This was a good idea. Also omigod #23 is Carlton Brundidge; I totally forgot that. [Fuller]

The Question:

Nothing we can do about Michigan basketball's crappy nonconference schedule, but I asked the MGoCrew who they'd play in a home and home.

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Ace: Michigan's non-conference schedule outside of Xavier and the Battle for Atlantis tournament—admittedly some strong competition—is woefully bad. Xavier is the only non-conference home opponent ranked within the top 240(!) teams on KenPom. While you want to schedule some easy wins, that's taking the concept to an extreme while sacrificing both RPI standing and fan interest; games against Houston Baptist and Delaware State aren't exactly big draws.

I'd love to see the Wolverines rekindle a local series against a team that's still quite beatable but at least has a pulse: Oakland. The Grizzlies tend to be ranked in the 150 range on KenPom—they're 160th this preseason—and John Beilein went 4-0 against them from 2008-2012, playing those games either at Crisler or The Palace. They're seemingly the perfect level of opponent; they hung within 20 points of Michigan in each of those games but never came closer than ten points in the final score. Their coach, Greg Kampe, still very much wants to play the series. They're local. They play MSU on a near-annual basis. It makes almost too much sense from both a resumé and fan interest standpoint—I'd so much rather watch Michigan take on Oakland or Detroit than some bottom-feeder from outside the Midwest, and I'm sure I'm not alone there.

[After the JUMP: if you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you.]

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Seth: And of course the Xavier game is a 9 o'clock start before what will probably be a noon game 6 1/2 hours away (Penn State). Thanks Obrandon.

I took crappy pictures last time. I think this is Jamestown.

First an RPI refresher. They average opponents' rankings instead of accounting for likelihood of victory, and overly reward winning on the road, so playing a team ranked in the bottom third of D-I will get a big strength of schedule ding. If you play a home and home with the 115th (~Penn State level) team, you're probably 2-0 with an SOS of 115 plus a road win bump. If you play at the #1 team and host the 301st, you end up 1-1 with an SOS of 150. Michigan basically did the latter. Going to Bradley a few years ago was great; on the other hand Michigan needs to erase Delaware State's AD's phone number then next time he calls pick up and be like "we don't accept unlisted numbers, sorry" and hang up.

The team I'd love to add is William & Mary. Have you ever been to Colonial Williamsburg (and very nearby Jamestown and Yorktown)? In mid-November? Oh. My. God. There probably isn't a more picturesque place in the United States. If you don't believe me, google map it  and pull the little street view guy literally anywhere. The gym can't hold that many visitors but I'd make sure to be one.

Basketball-wise the tribe are 122nd this year and ought to remain around there as long as Tony Shaver's in charge. They're also the fun kind of basketball team to play: top 50 in offense, bottom 300 in defense, one of the worst in the nation at ORebs and steals. They're academically our kind of people, and apparently don't mind scheduling power schools—they opened at Florida last year and played in Chapel Hill the night before New Years Eve. I can't imagine they would say no to a visit from Michigan. And if you say no to a visit to that part of the country you should be forced to watch The New World.

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Hockey at noon, basketball at 6, live taping of Stuffing the Passer at 9:30.
[Bryan Fuller]

Brian: Notre Dame. Notre Dame is annually a decent to good team. Notre Dame is a few hours away. Notre Dame and Michigan have a lot of history. Michigan should play Notre Dame in hockey, too. Notre Dame versus Michigan should exist in all sports. They should invent sports just so Michigan can play Notre Dame in them. This is my opinion.

In a similar vein as Oakland, Michigan should play Detroit on the regular, and they should go on the road when they do so every third year or fourth year. Michigan recruits Detroit. Having a regular appearance in the city that is very clearly not something Michigan has to do but wants to will help their profile—and not just in basketball but also in football. Also, Calihan Hall is a pretty cool place to watch a game.

It might cost a little more money but hopefully the current administration is less laser-focused on the bottom line in a spreadsheet. There are other things that are higher priority in a college athletic department, and playing Detroit in Detroit helps Michigan win.

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Alex: One of the great things about college basketball is seeing the bluebloods go on the road to face mid-majors. For example, North Carolina is traveling to Northern Iowa to face the Panthers in somewhat of a homecoming game for senior star Marcus Paige (who will unfortunately not be available due to injury).

With that in mind, there are a few prestige mid-major teams that would be really interesting for Michigan to schedule. Davidson's long-time coach Bob McKillop is positively Beileinesque with his offensive acumen; facing a team like Wichita State would be great preparation for the Big Ten season, facing Butler (though they're no longer a mid-major) would accomplish essentially the same thing as playing Notre Dame.

But I'll pick Dayton (who have been really good under Archie Miller), aka the Aubrey Dawkins classic. Or we could play Johnny Dawkins and Stanford (again). Just anybody other than who we're playing now.

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Seth: Dammit Brian and Alex. Those are great games and yes, Notre Dame forever, but we're trying to cheat RPI here. Brian hinted at this but what if Michigan could schedule one annual hockey-hoops doubleheader? Invite Western Michigan or Boston University or Miami (not THAT Miami) or, you know, Notre Dame, have the hockey game at noon and the basketball game at seven, and an outdoor ice rink or something to entertain between.

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David: I'm going to do a Top 3. 

3. Notre Dame.  Brian is right.  Michigan should play Notre Dame in pretty much everything.  Plus, I believe the last couple of times these two teams played, they were fantastic games.  In the 05-06 season, they played a double OT thriller with Michigan winning 87-84 at Crisler.  The year before, they played to an M victory 61-60.  Granted, its been a while, but these two schools seem to have some classic games across many sports. 

2. San Diego St. This is slightly more controversial because of the "Do We Play Former Coaches?" thing.  In this case, why not?  It could add some intrigue to a H&H series.  Steve Fisher is pushing the Aztecs out of the 'Mid-Major' category with developing quite a program in SoCal.  They've made the NCAA Tourney each of the last six seasons, which eclipses the previous number of seasons that the Aztecs qualified for the tournament in total.  In addition to that, they were a 'home' seed each of those six years and reached the Sweet Sixteen twice.  So, they're winning quite a few games.  Also, they can get athletes: NBA Superstar Kawhi Leonard.  Finally, a trip to San Diego -maybe in late December to combine with a football appearance at the Rose Bowl or Holiday Bowl?  Um, ok!

1.  North Carolina. Michigan has seemingly matched up against every other team in the B10/ACC Challenge at some point -at least every other team of note- over the last decade or so.  Why not play UNC?  To my knowledge, these teams haven't met in quite some time -at least the last 10-15 years.  North Carolina has one of the most storied traditions in college basketball history.  If Michigan fancies themselves as an elite program, we should compete with top tier teams consistently.  We've done H&Hs with Kansas, Duke, UConn, Arizona...let's play at Chapel Hill!

I like a lot of the other answers submitted and they all have very solid rationales, but these are just a few teams that would perk my interest from a fan's perspective, instead of looking at recruiting base, RPI, tournament clout, etc.