Breaking: The 2020-21 Wisconsin Herd schedule has been released

The Bucks organization has yet to actually share it on social channels, but the schedule has been posted. Here are my takeaways.

The Wisconsin Herd schedule is out. After a LONG hiatus of no Herd basketball anywhere with COVID derailing the last season in March and Wisconsin opting out of the G League Bubble, the Herd open up the 2020-21 G League Season at home in the Oshkosh Arena against the Cleveland Charge on November 8.

Side note: it may not actually be called the Oshkosh Arena by then, as since the Menominee Nation decided not to continue paying for the naming rights the arena is only sporting its current name until it can find a new sponsor. But, regardless, Herd basketball is coming back to Oshkosh!

Wisconsin's first 12 games are part of the Showcase Cup, all against 6 regional opponents before a single elimination tournament during the Winter Showcase, which is slated to take place between December 19-22.

Those six teams are the Charge, Motor City Cruise, Fort Wayne Mad Ants, Windy City Bulls, Grand Rapids Gold, and Iowa Wolves. Outside of the Charge games, the Herd play those teams twice in a row in the same city as part of the Cup.

The G League has featured midseason tournaments previously, including in 2019 when the Herd were one of the four teams competing in that year’s Showcase tournament. This is doubtlessly the NBA testing tournament formats as it often does with rules changes as the league explores the idea of a midseason tournament at the higher level.

The Herd has games against those regional teams as part of the more typical schedule in the new year (after the tournament ends) too, and as a result there are NO games against Western Conference teams or the Ignite team scheduled, which is a departure from years past.

It’s especially disappointing to not see the Ignite team on the schedule, as the G League continues to procure top talent. I’m guessing there are some obvious financial reasons for the more localized schedules, as it probably doesn’t hurt that travel for each team will be cheaper if they’re not going across the country, given the much slimmer margins on the G League level.

Here's the full Herd schedule, for your own perusal.