2025-26 Schedule

[swilsonsp4]

Sounds good to me. Maybe said it before in this very thread, but gone are generally the days where a coach on the hot seat (or trying to start off easy with a roster overhaul) can just schedule light and think they can make the Tournament by just stacking up wins in November/December and being okay in conference play. UC will be best served headed into Big 12 play with some actual tests and the fans will appreciate a better slate.

Since UC must fill 13 OOC slots, there still likely will be a couple low majors (MEAC/SWAC/NEC, e.g.) on the schedule. XU, UD, UofL, neutral P4, & one or two Q1/Q2 opponents (per Brendel) would make 5 or 6, leaving another 7-8 to fill. That doesn't mean they all would be Q4, but there likely will be some.

[GoBearcats31]

Chad Brendel also noted that UC will face a P4 team at a neutral site, but he's not at liberty to divulge the name of the opponent. When someone commented that the UD game would be UC's 2nd strongest (behind UofL), Brendel replied, "It's not."

Sounds good to me. Maybe said it before in this very thread, but gone are generally the days where a coach on the hot seat (or trying to start off easy with a roster overhaul) can just schedule light and think they can make the Tournament by just stacking up wins in November/December and being okay in conference play. UC will be best served headed into Big 12 play with some actual tests and the fans will appreciate a better slate.

[swilsonsp4]

Chad Brendel also noted that UC will face a P4 team at a neutral site, but he's not at liberty to divulge the name of the opponent. When someone commented that the UD game would be UC's 2nd strongest (behind UofL), Brendel replied, "It's not."

[Carthage World]

Big 12 opponents with current Bart Torvik T-rank projections (ours is currently 31st):

Home: Houston (1), UCF (77), WVU (57), Colorado (98), Iowa St (21), Oklahoma St (55), Utah (60), BYU (6), and Baylor (34)

Away: Houston (1), UCF (77), WVU (57), Arizona (14), Arizona St (90), Kansas (16), Texas Tech (27), TCU (56), and Kansas St (47)

[GoBearcats31]

Also, Jon Rothstein reports UC will host Dayton this year at home with a return game the following season at UD Arena

https://collegehoopstoday.net/rothstein-files/cincinnati-dayton-finalizing-agreement-to-start-home-and-home-series-this-season-at-fifth-third-arena/

[GoBearcats31]

UC will, in fact, play Houston, UCF and WVU twice each

Other home opponents: Colorado, Iowa State, Oklahoma State, Utah, BYU and Baylor*

Other away opponents: Arizona, Arizona State, Kansas, Texas Tech, TCU and Kansas State

https://gobearcats.com/news/2025/6/1...announced.aspx


* Dan Skillings at UC alert
(Bearcat Bunch on Twitter points out that Thiam will play at UCF, Harris will play at WVU, Kriisa will play at Arizona, WVU)

[Carthage World]

Big 12 matchups should be announced tomorrow, I believe. Each team will face three Big 12 opponents twice, the rest once.

Per Jon Rothstein, Houston will play UC twice. (Also, per JR, UC will not face Arizona, Kansas or BYU twice per his tweets about those teams' Big 12 double plays).

Houston, WVU, and UCF would make the most sense as double plays based on history/geography.

[GoBearcats31]

Big 12 matchups should be announced tomorrow, I believe. Each team will face three Big 12 opponents twice, the rest once.

Per Jon Rothstein, Houston will play UC twice. (Also, per JR, UC will not face Arizona, Kansas or BYU twice per his tweets about those teams' Big 12 double plays).

[swilsonsp4]

On the B12 stream via TuneIn, the conference announced that the 2025-26 scheduling matchup matrix will be released this Thursday. I don't know the time. This is about two weeks earlier than last season. In the prior two seasons, the B12 announced the game dates in late September.

[bearcatlifer]

It seems like collegiate sports are becoming an alternate professional league whose main appeal is to gamblers.

[leo from jersey]

i thought his recent (? - a year or two ago) comment to cunningham was about the sex abuse stuff.

stand corrected. He was drunk perhaps. I thought about a Friday Night game at X and the crowd will be rowdy.

[D.A.H.]

Didn't Huggs say catholic drunks or was it something ese on wlw?

i thought his recent (? - a year or two ago) comment to cunningham was about the sex abuse stuff.

[leo from jersey]

Jon Rothstein says Crosstown Shootout will be Friday, December 5 at Cintas ... can't remember a Friday night Shootout before. I think I like it.

Didn't Huggs say catholic drunks or was it something ese on wlw?

[GoBearcats31]

Jon Rothstein says Crosstown Shootout will be Friday, December 5 at Cintas ... can't remember a Friday night Shootout before. I think I like it.

[bearcatbret]

Besides the crappy venues, these are still in a way a home and away series. The difference is that on the schedule, it will show up as either a win or a loss at a "neutral" court on the record. That may help a win and marginalize a loss. I am just throwing stuff at the frig right now but it makes sense to me.