Plenty of chances to beef up sched

[squirrelgotdead]

This I can agree w/ you on as this is how Gonzaga got started...


Go out and beat teams and you will build the resume to get better games.

I subscribe to this philosophy generally.

However, with a 96-team tournament, Valley teams are going to be forced to make a decision: Adopt the BCS cupcake mentality or maintain their generally balanced, tough-leaning practices.

Part of the reason Valley teams schedules have weakened is the flooding of DI with new programs. The more DI teams there are, the more the fat cats can feast at home. Valley teams will also have the luxury of doing this.

What will ultimately be more important in a 96-team tournament environment: Winning more, or better schedules? I tend to think winning more will be more important, honestly. But I don't claim that is the answer, the answer may not be clear for a couple years.

If there is a 96-team tourney, I really don't think Bradley ever needs to play a road game unless its a can't-miss opportunity.

[SaintLouBrave22]

I subscribe to this philosophy generally.

However, with a 96-team tournament, Valley teams are going to be forced to make a decision: Adopt the BCS cupcake mentality or maintain their generally balanced, tough-leaning practices.

Part of the reason Valley teams schedules have weakened is the flooding of DI with new programs. The more DI teams there are, the more the fat cats can feast at home. Valley teams will also have the luxury of doing this.

What will ultimately be more important in a 96-team tournament environment: Winning more, or better schedules? I tend to think winning more will be more important, honestly. But I don't claim that is the answer, the answer may not be clear for a couple years.

If there is a 96-team tourney, I really don't think Bradley ever needs to play a road game unless its a can't-miss opportunity.

Then why not go with the BB philosophy through your entire schedule, and schedule games vs power mids like Colonial, A10, and Conf. USA schools?

[squirrelgotdead]

Then why not go with the BB philosophy through your entire schedule, and schedule games vs power mids like Colonial, A10, and Conf. USA schools?

Well, I think that may be a key part of what needs to happen. I would hope if there is ultimately going to be a split of DI, the Valley may need to be involved in some kind of exclusivity arrangement schedule-wise with a league like CUSA or A-10 so that they still do get some names on the schedule and still go on the road and get quality home teams.

[jeffsu]

I love this one...

H/H against the quality powerhouse of Davidson College. Play in the same gym as Wildcat great Stephen Curry. 09-10 RPI of 200 or worse. Serious offers only.

[SFP]

We should try and schedule like minded mid-majors who usually are around the RPI 100 range or better. We tried to schedule St. Mary's this year but it did not work out. That would have been a great game for us. Let's schedule the the ODU's, Temple, Dayton and any other mid-major that has pride in their program because chances are they will have decent teams that will not hurt our RPI and resume. If we can by luck get another Mich St team to come to Carver fantastic but if there is something we learned from this year's NCAA is that there are some great teams that play at the mid-major level and we all have to take advantage of this fact, because true NCAA basketball fans know this, and if someone puts some PR and marketing money behind it I believe the revenue and notoriety will follow.

Temple in the 80s and 90s did this and Gonzaga also to some extent did the same.

[Bravesfan]

personal contacts between AD's and coaches who are friends might just be the reasons for the few exceptions...but they are the exceptions..

and...MOST of your examples are not actually examples at all...

ODU played Missouri & Mississippi State at a neutral site in a tournament and they weren't at responsible for scheduling those games...
Same for BU playing Illinois, and some of the others...

..and the ODU game at Georgetown is part of a long running deal where ODU also plays at Georgetown in 2007 and again this year...but actually got a home game from Georgetown in 2007-2008...so it's a 2 for 3 like we did with Iowa State and Michigan State.

And Siena's game at Georgia Tech is kinda exactly what I am saying....as Siena although strong, are NOT from a solid mid-major conference...
I'd buy that it's an example if it's UNI getting to Georgia Tech...

But even if you search hard and find a couple of exceptions, then you've made my point in spades...
such examples of a top BCS wanting under any circumstances to play a Bradley or a Wichita State are very few and far between...
and when it happens, even like when BU beats Illinois in Las Vegas...
then YOU CAN BET it isn't going to happen again soon....as there are plenty of people still grumbling over in Champaign about that one!!

Thanks. Understood and agreed with your analysis tornado. It would be tough to even get that 2 for 1 type of setup we had with Michigan St. and Iowa St. Kudos to Les for even getting those two series done. If he can find another 2 for 1 against a BCS school, that would be even greater, but unlikely it will happen.

Just to clarify, I did mention on my previous post that ODU played Missouri and Mississippi St. on a neutral court. I was only talking about their game against Georgetown, which you clarified. Just stating it for the record.

[JMM28]

There is one big problem with doing guarantee games and 2 for 1. The next BCS school you approach for a home-home says "Welp you did a 2 for 1 with X State school". You pigeon hole yourself into never being able to do a true home and home with a top school. I think it even screws you on the high level mid major (Gonzaga, Butler now, xavier, etc.)

Although I highly agree with doing it with a top 10 school like Michigan State, I highly disagree doing it with a low level Iowa State.

And everything I have ever heard says personal contacts are useless in scheduling. Just because, hypothetically, Bill Self and Jim Les are best buds, doesn't mean Bill wants BU coming in to beat them down in Lawrence.

[Bravesfan]

There is one big problem with doing guarantee games and 2 for 1. The next BCS school you approach for a home-home says "Welp you did a 2 for 1 with X State school". You pigeon hole yourself into never being able to do a true home and home with a top school. I think it even screws you on the high level mid major (Gonzaga, Butler now, xavier, etc.)

Although I highly agree with doing it with a top 10 school like Michigan State, I highly disagree doing it with a low level Iowa State.

And everything I have ever heard says personal contacts are useless in scheduling. Just because, hypothetically, Bill Self and Jim Les are best buds, doesn't mean Bill wants BU coming in to beat them down in Lawrence.

Good points. I agree that 2 for 1's should not be done all the time, except against the right teams.

We used to have several "1 for 1's" with Butler. I'm just wondering if we would ever be able to get back to that now that they are playing at such an elite level.

[tornado]

In an interview today, ISU's Tim Jankovich says it is the LEAGUE who doesn't want any of their members to schedule "guarantee games"...
and he also talks of how hard it is to schedule and how nobody wants to play them,
so they just take the softies and this fall they're hoping someone is "desperate"!!!

there's also some words on Osiris Eldridge...it's a nice interview.....

Here's some of his statement...
"The one thing our league agrees with us is that we should never play a
guarantee game. In other words, we’ll let a school buy us and we’ll play
there. Why would you do that? What you want to do is get that team to play
at home in your building.

..We have not found anyone willing to do that. We have a little strategy
though for next season: we’re going to leave a game open to sometime this
fall and hope someone is desperate. So it may or may not work.

Another way is to try to get into a certain tournament. But you have to be
careful those don’t backfire. This past year wasn’t a good time because we
were so young. We weren’t ready to go play Kentucky or Duke on a neutral
site. We are working now to get into one of those tournaments.

Scheduling is nothing more than calling someday and saying, ‘do you want to
play?’ We have called I don’t know how many people and they laugh at us
and say, ‘we’re not going to do that.’ And of course you’re not. What they do
is buy a bunch of guarantee games and play others like them. That’s what
they do. That’s what I would do. I’m not mad at anybody. It’s the nature of
the beast."

In the interview, Jank also says his coaching philosophy with Osiris was to just cut him loose and let him take any shot he wanted...
"And I did make a decision when I started coaching him, the team we
inherited had trouble scoring .. and I felt like he needed a lot of freedom to
help us. That was the choice I made. ...We kind of continued to give him
freedom. I just had a trust in him ....even though he’d make questionable
plays."

Even Eldridge agrees that was the plan...
"..A lot of coaches wouldn’t put up with some of the shots I took sometimes.
There were plenty of times where I heard him say, ‘no, no,’ and then the
shot went in. I guess that’s the type of player that I am. He understood
that. He had real good patience to put up with that."

http://bit.ly/cNwpDm

[amckillip]

Another way is to try to get into a certain tournament. But you have to be
careful those don’t backfire. This past year wasn’t a good time because we
were so young. We weren’t ready to go play Kentucky or Duke on a neutral
site. We are working now to get into one of those tournaments.

>>>

In the interview, Jank also says his coaching philosophy with Osiris was to just cut him loose and let him take any shot he wanted...
"And I did make a decision when I started coaching him, the team we
inherited had trouble scoring .. and I felt like he needed a lot of freedom to
help us. That was the choice I made. ...We kind of continued to give him
freedom. I just had a trust in him ....even though he’d make questionable
plays."

Even Eldridge agrees that was the plan...
"..A lot of coaches wouldn’t put up with some of the shots I took sometimes.
There were plenty of times where I heard him say, ‘no, no,’ and then the
shot went in. I guess that’s the type of player that I am. He understood
that. He had real good patience to put up with that."
http://bit.ly/cNwpDm

Two things, ILSU wasn't that young this year. And if being young was the excuse for bad scheduling this year, what was the excuse for the year before that? And the year before that?

And the bit about Jank just letting King O take whatever shot he wanted was pretty clear, and pretty much meant that if he was having a bad shooting night ILSU didn't have much of a chance of winning against any sort of real team. I don't really call that coaching though, that's really just collecting a paycheck...

[Bravesfan]

Two things, ILSU wasn't that young this year. And if being young was the excuse for bad scheduling this year, what was the excuse for the year before that? And the year before that?

And the bit about Jank just letting King O take whatever shot he wanted was pretty clear, and pretty much meant that if he was having a bad shooting night ILSU didn't have much of a chance of winning against any sort of real team. I don't really call that coaching though, that's really just collecting a paycheck...

Yeah that was a bit strange coming from Jank. But a lot of BCS coaches do the same thing (ie: Calipari), but when you do that, if their best shooter has an off night, then the whole team is in trouble.

Also, yes, no more excuses. They need to try to get in a real tournament for a change. But better yet, if they are not going to go after good teams, at least stop settling for seven or eight sub 300 RPI teams a year! That's embarrassing to the Valley, and I don't think that was meant as a substitute for not going after guarantee games! At least if ISU tries to schedule an Ohio or Drexel that would be a huge improvement as to what they are doing now!

[SaintLouBrave22]

Two things, ILSU wasn't that young this year. And if being young was the excuse for bad scheduling this year, what was the excuse for the year before that? And the year before that?

And the bit about Jank just letting King O take whatever shot he wanted was pretty clear, and pretty much meant that if he was having a bad shooting night ILSU didn't have much of a chance of winning against any sort of real team. I don't really call that coaching though, that's really just collecting a paycheck...

If thats the case, then how would you judge Joe Torre (when there) or Joe Girardi in NY?