Gotta figure its almost a certainty that we will play a game in either Houston or DFW again this year, as those are great games that usually have a tie in with another local team and are good for Aggie fans outside of CS.

My only hope/complaint for last year is that it shouldn't be a "neutral site" game against a team in that city. From a Q1/Q2/Q3/Q4 perspective, it didn't matter this past year with UH (since they were a Q1 game regardless), but it was ridiculous that that game didn't count as an "away" game, because it was 10 min from the UH campus. And it also does matter in the NET calculation, as the multipliers for neutral vs away games are different.

If we play at Dickies this year, it better not be against TCU, because that actually could matter from a Q1/Q2 perspective. Would be idiotic to play TCU 15 min from their campus in front of a basically home TCU crowd, beat them and it only count as a Q2 neutral site win because they end up like 55th in the NET.

I was just thinking with Wade and Manny in their senior year I bet they play a game in DFW. It just makes to much sense last year Houston this year Dallas or Fort Worth.

We did also play at SMU last year.

I'd be okay with a sort of mini Big 12/SEC Challenge tripleheader in Houston every year in December. Some combo of A&M/Texas/LSU vs Baylor/Houston/TCU.

Agreed. Would love to see us play Baylor in football again and maybe Rice too at Kyle

The issue is that it is scheduling to be the week before A&M's thanksgiving break. That might hurt the crowd.

mikesyracuse1 said:

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zgolfz85 said:

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Charleston Classic would be a nice tourney invite. For everyone's sake, the 2023 field for the tourney was:

Dayton, Houston, LSU, UNT, St John's, Townson, Utah and Wake Forest.

For 2022, it was Colorado St, Davidson, Va Tech, Furman, ODU, South Carolina, College of Charleston and Penn St.

So, pretty decent...not a premier invite, but respectable

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I try to go to most of this tournament each year. Very nice setup, good venue and right in downtown Charleston. Also the seating has always been general admission. Fun time in a great city with good food and some good early season College Basketball. I highly recommend attending this tournament.

Mikesyracuse1

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good to know and great time to be in charleston

TheTexian said:

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The issue is that it is scheduling to be the week before A&M's thanksgiving break. That might hurt the crowd.

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Like ten Aggies that aren't related to or friends with the players/coaches/etc ever go to these things. And it's not like Thanksgiving week would be better next year with Texas coming to town for football.

bobinator said:

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Figured I'd go ahead and start this with what we do know because there's an awful lot we don't know and then we can fill it in as rumors or confirmations come in.

Confirmed games:
Ohio State - Home - Date TBD
Texas Tech - Away - Nov. 29 (1st of a Home-and-Home)
SEC/ACC Challenge - Should be home - Date TBD

Rumored games:


MTE Tournament (Unconfirmed):
Charleston Classic - Nov. 21, 22 & 24

Conference schedule:
Just when we thought the conference had locked in on a scheduling format, here come two new teams. I think it's a safe bet we'll get Texas home and away, but we'll see. New format is two permanent opponents (as opposed to the previous three) and one rotating opponent you play home and away, and everyone else you just play once.

Cycled off Home and Homes: these are the completed home and homes so no rematches currently scheduled.
SMU
Memphis
DePaul

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I couldn't help of thinking Schedule Release Date when I saw this topic.

Have to be an old timer to get the reference.

I liked the strong OOC schedule for 2023-2024. It certainly won brownie points w the Committee. Would love to see it continue.

mikesyracuse1 said:

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bobinator said:

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TheTexian said:

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The issue is that it is scheduling to be the week before A&M's thanksgiving break. That might hurt the crowd.

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Like ten Aggies that aren't related to or friends with the players/coaches/etc ever go to these things. And it's not like Thanksgiving week would be better next year with Texas coming to town for football.

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I definitely agree with this statement. Some of the years at the SEC tournament, other than the families there have been as few as 20 or so Aggie fans. The last two years in Nashville, there have been a few more.

Mikesyracuse1

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pretty sure there were less than 75 of us in memphis outside of players' families...

you're right but I was going to go lol

Purdue game is massive, love to see A&M keep scheduling top 10 teams in the non-conference.

Is purdue a home and home? I assume no since it's in Indy. Kind of random but like the big Big 10 matchup with the national runner up

Huge

I see a business trip to Plainfield, IN in my future...

TjgtAg08 said:

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Love the game, hate the location. That will be a Purdue home game without any of the away game benefits (from a NET standpoint) for A&M.

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I don't think this is really true. There's just a massive difference between a team's actual home venue and any other venue except for maybe a few schools that don't really have noteworthy student sections in their home venues. (Kentucky, for example).

Like yeah, it will get loud when they go on a run or whatever, but it's not the same as playing in their actual home venue.

TjgtAg08 said:

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Love the game, hate the location. That will be a Purdue home game without any of the away game benefits (from a NET standpoint) for A&M.

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This feels the same as the Houston game in December. Why are we playing teams at "neutral sites" that are right by their campus? I'm glad that we're scheduling tough, and Purdue oughta be a great game, but if it's gonna be neutral, it should be farther away from West Lafayette.

Ag13 said:

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Is purdue a home and home? I assume no since it's in Indy. Kind of random but like the big Big 10 matchup with the national runner up

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think its just a one time game

BLSmith04 said:

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TjgtAg08 said:

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Love the game, hate the location. That will be a Purdue home game without any of the away game benefits (from a NET standpoint) for A&M.

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This feels the same as the Houston game in December. Why are we playing teams at "neutral sites" that are right by their campus? I'm glad that we're scheduling tough, and Purdue oughta be a great game, but if it's gonna be neutral, it should be farther away from West Lafayette.

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You really don't or can't see why?

BQ_90 said:

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BLSmith04 said:

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TjgtAg08 said:

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Love the game, hate the location. That will be a Purdue home game without any of the away game benefits (from a NET standpoint) for A&M.

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This feels the same as the Houston game in December. Why are we playing teams at "neutral sites" that are right by their campus? I'm glad that we're scheduling tough, and Purdue oughta be a great game, but if it's gonna be neutral, it should be farther away from West Lafayette.

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You really don't or can't see why?

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I don't know why we would agree to schedule what are basically away games that only count as neutral site games. This could affect our NET if Purdue is on the bubble of being a neutral site Q1 win but would easily be a road Q1 win.

bobinator said:

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TjgtAg08 said:

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Love the game, hate the location. That will be a Purdue home game without any of the away game benefits (from a NET standpoint) for A&M.

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I don't think this is really true. There's just a massive difference between a team's actual home venue and any other venue except for maybe a few schools that don't really have noteworthy student sections in their home venues. (Kentucky, for example).

Like yeah, it will get loud when they go on a run or whatever, but it's not the same as playing in their actual home venue.

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Sure, it won't be exactly the same for them, but from our perspective, it will basically be a true away game vs a neutral site game like the Thanksgiving tournaments. Buzz said as much about the UH game last year, and that was in Houston, which, in theory, is full of Aggies.

A&M will have to travel on a plane, sleep in hotels, etc. There's a decent chance Purdue will just bus in that day and not even get hotels. For a "neutral site" game, its a MUCH bigger advantage to Purdue, even going beyond the crowd.

Will it matter in the end, score-wise? No clue, and probably not -- two teams with zero familiarity in December and not a conference game ... the better team, regardless of location, will likely win.

But it sure as hell matters in the NET, from a calculations standpoint, and could possibly matter in the Q1/Q2 line, although I doubt it -- both teams should be Top 50 NET easily.

Just frustrating that for 2 straight years we've scheduled pretty big non-conference matchups in our opponents back yards and yet aren't getting that away-game bump in the math.

Probably the only way we could get the game, if I had to guess. Wish it could have been somewhere like Memphis or New Orleans or something, but maybe Purdue wouldn't agree to it at any other location.

TjgtAg08 said:

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Probably the only way we could get the game, if I had to guess. Wish it could have been somewhere like Memphis or New Orleans or something, but maybe Purdue wouldn't agree to it at any other location.

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bingo. Also why would Purdue agree to play in NO or Memphis, what does that do for them. Also who's gonna pay for all that, it's not like us vs Purdue in NO would sell tickets? Hell I'm not sure Purdue vs us in Houston would sell that many tickets.

BLSmith04 said:

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BQ_90 said:

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BLSmith04 said:

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TjgtAg08 said:

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Love the game, hate the location. That will be a Purdue home game without any of the away game benefits (from a NET standpoint) for A&M.

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This feels the same as the Houston game in December. Why are we playing teams at "neutral sites" that are right by their campus? I'm glad that we're scheduling tough, and Purdue oughta be a great game, but if it's gonna be neutral, it should be farther away from West Lafayette.

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You really don't or can't see why?

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I don't know why we would agree to schedule what are basically away games that only count as neutral site games. This could affect our NET if Purdue is on the bubble of being a neutral site Q1 win but would easily be a road Q1 win.

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Seems like a really silly reason to not schedule a game against a good program.

The reason you see teams play at neutral site games in mid-December is because their main arenas are hosting graduations. Buzz has said that's why A&M play s a neutral site game that week just about every year, versus playing a home game a or a true road game.

BQ_90 said:

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TjgtAg08 said:

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Probably the only way we could get the game, if I had to guess. Wish it could have been somewhere like Memphis or New Orleans or something, but maybe Purdue wouldn't agree to it at any other location.

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bingo. Also why would Purdue agree to play in NO or Memphis, what does that do for them. Also who's gonna pay for all that, it's not like us vs Purdue in NO would sell tickets? Hell I'm not sure Purdue vs us in Houston would sell that many tickets.

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Yep. Bottom line is we aren't a basketball program at a level that has any bargaining power or say when it comes to these big 1-off matchups. We are good enough to want the game and understand that we need it (and have a decent shot at winning it), and we are good enough that Purdue is willing to play us and knows it will be good for their SOS as well, but we aren't good enough for them to play us anywhere.

And also, Purdue isn't a big enough university/brand to be able to go anywhere and draw fans as well (which is a good point you made). But they are a good enough program to be able to be picky regarding matchups.

Conversely, KU and UK played last year in Chicago. Sure, closer for Kentucky than Kansas, but not in either's back yard. But two powerhouse brands in a giant city thats going to draw even casual fans to fill those remaining seats.

Roles would be flipped if this was football. A&M v Purdue in Houston would be "neutral," but it really wouldn't be. And no way would we agree to play Purdue somewhere like Jacksonville or Baltimore or something.

WAY too many of you are over thinking this. I'm sure Buzz would prefer a home & home with Purdue, but it just didn't work out that way. Better to go neutral (instead of playing a true road game and not getting a return game).

At the end of the day, getting Purdue on the schedule (home, away, neutral or Mars) is better than not having Purdue on the schedule. Showing the committee that A&M is willing to go play these games is what likely helped A&M this past season (compared to 2022).