The Racers have 27 of their 29 games scheduled for next season.

I had a good talk with Murray State basketball coach Steve Prohm this afternoon.  We talked about all kinds of things including not only scheduling and recruiting, but also the 2010 NCAA Tournament loss to Butler. Not long after we started the Butler portion of the conversation, Prohm's eyes drifted off into the distance as he appeared to become physically ill.  I immediately apologized for bringing it up and changed the subject as quickly as possible.

As far as the Racers' 2012-13 schedule, it is all but complete at this point.  There were several things about the schedule to take away from our conversation:

1. Murray State will open with an NAIA team on November 10th.  They will also play another NAIA team on November 24th.  Prohm had said several weeks back he planned to play only one NAIA team, but that has since changed.

2. They currently have 27 of their 29 games scheduled.  Those two remaining games need to be part of a home-and-home series, and Prohm says they have to play the first game of the series in Murray in 2012-13.  Right now there are three candidates to fill those two spots: VCU, Illinois State and North Texas.  Prohm said the deal with VCU was nearly complete before the Rams switched conferences moving from the CAA to the Atlantic-10.  He's now waiting on VCU to get their schedule handled within the A-10 before a deal can be worked out.  Prohm sounded optimistic the two will play this season, but said he couldn't guarantee it will happen.  As for Illinois State and North Texas, both teams have new coaches and are interested in playing.  In the end, Prohm just wants those two home games next year to be "good games" that provide RPI boosts. Last season VCU's RPI was 39, North Texas was 199 and Illinois State was 102.

3. If you're looking for the dates when those two yet-to-be-determined home games will be played, there are several possibilities.  There is currently an 11-day gap between the Lipscomb and Evansville games, eight days between Evansville and WKU and 12 days between Dayton and SEMO.  Those are the obvious holes where those games could be placed.  Prohm did not give a timetable as to when those two home-and-home series will be signed.

4. I've listed below the 27 games the Racers currently have on their schedule.  The dates for the NAIA games, the Charleston Classic and the OVC schedule are set.  Keep in mind, the other non-conference games are tentative at this point.  Prohm said he expects the dates to be right, but they are not written in stone yet.

2012-13 Murray State Tentative Schedule

11/10 vs. NAIA
11/15-11/18 at Charleston Classic
11/24 vs. NAIA
11/27 at Lipscomb

12/8 at Evansville

12/16 vs. Western Kentucky
12/19 at Arkansas State
12/22 at Dayton

1/3 at SE Missouri State
1/5 at UT Martin
1/9 vs. Eastern Kentucky
1/12 at Austin Peay
1/17 vs. Eastern Illinois
1/19 vs. SIU-Edwardsville
1/24 at Tennessee Tech
1/26 at Jacksonville State
2/2 vs. Austin Peay
2/7 vs. Tennessee State
2/9 vs. Belmont
2/14 at SIU-Edwardsville
2/16 at Eastern Illinois
2/20 at Morehead State
2/23 vs. BracketBuster
2/28 vs. UT Martin
3/2 vs. SE Missouri State

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