2023-24 Concordia Men’s Basketball Schedule
SEWARD, Neb. – A new season of Concordia University Men’s Basketball has a launch date. The 2023-24 Bulldogs will tip off their first official contest at the 24th annual Cattle Classic as part of a 28 slate of 28 varsity regular season games. Highlights outside of league action include home games against two fellow 2023 NAIA national qualifiers, a pre-Christmas trip to Hawaii and the 71st Concordia Invitational Tournament in Mequon, Wis. The upcoming season will mark Ben Limback’s 11th as the program’s head coach. As of the initial schedule release on June 1, the junior varsity schedule was still being finalized.
The Bulldogs are coming off a 2022-23 season that resulted in a national tournament bid and an 18-13 overall record. Concordia will bring back three of its four All-GPAC players from last season: Noah Schutte (first team), Brad Bennett (honorable mention) and Tristan Smith (honorable mention). The program’s second all-time leading rebounder, Gage Smith has used up his eligibility after five years as a Bulldog. As for Schutte, he’ll be one of the top returning players in the country.
The Cattle Classic will play out Nov. 3-4 and will put Concordia up against 2023 national qualifiers in Mayville State University (N.D.) and William Penn University (Iowa). William Penn reached the national round of 16 this past season as a No. 1 seed. Hastings will also be present for the Cattle Classic. Just before Christmas, the Bulldogs will be headed to Hilo, Hawaii, for the Hawaii Big Island Classic (Dec. 18-19) with opponents to be determined. In other nonconference action, Concordia will have road trips to Benedictine College (Kan.) (Nov. 11) and to St. Ambrose University (Iowa) (Nov. 25). CIT at Concordia Wisconsin is slated for Jan. 26-27, 2024.
Per usual, the GPAC slate gets started in mid-November. The Bulldogs will begin conference play by hosting Morningside (2022-23 co-GPAC regular season champion) on Nov. 15. The GPAC put both Jamestown and Morningside in the NAIA national round of 16 this past March. The regular season will wrap up at home with clashes against in-state foes Hastings and Midland during the final week. Dates for the 2024 GPAC tournament are Feb. 28 for the quarterfinals, March 2 for the semifinals and March 5 for the championship game. NAIA national tournament action is slated for March 15-16 for the first/second rounds and March 21-26 for play in Kansas City, Mo., at the final site.