So that’s really the best we can do?

Playing the America East conference, Binghamton students do not really expect to have a basketball schedule filled with high profile match-ups with ACC and Big East Teams poised to make big runs in the NCAA tournament.

But for a school that is consistently trying to improve its athletic standing, and one that has made strides in that endeavor in recent years, this year’s men’s basketball schedule is seriously underdressed.

After being denied an invite to participate in this year’s popular Bracket Buster series, to which Albany and Maine were invited, there was still hope for a big game on the non-conference schedule. Alas, that did not happen either.

This is the first time in several years that the men’s team will not have a really noteworthy game on its slate.

Games against Colgate, Cornell and Niagara are not exactly overwhelming, especially since two of the games are on the road and the other is at home, but over Thanksgiving weekend. Akron and Rider will visit the Events Center in December, but, again, even if the building is filled because people will be so starved for a game, neither team is a huge draw.

Over the last few years, the men’s basketball schedule has featured several games with noteworthy opponents around the country, including North Carolina and Michigan, and a game at Oklahoma just last year. And whatever happened to the yearly game against Syracuse? Even a road game against Syracuse would allow Bearcats fans a reason to make a rare pilgrimage to the Carrier Dome.

And now, just when the program appeared on the edge of achieving the status it requires to have a big game every year, we have a schedule with little to be excited about.

The men’s team has also followed a familiar pattern by scheduling games in areas of familiarity for some of the upperclassmen. Yet somehow we missed the fact that Troy Hailey lives in Hyattsville, Maryland, 2.2 miles from the University of Maryland. Now, not that scheduling a game with the Terrapins is easy, but when Andre Heard was a Bearcat, somehow the game at Oklahoma was attainable.

Our “high profile” games include a match-up with Miami and a tournament at the University of New Mexico. The invite to the New Mexico tournament is nothing to sneeze at, but not a huge deal, either; the first-round game versus Pepperdine probably won’t be must-see TV. And the Miami game would be something to set your calendar by, were it football.

Now, I already said that the Bearcat faithful do not expect big-time match-ups, but the men are not helped by the women’s schedule, which does have a few big draws. And not just big games — big home games. Big East teams Syracuse and Villanova will be paying Binghamton a visit, as will defending Northeast conference champs Sacred Heart, and the Big South conference-title winners Liberty Flames.

To be fair, none of us know exactly how the schedule is determined. For all we know, we got screwed out of some bigger games, and it would be unfair to accuse the athletic department of not going after the big fish, because it is a certainty that they did.

Regardless, though, this schedule is certainly nothing to get overly excited about.

In last year’s coaching basketball class, the 25 students were asked to watch the first half of the game against Oklahoma and analyze it from a coaching perspective. Watching a tape of the game against Colgate probably won’t have the same feeling.