“Awesome” is probably the wrong word to describe the NIU men’s basketball schedule, but there are a few gems hidden among the 24 Huskie opponents.

Though hardly household names, Texas-El Paso and Howard both made it to the NCAA Tournament last season. Both those teams will take part in the Texas-El Paso Tournament Dec. 4-5 in which NIU and Wisconsin-Green Bay are also included.

NIU travels to two major conference schools—Wisconsin (Big Ten) and Kansas State (Big Eight)—where the Huskies will try to do something they failed to do all last season—win.

Huskie fans willing to travel to the Rockford MetroCentre Dec. 13 will see NIU try to avenge a last year’s 23-point drubbing at Bradley—ranked 20th by the Tribune this season. That game is the only one of 11 NIU “home” contests not to be played at Chick Evans Field House.

NIU head coach Jim Rosborough likes the fact that the Huskies have been able to trim their MetroCentre schedule from four games in 1986-87 to one this season.

“We’ve tried to tailor our schedule to the student body to get here and support us,” Rosborough said.

However, the movement away from Rockford might have played a major role in losing nationally-ranked DePaul from the Huskie schedule. When NIU announced the DePaul game would be held in DeKalb, the Blue Demons “backed out”, Rosborough said.

The loss of DePaul is significant since the two schools are geographic neighbors, a characteristic of many of the 1987-88 Huskie foes. Beside Bradley, NIU takes on interstate schools Southern Illinois, Illinois-Chicago and Loyola in the UIC Classic, Eastern Illinois (home and away), UIC again in DeKalb and Chicago State.

“We’re trying to play teams with fan interest,” Rosborough said. “We’re trying to play teams with natural rivalries.”

Rosborough, who is responsible for determining the schedule, admits this year’s slate is not packed with top 20 teams.

“It’s much more fair to our kids,” the second-year Huskie coach said. “It’s more representative of where we are as a program.”

Other nearby schools on NIU’s schedule include Wisconsin-Parkside, Butler (Indianapolis), Northern Iowa (home and away) and Drake. Former Mid-American Conference rivals Western Michigan (home and away) and Toledo will also battle the Huskies this season.