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The NBA Announced The 2016-17 Schedule And It’s Good For Marquette Basketball

Did you like having a Saturday night home game last season?  Well, multiple Saturday nights might be in MU’s future...

By Brewtown Andy
Toronto Raptors v Milwaukee Bucks
Saturday nights at the BC are looking pretty wide open this winter....
Photo by Mike McGinnis/Getty Images

As previously announced, the NBA released the 2016-17 schedule on Thursday evening, and boy oh boy, the schedule for the Milwaukee Bucks is looking pretty good for Marquette basketball and scheduling for the Big East season.

First things first, though. The exhibition game against Rockhurst is moving from Monday, November 7th, to Saturday, November 5th. I’m not entirely sure why that’s the case, as the Bucks aren’t playing a game at all on November 7th. The game against Fresno State is officially scheduled for Tuesday, December 6th, as the Bucks will be hosting the Portland Trail Blazers on December 7th.

With that out of the way, we move our attention to available Saturday nights at the BMO Harris Bradley Center. Last year, Marquette was able to swing the first Saturday night home game for the first time that I can remember. This year.... well. Let met tell you something fun and fascinating.

There are 10 Saturdays in the Big East schedule window, ranging from December 31 through March 4th. The Milwaukee Bucks are playing two - count them, TWO - Saturday home games in that stretch. They’ll host Jae Crowder and the Boston Celtics on January 28th, and the Toronto Raptors come to town on March 4th.

THAT’S IT. The other eight Saturdays are completely free from Bucks games. With the Milwaukee Admirals moving to the UWM Panther Arena for the 2016-17 season, that means the Bradley Center doesn’t have a major tenant aiming to use the building on those eight Saturdays.

Now, December 31st is completely blocked off by two Harlem Globetrotters shows, so Marquette won’t be playing a home game on New Year’s Eve. That’s the only thing showing up on the official Bradley Center calendar between the non-conference game against SIUE and the NCAA tournament in March. Maybe there’s announcements yet to come that will occupy a Saturday or two, but things are looking like Marquette will be able to give Fox Sports a lot of leeway when it comes to what time Saturday home games can be scheduled for this coming season.