Wichita State releases their non-conference schedule

[Da Coach]

Wichita State has released their non-conference schedule for 2007-2008. The only team they are scheduled to face that was a postseason team last year, is Appalachian State, which was drummed out of the NIT in the first round by Mississippi. The Appalachian State game is Wichita's payback for last year's Bracket Buster game, in which Appalachian State knocked off Wichita in Wichita's Koch Arena.

Wichita State plays in the Paradise Jam tournament in St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands. There are 3 NCAA teams playing in the 8 team tournament (Georgia Tech, Notre Dame, and Winthrop) and Wichita could possibly meet one of those teams in the tournament.

New coach Greg Marshall said--
???‚¬?“This is a very attractive home schedule, and a very, very competitive overall schedule,???‚¬?? Marshall said. ???‚¬?“As a head coach, I???‚¬?„?ve never had this many home games, and with UAB, Wyoming and LSU coming here it is very attractive for Shocker fans."

IMO, this is a lousy nonconf schedule, with very little there to boost WSU's RPI or help the MVC. Anyone who wasn't satisfied with Bradley's schedule, I'd like to know how this looks to you.

http://www.goshockers.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=7500&ATCLID=926972

Pdf version of schedule--

http://www.goshockers.com/pdf7/79003.pdf?ATCLID=926972&SPSID=61179&SPID=2851&DB_OEM_ID=7500

2007-08 Wichita State Men???‚¬?„?s Basketball
Tentative Schedule (6/21/07)
Day.....Date....Opponent.......................... .....Location....Time
SAT....NOV. 3..ARKANSAS TECH (Exhibition).....WICHITA...7:05 p.m.
THURS.NOV.8...PITTSBURG STATE (Exhibition)..WICHITA 7:05 p.m.
TUES. NOV.13..ARKANSAS PINE BLUFF.............WICHITA 7:05 p.m.
Fri-Mon. Nov. 16-19..Paradise Jam Tournament..St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
Fri. Nov. 16 vs...Baylor....................................... .......5 p.m.
Sat or Sun. Nov. 17 or 18 vs. Notre Dame or Monmouth 7:30 p.m.
Mon. Nov. 19 vs. Ga Tech, Charlotte, Ill-Chicago or Winthrop Noon, 2:30, 5:00 or 7:30 p.m.
SAT..NOV. 24...WYOMING.............................WICHITA 7:05 p.m.
Wed. Nov. 28...at Appalachian State..............Boone, N.C. 7:05 p.m.
TUES. DEC. 4...MARYLAND BALTIMORE COUNTY.WICHITA 7:05 p.m.
FRI. DEC. 7.....TEXAS-ARLINGTON..................WICHITA 7:05 p.m.
Sat. Dec. 15...at UMKC................................KC, Mo... 7:05 p.m.
WED. DEC. 19...LSU....................................WICHIT A 7:05 p.m.
SAT. DEC. 22...UAB....................................WICHIT A 7:05 p.m.
Fri-Sun. Feb. 22, 23, or 24 O???‚¬?„?Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters tba tba

[tornado]

Wichjita State took some heat last year because of the guarantee game they took at Syracuse.
But they got over $80,000 paid to them and it was
THE ONLY non-conference game that ended up helping their RPI much.
They ended the season with an RPI of 100, and no other non-conference team they beat was significantly better than that, except Syracuse (50).

I agree that this year's schedule is weak.

Of course they had no choice in a couple of the games like Appalachian St., LSU, and Wyoming, but to go out and get Arkansas Pine Bluff, Maryland-Baltimore Co., Texas-Arlington, and UMKC are really going to submarine their RPI.

[meth]

Isn't it typical in a coach's first year to try scheduling soft, so he doesn't go 0-26?

[PTTB]

I agree that this year's schedule is weak.

Of course they had no choice in a couple of the games like Appalachian St., LSU, and Wyoming, but to go out and get Arkansas Pine Bluff, Maryland-Baltimore Co., Texas-Arlington, and UMKC are really going to submarine their RPI.

It looks like UMKC has been a home and home series since 2004-05. He may not have had much to do with that one. Pine Bluff, UMBC, and Texas-Arlington are some pretty low level buy-in games though.

[smitty]

If I was a season ticket holder for Wichita, I would demand a partial refund. That home schedule is lousy. Their fans will not see any teams that were in the NCAA or NIT last year, and LSU at 91 is the only team with an RPI less than 120. Here are last year's records and RPIs.
At home they play:
Arkansas Tech 6-21 (ex.-division 2)
Pittsburgh St. 18-13 (ex.-division 2)
Ark. Pine Bluff 12-19 RPI-267
Wyoming 17-15 RPI-121
MD Baltimore Cty. 12-19 RPI-214
Texas-Arlington 13-17 RPI-253
LSU 17-15 RPI-91
UAB 15-16 RPI-134

The road games:
Appalachian State 22-7 RPI-62 NIT team
UMKC 11-19 RPI-257
Baylor 14-16 RPI-141
They do have a chance to play a good team if things fall the right way in their tournament, but they have just a much chance to play a couple more bad teams:
Monmouth was RPI-259,
UIC was RPI-159,
Charlotte was RPI-146.

The fans will really be looking forward to the conference season.

[BUBraves06]

There definately are some cream-puffs in there, they better hope for a tough draw in the Paradise Jam to boost their RPI.

[TheAsianSensation]

They better pray they do something relevant in the Paradise Jam tournament.

I would think UAB is good enough to be better than 15-16 this year. App St as the only true roadie...and UMKC just hurts, period.