year, those should be some damn good games (I hope).  And as for Colorado State, that game is going to be fun to watch no matter how stiff the competition is (or isn’t).

CU’s rivalry with the Rams is as good as it gets.  There will be crazy fans galore in the Coors Event Center that day.  Air Force sort of has that in-state rivalry thing going with the Buffs too, so that should be a fun one.

Unless their coaches and athletic programs have made some serious changes during this off season, Drexel, Lipscomb, and Northern Colorado should all be blowouts.

None of the three play in good conferences, yet Northern Colorado held the best record last season at 18-14, followed by Drexel (16-14) and Lipscomb (15-15).  And the fact that I’ve never heard of Lipscomb before isn’t exactly promising.

As far as Lipscomb goes, however, they are part of the Atlantic Sun conference. Remember how nobody heard about Florida Gulf Coast until the NCAA tournament two years ago and Mercer until last year’s tourney? They were part of the Atlantic Sun Conference too. They’re tricky, those ones. You never know, they might surprise us.

San Francisco and Auburn have the potential of turning into good games. Last year, San Francisco finished with a 21-11 record in a pretty decent West Coast Conference. Auburn landed at 14-16, but the SEC was pretty damn good last season, so there’s your disclaimer. I’ll be too excited that ESPN2 is in Boulder to really care how the game goes.

And as for the Hawaii Diamond Head Classic Tournament over Christmas break, I’m calling it right now. It’s going to be a Wichita State-Colorado final game. Let’s just hope something happens between now and then to give the Buffaloes the edge over the Shockers.

For the most part, though, it looks like the non-conference schedule will be pretty smooth-sailing for the Buffs.