ISU's schedule hurts the Valley again

[electricmayhem]

Seriously? Does this have to happen every year?

11/14/10 vs. SIU Edwardsville - 2009-10 RPI = 322
11/17/10 vs. Tennessee State - RPI = 260
11/21/10 at Arkansas-Little Rock - RPI = 300
11/26/10 vs. South Dakota - RPI = 215
11/27/10 vs. Louisiana-Monroe - RPI = 276
11/28/10 vs. Jacksonville State - RPI = 297
12/01/10 vs. UNLV - RPI = 50
12/04/10 vs. Montana State - RPI = 202
12/08/10 vs. Ohio - RPI = 92
12/11/10 vs. UIC - RPI = 289
12/20/10 at UNC-Wilmington - RPI = 236

Their only two road games are at teams that were a combined 17-44 last year. Pathetic.

[TheAsianSensation]

It's to the point where I'm too bored to point out the flaws in the schedule. You almost have to congratulate them for avoiding a SWAC school at this point. @Ark-LR is a stupid game, @UNCW is a stupid game (if you're going to schedule a CAA school, schedule a good one), UIC is a stupid game (if you're going to schedule a Horizon school, schedule one of the good ones), their 3-game tourney is stupid, scheduling a MAC team when the conference is floundering is iffy, even if it's Ohio, SIUE will drag them down, Jacksonville St and Tenn St are in conferences that destroy your SoS, La-Monroe is stupid because you might as well get a decent Sun Belt team instead, Montana St isn't as stupid as it is as much irrelevant, and UNLV is scheduled for you.

In 10 games they scheduled for themselves, I count 8 utterly stupid games, 1 irrelevant game (Montana St), and 1 marginal game (Ohio). (I define stupid as definite games against teams on the wrong side of RPI Top 200. Think Montana St will slip into the Top 200 and the upper division of the Big Sky) I'm being very harsh yet again, but I can't begin to tell everyone how ridiculous this is. Kudos to Redbird fans, because they're almost universally calling out Jank on this, as they should. They shouldn't be subjected to this crap.

[SFP]

Wow and we complain about BU schedules. I hope that there is a 5 way tie for 5th place and they end up playing on Thursday. Pitiful!

[TheAsianSensation]

The heck with the league...stabbing your own fan base in the back with this schedule is heinous enough as is.

[OrangeandBlack74]

Can someone please compare this with BU's schedule (even though it's not yet complete)? I know we have the tougher schedule, but it would be a nice visual representation of the vast difference between the 2 schools.

[JMM28]

Can someone please compare this with BU's schedule (even though it's not yet complete)? I know we have the tougher schedule, but it would be a nice visual representation of the vast difference between the 2 schools.

Well, it could be really pretty easy.


Duke > An allstar team made up of the best players from every single team ISU plays non-con.

[LittleBrave]

I'm going to start a thread about each Valley school and a breakdown of their non conf. opponents' R.P.I., starting with BU & CU. Of course last year's RPI is not going to determine how each team will be this season, but it's the quickest and easiest way to go for me.
Wait for it...

[saluki762]

MVC Illinois schools only

Southern Illinois
Nov. 13 @ Illinois 74
Nov. 16 vs. Northeastern 75
Nov. 21 vs. Austin Peay 162
Nov. 23 vs. Charleston Southern 285
Nov. 26 vs. Purdue (Chicago) 16
Nov. 27 vs. Wright State/Richmond (Chicago) 80/25
Dec. 1 vs. New Mexico 10
Dec. 4 @ Chicago State 345
Dec. 8 vs. SEMO 312
Dec. 11 @ Western Kentucky 132
Dec. 22 vs. Northern Illinois 261

Average non-con opponent RPI based on last year assuming Wright State = 159
Average non-con opponent RPI based on last year assuming Richmond = 154

Illinois State
11/14/10 vs. SIU Edwardsville - 2009-10 RPI = 322
11/17/10 vs. Tennessee State - RPI = 260
11/21/10 at Arkansas-Little Rock - RPI = 300
11/26/10 vs. South Dakota - RPI = 215
11/27/10 vs. Louisiana-Monroe - RPI = 276
11/28/10 vs. Jacksonville State - RPI = 297
12/01/10 vs. UNLV - RPI = 50
12/04/10 vs. Montana State - RPI = 202
12/08/10 vs. Ohio - RPI = 92
12/11/10 vs. UIC - RPI = 289
12/20/10 at UNC-Wilmington - RPI = 236

Average non-con opponent RPI based on last year = 230

Bradley
11/16 vs. Northern Illinois 261
11/17 vs. Loyola Marymount 175
11/20 vs. USC 112
11/21 vs. Massachusetts/New Mexico State 181/51
11/24 vs. Eastern Illinois 169
11/30 @ Western Carolina 122
12/04 vs. Utah 157
12/08 @ Duke 3
12/20 vs. Jackson State 199
12/22 vs. Detroit 167
*not complete schedule

Average non-con opponent RPI based on last year assuming Massachusetts = 154
Average non-con opponent RPI based on last year assuming New Mexico State = 141

Games vs. Top 50 RPI
Southern Illinois = 2 or 3
Illinois State = 1
Bradley = 1

Games vs. Top 100 RPI
Southern Illinois = 5
Illinois State = 2
Bradley = 1 or 2

Games vs. Over 300 RPI
Southern Illinois = 2
Illinois State = 2
Bradley = 0

As of right now SIU has the most quality opponents (Top 100 RPI). Bradley has the best overall quality of opponents (Ave. RPI). Illinois State is a drag once again.

How many more games can/is Bradley looking to add? What kind of games do you guys think you are looking at? Your schedule appears solid as long as you do not add any 300+ teams to fill the schedule. That is what is truly killing SIU this year.

[TheAsianSensation]

I'm going to start a thread about each Valley school and a breakdown of their non conf. opponents' R.P.I., starting with BU & CU. Of course last year's RPI is not going to determine how each team will be this season, but it's the quickest and easiest way to go for me.
Wait for it...

You stole my idea. Did it last year

[saluki762]

Thanks for the stats

Bradley has a return home game against Northern Illinois (261) to start the season on Nov 16 that will drag down those numbers

Thanks, can't believe I missed that. I fixed it now.

[TheAsianSensation]

I actually like what SIU did. They could've been better on the cupcake portion of the schedule, but they did a good job filling the schedule with medium-tier opponents who will bolster the SoS.

Illinois St is supposed to be in the Cancun tournament next year, right? If so, here's this year's field as a comparison:

Northeastern vs. Saint Louis
Southern Miss vs. East Tennessee State
Ole Miss vs. Texas State
Colorado State vs. Appalachian State

If that's the caliber of opponent you're PEAKING for, that's a problem. That's a tournament that should be supplamental for the SoS, not the dominating force of the SoS.

[LittleBrave]

You stole my idea. Did it last year

I couldn't top your thorough & brilliant analysis last year, TAS!
Feel free to add to my thread, start a new one, or tear my down.
I'm just too eager to start the college hoops season, I gotta' do somethin'!

[wizard1]

ISU Schedule

The ISU schedule was obviously done by their coach and is an excellent example of why scheduling should be controlled by the Ath. Dir., IMO. I have been saying this for many years.

Many coaches are very self serving and schedule cupcakes to add wins to their records with little regard to their fans, players, conference, etc. Because of this, coaches should not have 100% control of the schedule. Scheduling should be done jointly by the coach and AD and the final schedule should ALWAYS be approved by the AD.

[tornado]

agree -- but I think the Detroit game should be a good one - they should be a top 100 team this year

[Nacho]

Illinois St is supposed to be in the Cancun tournament next year, right? If so, here's this year's field as a comparison:

Northeastern vs. Saint Louis
Southern Miss vs. East Tennessee State
Ole Miss vs. Texas State
Colorado State vs. Appalachian State

If that's the caliber of opponent you're PEAKING for, that's a problem. That's a tournament that should be supplamental for the SoS, not the dominating force of the SoS.

Jank has said that it is his understanding that U of I will be in the field, who should be better then any other team that is in it this year, along with "a couple of other BCS teams"...

Either way it is going to be a huge improvment over the crap that will play this year and the last 2 years...