That includes a momentous 60-55 victory in the 2007 conference tourney finals to earn one of four NCAA bids in program history.
The rivalry will be renewed this year when the Raiders make a trip to Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on Nov. 28.
Butler has joined the Big East. And while the program isn’t what it was in its heyday under coach Brad Stevens, the game is one of the highlights of the Raiders’ non-league schedule, which was released Tuesday.
“For a lot of people, it brings back so many great memories from that era — whether it’s a player, coach or fan,” second-year coach Clint Sargent said.
“I know we’ll be challenged. But it’s a game that makes sense — short travel and a game that works for us.”
The Raiders will play three MAC foes at home among its 11 non-conference games: Toledo (18-15), Miami (25-9) and Eastern Michigan (16-16).
They open the season Nov. 3 at the Nutter Center against Division-III Franklin before perhaps the marquee game on the schedule with a trip to Cal of the ACC on Nov. 6.
The Raiders haven’t played a West coast team on the road since Seattle in 2009.
The Greenbrier Tip-off will be Nov. 15-16 against two 20-game winners, Radford (20-13) and Kent State (24-12), another MAC school.
“We’ve put together a very competitive schedule. I think we’ll be challenged. It’s just as challenging as last year — facing a ton of mid-majors that are expecting to win their league and a lot of MAC schools,” Sargent said.
“We also tried to find some balance in a few spots competitively where we weren’t up against it all the time.”
The Raiders will play two early league games again, visiting Youngstown State on Dec. 3 and hosting Green Bay on Dec. 7. And they’ll play 18 straight HL foes starting Dec. 29.
The league tourney is March 2-10 and has a new format with all 11 teams starting out at campus sites.
The two worst seeds have a play-in game to reach the first round. The three highest-seeded winners from the five opening-round games will advance to the semifinals at Corteva Coliseum in Indy. The other two winners will play for a spot in the semis.
Last year, the top five seeds were given byes into the quarterfinals.
“The league keeps getting better. We have great coaches and a lot of administrations who are trying to win in this era and are very competitive with adjusting with the times,” Sargent said.
“The league is only going to continue to get better, and we look forward to rising with it.”
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