MVC Commissioner Doug Elgin's scheduling mandate

[Da Coach]

http://www.pjstar.com/bradleyhoops/x1381731356/Wessler-Scheduling-mandate-from-MVC-Toughen-up-buttercup

Elgin used the Valley??™s annual basketball Media Day on Tuesday to announce a new scheduling mandate. Beginning next season, each team will be required to enter a multi-team event during the nonconference season. Many such events, usually played on neutral courts, annually provide opportunities to play one or more games against teams from the six BCS conferences. But not all.

So, Elgin said, unspecified financial incentives will be offered for MVC schools to enter such events that include teams ranked in the top 50.

I think it's funny to have an entire discussion by our conference commissioner about poor scheduling, and a full article by the pjs, and not a single mention of the worst offender in the league. The article mentions Missouri State and Wichita State because they were the 2 teams that were hurt most last year by the lack of "signature wins".
But why not point out the single worst offender of this policy of poor scheduling for the sole purpose of playing cupcakes and getting easy wins on their home court. Illinois State's woeful scheduling cost them (and the MVC) a chance at an NCAA bid for 3 straight years (2007, 2008, and 2009).
Last year (2010-2011) on their home court they hosted something called the Global Sports Roundball Classic in which ISU piled up 3 easy wins over South Dakota, Louisiana-Monroe, and Jacksonville State.
In 2009-2010 they hosted something called the Basketball Travelers Classic on their home court, in which they piled up 3 easy wins over low-RPI teams Norfolk State, SEMO, and St. Bonaventure.
And in 2008-2009 they hosted the World Vision Invitational on their home court. The piled up 3 easy wins over Nicholls State, Winston-Salem State, and UC Santa Barbara.
Finally, this year's home schedule does not feature a similar easy home court "tournament", but their home schedule does consist of such less-than-challenging opponents as SIU-E, Lipscomb, Bethune-Cookman, Chicago State, UNC-W, Norfolk State, and Arkansas Little-Rock. They at least abandoned the "Cupcake Invitational" and did get themselves into a legitimate tournament on a neutral court for the first time in years.

[TheAsianSensation]

Well it's a case of awareness. People might not realize WSU or MSU hurt themselves last year. While everyone and their mother is aware of ISU by now

I'm worried that some schools might take the easy way out with this mandate. There's a back door. Also, I'm worried because not every team ends up in a non-con tournament every year, and part of it is just not being able to find one to get invited to or enter. To force everyone to play one could lead to a scenario where a team can't find one and is forced to go the ISU route.

Remember the tournament in Massachusetts a couple years ago that was a mess? If that had fallen apart, then Bradley either has to scramble to invite 3 scrubs at home or face a penalty?

[tornado]

Winston Salem isn't even D-I, SIUE was in their Provisional D-I process and is will only now be a full D-I member eligible for post-season play this season (2011-2012), same with South Dakota - still Provisional D-I, and back in 2009 when they hosted St. Bonaventure...the Bonnies were seriously contemplating dropping to D-II..

but unfortunately the ISU folks will probably interpret Doug Elgin's mandate to enter an exempt tournament each year as encouragement to keep hosting those ridiculous Basketball Travelers Travesties.

[LittleBrave]

While everyone and their mother is aware of ISU by now

And everyone's grandmother's dog

[Da Coach]

Apparently not the Comissioner.

[TheGuy]

I'll have to admit. As an ISU fan, Jank looked like a deer in headlights as his panel was talking about strong scheduling yesterday. I think because of school complaints Elgin had to take away the 150 RPI rule. Valley schools wanted to make cash by scheduling more home games. He is slowly doing everything he can to get teams to continue to schedule better. Last year the RPI (or SOS) tiebreaker was put into place because of us and this year its the preseason tournies. We are supposedly working on joining a similar tournament for next season.

This is definitely a good thing for the valley, but I fear that this is where it will end with ISU. We will schedule a good tourney and then the rest cupcakes.

[Bravesfan]

Winston Salem isn't even D-I, SIUE was in their Provisional D-I process and is will only now be a full D-I member eligible for post-season play this season (2011-2012), same with South Dakota - still Provisional D-I, and back in 2009 when they hosted St. Bonaventure...the Bonnies were seriously contemplating dropping to D-II..

but unfortunately the ISU folks will probably interpret Doug Elgin's mandate to enter an exempt tournament each year as encouragement to keep hosting those ridiculous Basketball Travelers Travesties.

Well Elgin did mention he's looking for tourneys containing top 50 teams. But I agree that certain teams will purposely look for tourneys to enter that will contain nothing but cupcakes. Well, I guess that means ISU doesn't need the money!

[shaunguth]

Well Elgin did mention he's looking for tourneys containing top 50 teams. But I agree that certain teams will purposely look for tourneys to enter that will contain nothing but cupcakes. Well, I guess that means ISU doesn't need the money!

Exactly. I'm not sure how this "mandate" helps with scheduling at all. We've seen the tournaments isu has been involved in with Jank as coach.

[Bravesfan]

I'll have to admit. As an ISU fan, Jank looked like a deer in headlights as his panel was talking about strong scheduling yesterday. I think because of school complaints Elgin had to take away the 150 RPI rule. Valley schools wanted to make cash by scheduling more home games. He is slowly doing everything he can to get teams to continue to schedule better. Last year the RPI (or SOS) tiebreaker was put into place because of us and this year its the preseason tournies. We are supposedly working on joining a similar tournament for next season.

This is definitely a good thing for the valley, but I fear that this is where it will end with ISU. We will schedule a good tourney and then the rest cupcakes.

That's a good point TG regarding Valley schools wanting to make cash by scheduling more home games. The problem is we are not nearly as good at the Big Ten or the ACC and really can't get away doing this. Scheduling creme puff RPI teams at home not only hurts home attendance, but it hurts the conference RPI as a whole, as well. When the time comes that the Valley can field four or five NCAA Tournament teams per year is the only time scheduling more home games will work.

[shaunguth]

Scheduling creme puff RPI teams at home not only hurts home attendance, but it hurts the conference RPI as a whole, as well.

It sure doesn't seem that isu cares much about any of that.

[electricmayhem]

This is a recent development by the Valley, as when I interviewed Elgin just two months ago, here's what he had to say on the topic - sorry for the length - you can read the rest of the article here:

JB: Valley teams in recent years have played relatively weak non-conference schedules. Not only does this hurt the league by potentially dragging down the conference RPI, but it fails to provide Valley teams with experience against high-quality opponents. Has there been any thought to reinstating the mandate on scheduling based on previous season RPI, or any other factor?

DE: We had significant discussion about our non-conference strength-of-schedule at our head men??™s basketball coaches meeting and at our spring meetings with athletics directors and presidents, and what came out of those meetings is encouraging.

I think our people understand that they simply have to prove they are worthy of an NCAA Tournament at-large bid, and they cannot accomplish that without playing strong non-conference schedules. Our teams have to be better than teams from higher-profile leagues, and the best way to make that point it is to schedule strategically. We have a commitment from our coaches and ADs that they will do everything possible to participate in high-quality multi-team events (MTEs). These early-season tournaments provide the best opportunity to play NCAA Tournament-caliber teams at neutral sites.

Our coaches also understand that playing teams with winning records and high RPIs is important, regardless of their conference affiliation. I am greatly encouraged by the commitment our teams are making to playing better schedules. We won??™t see significant progress unless we play stronger schedules ??“ and have success against those teams.

JB: The MAC recently announced that they will start paying bonuses to schools that schedule tougher opponents and win postseason games. If there isn??™t going to be a scheduling mandate, is this something the Valley will ever look at? Would the Valley ever consider creating a pool of money for scheduling that individual schools could petition for to use as a supplement to their bid to ???buy??? games against high-ranked opponents who wouldn??™t normally schedule Valley teams?

DE: In the past, the Missouri Valley did have a series of financial penalties in place that shaped the scheduling strategies of league teams. Whether those policies had much to do with the rise of the MVC in the mid-2000s is irrelevant ??“ what mattered was that we had continuity among our head coaches and they built programs and took some risks in their non-conference scheduling. I happen to believe that the scheduling policies were important in leading our coaches and ADs to scheduling with a more discerning eye. We understood that taking risks in ???scheduling up??™ was essential to having any chance of earning at-large NCAA Tournament bids.

As we prepare to begin the 2011-12 season, we do not currently have any scheduling policies in place, but we do have a strong commitment from our membership to take the necessary steps to strengthen our non-conference schedules. We have greater continuity among our coaching staffs than we had 3-4 years ago, and there is a realization that the climate in Division I scheduling has changed. Our teams need to play in quality early-season tournaments ??“ we??™ve proven through the years that our teams can beat just about any opponents on neutral courts. And while it has become increasingly difficult for our better teams to get regular season home-and-home series with opponents in the top six leagues, we are seeing our coaches and administrators scheduling series against strong top-75 RPI teams from peer leagues like the Atlantic 10, the Horizon, the West Coast Conference, and the CAA. Just as importantly, we have committed to playing fewer bottom-100 RPI teams. I truly believe that these scheduling strategies will put our better teams in position to command consideration for at-large NCAA Tournament berths.

[MVCfans]

On The MVC Report I offered an alternative idea to the financial incentives discussed by Elgin - just give the earmarked money to the best schools to buy better games or incentivize home-home or neutral sites games with BCS teams. If we want a radically different result from the one bid years, I propose a radical approach. Set aside 5-10% of the NCAA payout each year and make an investment in upgrading schedules which should pay off in the long run.

[tornado]

not Valley - but here's another mid-major, Murray State, that suddenly finds themselves unable to schedule...nobody wants to play them....

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/58372/3-point-shot-bring-nit-to-final-four-site