Assuming the college basketball season is able to start as normal, Central Michigan's men's basketball squad will face a loaded non-conference slate.
Per The D1 Docket, the Chippewas have agreed to play Wisconsin, Butler and Pittsburgh during the non-conference portion of the 2020-21 season. The Panthers will be a first-time opponent for CMU, while it has matched up with the Badgers five times and the Bulldogs twice.
Both Wisconsin and Butler are perennial NCAA tournament qualifiers, each team posting over 20 wins during the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 season. Pittsburgh, meanwhile, finished 16-17 a year ago.
Against the Bulldogs, the Chippewas are 0-2 in the history of their program. Both matchups were decided by a total of eight points, with Butler posting a 69-68 home victory in 1978 and a 69-62 win in what was the Rose Arena the following year.
Central Michigan has had better luck against Wisconsin, holding a 2-3 mark against the Badgers. The two wins, both coming at home, were over the course of a five year span. The first was a 71-68 triumph in 1981 and the second came in an 80-66 rout in 1986.
The matchup with the Badgers will be a campus game in the Fort Myers Tip-Off, a field that includes the Badgers, South Florida, Butler and Colorado.
Here is the Chippewas' updated non-conference schedule:
NOV 13: Incarnate Word
NOV 17: @ Wisconsin
NOV 20: @ Butler
NOV 28: Robert Morris
DEC 5: @ Tulane
DEC 12: Valparaiso
DEC 18: @ Pittsburgh
DEC 21: @ Arkansas State
Comments