Not so fast! Add Rider to the schedule, says Big Apple Buckets

Just when we thought the 2013-14 Villanova schedule was fully revealed, the New York metro-area college basketball super-site Big Apple Buckets pointed out an oversight. According to their Ryan Restivo, Villanova will host Rider next season, in what he has classified as a money game for Rider. That would appear to put the Wildcats over the NCAA's scheduling limits for regular season games, however, there are a few possibilities to resolve the discrepancy.

First of all, the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament apparently features a fourth "stateside" game for each participating school, that would count as part of the exempt tournament, rather than the regular season field. Those games are "buy" games with no return leg and the schools that the eight Bahamas-portion participants play will neither advance to the main event (just like last year's 2k Sports opening rounds with UDC and Marshall) nor receive a return game from their host.

Last year, UNI was given a buy-game against Toledo. The Rockets were paid for their participation in the game and got to move on to play out a stateside bracket for a chance to win a bid to travel to the Bahamas in a later tournament (last Fall, FGCU — of "Dunk City" fame — won the stateside bracket and will be invited to play in the Bahamas in 2016).

So, it is entirely likely that one of Villanova's non-Big 5 (and non-Syracuse) non-conference games for 2014 is going to be designated as part of the Battle 4 Atlantis stateside competition. Rider is participating in the Cable Car Classic this Fall, however, and will not be that opponent.

Even so, Restivo has also claimed that the 'Cats will not face Monmouth University this year -- which is different from what Monmouth's head coach King Rice told the Asbury Park Press on Friday. According to Restivo, the 'Cats asked Monmouth to push the game back a year to open space in the schedule.

If that is the case, we could still be waiting for one more non-conference game to be announced.

The latest news means that, in addition to 18 Big East Conference games (each school home and away), the 'Cats will face the following schools, in addition to their three games in the Bahamas:

1. AT Temple
2. AT St. Joseph's
3. La Salle
4. Towson
5. Penn
6. Delaware
7. Rider
8. Mount St. Mary's
9. AT Syracuse (December 28)
10. Monmouth - MAYBE