UK basketball’s tough schedule also includes two schools that can’t play in March Madness

The 2023-24 Kentucky men’s basketball schedule is filled with elite opponents and difficult games for the Wildcats.

The slate of games still to come for John Calipari’s squad includes matchups against Kansas, Miami (Fla.), North Carolina and Gonzaga in nonconference play, as well as an 18-game gauntlet in SEC play, the conference ranked as the second-best in the country by KenPom.

But at the other end of the spectrum are two nonconference games in Rupp Arena against teams that aren’t eligible to play in the end-of-season NCAA Tournament.

Home games against Texas A&M University-Commerce (Friday night) and Stonehill College (Nov. 17) represent two of the lesser-known programs on UK’s schedule this season.

But both Texas A&M-Commerce and Stonehill are going through a monumental moment in each program’s history. The Lions and Skyhawks are both transitioning from the NCAA Division II to the NCAA Division I level.

Texas A&M-Commerce (a member of the Southland Conference) and Stonehill (Northeast Conference) are both in the second year of their four-year transition periods. Neither school is eligible to participate in the NCAA Tournament until the 2027 edition of March Madness.

While facing two schools in the NCAA transition process in the span of one week amounts to little more than a scheduling quirk for Kentucky, there are real ramifications from the games for both Texas A&M-Commerce and Stonehill, two programs aiming to build a foundation as they begin a new basketball chapter.

Texas A&M-Commerce aims for three-heavy approach in early games

A college player at former NCAA Division I (now Division III) school Hartford, Texas A&M-Commerce head coach Jaret von Rosenberg credited the breadth of his past coaching experience with helping him tackle this latest transition task with the Lions.

“I just got a really well-rounded experience in my two Division II stops to prepare myself to be a head coach,” von Rosenberg told the Herald-Leader in a phone interview over the summer.

Ever since taking charge at Texas A&M-Commerce (located in Commerce, Texas, near the Texas-Oklahoma border) prior to the 2017-18 season, von Rosenberg has won: In five seasons at the NCAA Division II level, Texas A&M Commerce reached the NCAA Tournament on three occasions.

Last season’s initial year at the Division I level also brought success: A 13-win season included triumphs over Air Force, Hawaii and Eastern Kentucky.

“Players change, but our style has been very, very consistent for six years,” von Rosenberg said. “... We play a 4-around-1, read and react, all five spots on the floor, every player should know what to do at all five spots on the floor.”

Von Rosenberg was bullish in August when speaking to the Herald-Leader about his team’s chances during a daunting stretch of games to open this season. Texas A&M-Commerce’s first three games are all on the road in a five-day span at No. 15 Texas A&M, Texas Tech and No. 16 Kentucky.

“We want to multiply possessions, that way the statistics of our getting more shots, even if you shoot a little lower percentage, that gives you an opportunity to be productive offensively,” said von Rosenberg of his team’s approach to these three games, which included the goal of shooting 120 three-pointers across the three-game stretch.

So far, it’s been a struggle.

Texas A&M-Commerce lost 78-46 at Texas A&M on Monday night and 73-46 at Texas Tech on Wednesday night. The Lions have attempted 63 three-pointers in those two games combined, but have made only nine of those attempts (a 14.3% success rate).

“If we’re able to multiply possessions, shoot a lot of threes, you hope it’s just some fluky, one out of 100 deal on one of those nights that we put ourselves in position in those last four minutes to make it a game and put some competitive pressure back on the home teams,” von Rosenberg said. “That’s all we’re trying to do. If any of those games in the last eight minutes, four minutes, we make it a one possession, two-possession game, in either direction, that’ll be a very positive thing for our group that we can draw on all year.”

While the odds will certainly be stacked against von Rosenberg’s team again Friday night, the likelihood of a comprehensive defeat is somewhat counterbalanced by the experience of bringing his team into Rupp Arena.

“It’s really unique. I don’t know if I need to do it a second time, but it’ll be a really good experience for myself, our staff, our players,” von Rosenberg said. “It’s stuff you dream about to be honest with you. I never thought in a million years that I’d be playing at Rupp as the head basketball coach. A lot of guys envision that, they watch it on TV. ... They hope and dream for the opportunity to not only play in that venue, but to play well and do some good things that we can build on and carry over into more manageable, normal game environments.”

(Von Rosenberg has continued to coach the Lions this season during difficult personal circumstances: His wife, Sarah, recently experienced a major medical emergency).

Stonehill coach compares Kentucky to last season’s national champions

Few people are more intertwined with Stonehill men’s basketball than current head coach Chris Kraus.

A former player at Stonehill (a private, Catholic college in Easton, Massachusetts, located about 26 miles South of Boston), Kraus played in the 2006 NCAA Division II Final Four with the Skyhawks before later becoming an assistant coach at Stonehill.

He was elevated to head coach in 2013.

Now entering his 10th season leading the program, Kraus (the only Canadian head coach in NCAA Division I men’s basketball) has already established lofty expectations with the Skyhawks.

Kraus took Stonehill to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Division II Tournament in 2016.

“I think now our goal as we build ourselves a new Division I program is to become one of the top tier institutions in the (Northeast Conference), being able to compete year in and year out and hopefully compete for league championships like we did prior as a D2 school,” Kraus told the Herald-Leader in an August phone interview.

Stonehill’s first season as a DI program exceeded all expectations: The Skyhawks went 14-17 overall and recorded a second-place finish in the NEC standings, scoring wins over Army and Fairleigh Dickinson (the team that upset No. 1 seed Purdue in the NCAA Tournament).

In fact, Stonehill’s first-ever game as a Division I school last season was at UConn, the eventual national champions.

Now, another landmark moment for the Skyhawks will soon arrive in the form of a trip to Rupp Arena.

“We are thrilled for the experience, the opportunity, our alumni base, our school, our players, just to have this opportunity now in front of us and to be able to do this at the Division I level is something that we were never able to prior as a Division II institution,” Kraus said. “I think you’ll see where we are there at Rupp is a little different than Merkert Gymnasium where we play. ... Building toward trying to create a sustainable, really high level NEC program. It’s going to be a lot of work, I know we had success our first year in, but to do it consistently is now the next challenge.”

The aforementioned Merkert Gymnasium has a listed capacity of 1,560. Rupp Arena has a capacity of 20,545.

Safe to say, the environment Stonehill will experience on Nov. 17 will be unlike anything the Skyhawks have experienced before.

“We’re going to try to give our student-athletes an experience that they’re going to remember forever, playing against the Wildcats and Coach (John) Calipari is something our guys are going to take for the rest of their careers and when they become fathers and have families they’re going to be talking about these games and these stories,” said Kraus, whose team also has road games at UConn (Saturday afternoon), Miami (Dec. 21) and Rutgers (Dec. 30).

When it comes to what should be a lopsided on-court dynamic between the Skyhawks and Wildcats, Kraus has distinct knowledge about one UK player in particular.

Fifth-year UK forward Tre Mitchell played his final two high school seasons at Woodstock Academy in Connecticut, and Kraus had the chance to watch Mitchell as a prep school player.

“Watching him now, compared to back then, his maturity and his understanding of who he is as a player and where his strengths lie,” Kraus said. “I think that’s been such an area of growth from his high school and prep school levels of where he was so talented, the upside was all there, and now he’s learned who he is as a player, his body has matured and he’s a high-major player.”

And when asked for his overarching thoughts about the challenges Kentucky will likely pose to Stonehill, Kraus drew comparisons between the Cats and last year’s national champions.

“They pose probably one of the biggest challenges we face,” Kraus said. “Playing UConn last year similarly with the national champs that UConn ended up being. And obviously this Kentucky team is as talented, if not more talented.”

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