When Butler was in the Horizon League, the non-league basketball schedule was virtually make-or-break for a chance at an NCAA tournament at-large berth.
It is not much different now. The Bulldogs made it last March largely because they were 11-1 heading into the Big East.
The 2016-17 non-league slate is challenging. Coach Chris Holtmann has wondered aloud if he over-scheduled: Northwestern, Vanderbilt, maybe Arizona, Utah, Indiana State, Cincinnati, Indiana. Only two of those seven games are at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
My personal wish list of non-league opponents isn’t going to help anything … but it is fun to contemplate anyway.