It could be a long season in Sac-Town, as the Hornets are coming off of a miserable season and fan interest and expectations seems to be at a low. But alas, hope springs eternal in college basketball, and so let us look if the schedule provides a glimmer of hope for the Hornets.
The good news is that they have a lot of winnable games in the non-conference. Home dates against teams such as Menlo, Central Arkansas, McNeese State, Cal Maritime, and SE Missouri should be easy wins. If not, it is safe to say that the program is in even worse shape than we could have guessed.
Even though I have railed on some teams in the conference for their embarrassingly easy non-conference games (presumably due to not being able to get anyone better scheduled at home), I actually like it for Sacramento St. After a 7-21 season that features one of the worst offenses and defenses in America, it makes sense to schedule some winnable games that can get some confidence going early on in the year. They will also get a home game against future Big Sky opponent North Dakota, which should be an interesting matchup.
On the road, they didn't challenge themselves too much, but again, I think that's the right move. Their two major games are against Washington St. and Oklahoma, neither of which look like they will be Tourney teams. They will also take on UC Davis, Cal Poly, and Cal State Bakersfield. Again, three games that could be won by them.
With 11 non-conference games (not counting their Bracket Buster game), Sacramento State should be over .500. Even if all of the wins are against bad opponents, that would be a nice little spark for the program that has finished in the single digits in the win column for the past 5 seasons.
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