The Kansas basketball team has its usual slate of enticing games this season, including non-conference matchups against Kentucky, UConn, Villanova, Missouri, and Ohio State. The Jayhawks' Big 12 schedule features games against Houston, Arizona, Iowa State, Baylor, and, of course, Kansas State.
Unfortunately for Kansas fans, not many of these games will be played at Allen Fieldhouse. In fact, the most attractive home games are a pair of exhibition outings against Louisville on October 25, and Duke on November 2.
Who will the Kansas basketball team play in the Phog?
KU will play Kentucky, Missouri, and Ohio State on neutral sites. The location of the UConn game is undetermided at this time, but considering the Huskies played in Allen Fieldhouse last year, this game will be somewhere UConn will consideer a home advantage.
The Jayhawks will also see some prime opposition in the Players Era Classic in Las Vegas. Kansas will play UNLV for sure, and then they will play either West Virginia or Auburn. The third game will be against one of the following schools depending on how the bracket plays out: Florida, Houston, Notre Dame, or Rutgers.
The KU home schedule includes West Virginia, Colorado, UCF, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, and Arizona State. There are also home-and-home matchups against K-State, Iowa State, and Baylor. While every conference game is a difficult challenge, the Jayhawks aren't getting many prime conference games at home.
They play Utah, BYU, Houston, and Arizona on the road. All of these games will be difficult to win. Kansas also has games at Cincinnati, who beat KU at the Phog last year, and TCU, where the Jayhawks seldom play well.
One interesting fact is that KU only has two Big Monday games this year: at Houston and hosting Iowa State. The Jayhawks used to see at least three Big Monday games every season, sometimes four. Now, the conference has more schools, which spreads out the appearances. Houston and Arizona both have two Big Monday games as well, and no school has thrree.
The rest of the home slate this season seems to be a bit light on premier matchups. Fordham, Middle Tennessee, Denver, Northern Iowa, Indiana State, and New Orleans round out the games at the Phog. While it's true that few teams are pushovers, regardless of where the game is played, the Jayhawks should certainly beat all of these schools in Allen Fieldhouse.
So many of the exciting non-conference matchups are put together for television, earning the schools decent payouts. Occasionally, the schools can work out home-and-home deals, like the one KU had with UConn and, in the past couple of years, with North Carolina. Other than Villanova, Kansas doesn't have any others set up on this schedule.
While the home schedule isn't quite as robust as it has been in years past, the overall schedule is still extremely challenging and should test the young Jayhawks. Luckily, KU fans are the best in the world, and they will fill the Phog, no matter the opponent.
This Kansas basketball team should be exciting, and the roster might be underappreciated nationally.
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