Email from Doug Elgin

[tornado]

I just received an e mail from Mr. Doug Elgin, Commissioner of the Missouri Valley.

I have occasionally sent e mails to Mr. Elgin praising the job he does, and thanking him (as I did last March regarding the MVC Tourney) for all the hard work he and his entire staff do.

I have received brief replies before, but this time a got a nice personal e mail (unsolicited) from him.

He thanked me for the support, and since I had told him of the BradleyFans web site, he also said he'd be checking out www.BradleyFans.com to see what the fans of the Braves are saying.
He also said he's excited about the start of another new season and asked:
"Are you ready for tipping off another season?"

Nice that he'd take the time to send the e mail, let me again state that I really appreciate the job he is doing for the Valley!

[Average Joe]

Doug Elgin is a good guy.
More people know who the Commissioner of the Missouri Valley is than know who the Commissioner of the Big Ten is!

[Fastbreak]

Not only is Doug Elgin great guy but he's done a terrific job with the MVC, and here is the proof.
ESPN names him one of the most influential people in college basketball.
He is the ONLY conference commissioner so named.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/news/story?id=2622609

[BUBraves06]

Doug has done an awesome job, and that's a really class move re: the email.

[chitownBUB]

There's a great story and interview with Doug Elgin on cstv.com

Here are a couple quotes:

"That notion that we have somehow outsmarted the system is a bunch of crap. ... It's easy to make those statements when you're not willing to back it up."

"Any major coach hiding behind that notion that we have cracked the code, tell that coach to come play our teams and see how overrated we are"

From there the article degenerates into a way lame discussion about the Mountain West maybe being this year's MVC.
But the whole thing simply doesn't hold water, as most of the Mountain West teams play gobs of cupcakes in their nonconference schedule.
They somehow have the wherewithall to list games against Northwestern, Washington State, Utah State, and Houston as their premier "out-of-conference slate".
They then use as proof of how good the MWC is, that in their past 7 years they have had 6 different league tournament champions. But they fail to mention NONE of them even won ONE game in the NCAA tourney!!

http://www.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/stories/102606aag.html

[Da Coach]

There is a thread about this article, and the fallacy that the Mountain West is copying the Valley's secret--

http://www.bradleyfans.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=4458

[tornado]

They can hoot all they want about one or two games against BCS teams in rebuilding years (like K-State and Washington State) but they will never get their teams to the Top 40 RPI level with the list of cupcakes like this that New Mexico has on their schedule.

Western New Mexico
Abilene Christian
Sacramento State
North Carolina A&T
Longwood
Charleston Southern
Alcorn State
Pepperdine
Binghamton

Just how many 300+ RPI teams did Bradley, Wichita State, or Missouri State pack into their schedule last year???
Answer............absolutely NONE...they didn't even have any opponents that were much over 150!!!

New Mexico apparently expects to get their RPI into the Top 40 with horrible opponents like that, which include at least 5 or 6 300+ RPI teams!!

Do these guys even have a clue what a tough schedule is????

[MacabreMob]

Just how many 300+ RPI teams did Bradley, Wichita State, or Missouri State pack into their schedule last year???
Answer............absolutely NONE...they didn't even have any opponents that were much over 150!!!

Just trying to help T.

Bradley vs in 05-06:
227 Chicago St
256 Bowling Green
246 S Miss

Wichita St vs in 05-06:
307 Texas Southern
330 Tx-Pan Am
185 San Fran
264 UMKC

Missouri St vs in 05-06:
229 Ark St
159 Georgia Southern
201 TxA&M-CC
178 Detroit
229 Ark St (again)

[Da Coach]

Bradley vs in 05-06:
227 Chicago St
256 Bowling Green
246 S Miss

In fairness, the Bowling Green and S Miss games were road games, and when they were scheduled, both those teams were much higher RPI teams. Sometimes efforts to play decent teams backfire when they turn bad. S Miss changed coaches and most of their better players left.

[MacabreMob]

Bradley vs in 05-06:
227 Chicago St
256 Bowling Green
246 S Miss

In fairness, the Bowling Green and S Miss games were road games, and when they were scheduled, both those teams were much higher RPI teams. Sometimes efforts to play decent teams backfire when they turn bad. S Miss changed coaches and most of their better players left.

DC - I understand scheduling can turn against you since you have to plan in advance. Plus the S Miss game was a 'scrambling' late deal because we had someone else in mind and it didn't work out.

BG's RPI for the past 4 seasons were (most recent listed first) 256, 107, 199, and 171. We made the 3 game series deal after their 171 season.

S Miss in the past 4 seasons were 246, 239, 123, and 149. With Larry already coaching and coming off an RPI of 239 in the 04-05 season is when we made the H/H series with them.

[Da Coach]

Understood MM, but my point was that unlike some of the Mountain West schools that have loaded their home schedules with pitifully poor teams to guarantee wins, the high-RPI teams Bradley played were on the road and were not scheduled for that same reason.
Bradley and most of the MVC teams have made a strong effort to avoid those numerous cupcakes that still show up on the schedules of the MWC teams. That's the MVC's "secret"! So, though the article suggests the MWC is trying to copy the MVC's formula for success, they have not really changed their scheduling ways much at all.

The result of the scheduling difference last year--
Though all 8 teams in the Mountain West Conference had 13 wins or more and the 8 teams combined for 137 total wins, Zero teams finished with an RPI better than 50, while a total of 6 MVC teams finished at RPI of better than 40.
The 8 teams in the MWC had about the same number of total wins (145 vs. 137) as the top 8 teams in the MVC, yet the RPI's (see the links below) were far better for the MVC teams. The difference was those woefully low RPI cupcakes which the MWC just can't seem to give up.
The difference is even more noticeable if you compare the Non-conference RPI's of both leagues--

http://www.kenpom.com/conf.php?c=MWC (Texas Christian will join the MWC this year)

http://www.kenpom.com/conf.php?c=MVC

[MacabreMob]

Understood MM, but my point was that unlike some of the Mountain West schools that have loaded their home schedules with pitifully poor teams to guarantee wins, the high-RPI teams Bradley played were on the road and were not scheduled for that same reason.
Bradley and most of the MVC teams have made a strong effort to avoid those numerous cupcakes that still show up on the schedules of the MWC teams. That's the MVC's "secret"! So, though the article suggests the MWC is trying to copy the MVC's formula for success, they have not really changed their scheduling ways much at all.

The result of the scheduling difference last year--
Though all 8 teams in the Mountain West Conference had 13 wins or more and the 8 teams combined for 137 total wins, Zero teams finished with an RPI better than 50, while a total of 6 MVC teams finished at RPI of better than 40.
The 8 teams in the MWC had about the same number of total wins (145 vs. 137) as the top 8 teams in the MVC, yet the RPI's (see the links below) were far better for the MVC teams. The difference was those woefully low RPI cupcakes which the MWC just can't seem to give up.
The difference is even more noticeable if you compare the Non-conference RPI's of both leagues--

http://www.kenpom.com/conf.php?c=MWC (Texas Christian will join the MWC this year)

http://www.kenpom.com/conf.php?c=MVC

I agree with everything you said DC.

Sorry I missed your point of the road games for Bradley (although they were against low RPI teams) - I see it clearly now.

Makes me chuckle when BCS fans and the drive-by media just don't understand how the MVC 'figured out' and 'manipulated' the formula.

Let me spell it out (for those in Rio Linda, CA... and Digger, Packer and even Gary Williams)...

PLAY AND WIN AGAINST GOOD TEAMS ON YOUR SCHEDULE.

All this talk about the RPI is starting to get me all hot and bothered and it isn't even November... let alone December when Sagarin's Rating gets 'connected' (what the heck is that all about, anyway.... past years has something to do with this year?).

[tornado]

Another article this morning quotes one of the Mountain West coaches as saying
"The league returns the most experience and the most talent it's ever seen. That makes this a powerful, powerful conference.
I think at least three teams will be in the NCAA Tournament. This could be a Missouri Valley-type year."

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,650202104,00.html