Jeff Goodman and his team of basketball minds sat down and ranked the toughest non-conference schedules in college basketball next season.
At the top of list?
Kentucky with five marquee games -- four of those to be played outside Rupp Arena.
1. Kentucky Wildcats
John Calipari's team plays Kansas in Allen Fieldhouse, UCLA in Pauley Pavilion, Duke in Chicago, Louisville (at Rupp Arena) and Ohio State in Brooklyn. The home slate isn't overwhelming, but there shouldn't be many teams in the 300 range of the RPI, either.
And at the top of ESPN's Most Disappointing list, the Louisville Cardinals...
1. Louisville Cardinals
Rick Pitino didn't know what type of team he'd have this season after preparing to watch Montrzel Harrell and Terry Rozier join Wayne Blackshear in leaving. However, this nonconference schedule is a joke. There are two quality games out of 13. The Cards have their annual game against Kentucky (at Rupp) and were matched up against Michigan State in East Lansing in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. There are home games against Grand Canyon, Western Kentucky, North Florida, Hartford, Samford, St. Francis, Eastern Michigan, Kennesaw State, UMKC and Utah Valley -- and a neutral-site game in New York against Saint Louis.
So the Cardinals will undoubtedly run the non-conference table with those seven NBA players, right?
Read the entire rankings
over on ESPN Insider.
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