Schedule Hard

[peoriaspitfire]

We played five games this year against teams who were top twenty caliber at some point this season. We went 1-4, but at least we got the opportunity to play those games and I hope we continue to schedule hard (Duke, NC, Memphis, Kansas, etc.) and start wining our share of these games.

I know some people would like to play an easier schedule, but I like to see BU challenged. Before you respond, I do recognize that the Valley has been a big enough challenge for BU over the years. Do you think a harder non-conference schedule helps or hurts them come Valley time?

I hope BU??™s goal every year is to win the Valley and make the NCAA tournament!

Schedule Xavier too!

[IlliBraves]

We played five games this year against teams who were top twenty caliber at some point this season. We went 1-4, but at least we got the opportunity to play those games and I hope we continue to schedule hard (Duke, NC, Memphis, Kansas, etc.) and start wining our share of these games.

I know some people would like to play an easier schedule, but I like to see BU challenged. Before you respond, I do recognize that the Valley has been a big enough challenge for BU over the years. Do you think a harder non-conference schedule helps or hurts them come Valley time?

I hope BU??™s goal every year is to win the Valley and make the NCAA tournament!

Schedule Xavier too!

Normally, it would make us better. Look at what Davidson did. They played UNC, Duke, NC State, UCLA and Charlotte. They lost all of them, all in close contests, but when it came down to SoCon play, they finished with a record of 20-0. BU could've done the same but it seemed like there were too many distractions this year. I'd like to see BU consistently play teams from the Big East, ACC, etc.

[MacabreMob]

Schedule Xavier too!

I have always wanted to see them on our schedule!

[BU ICEMAN]

I think we can all agree that scheduling is easier said than done, right?

As a counterpoint, SIU did get a very aggressive non-con schedule this year and it didn't work out too well for them. It was high-risk, high-reward, and it didn't pan out. As far as the Davidson example, I think a team from the Southern Conference is going to have a heckuva easier time getting the "big boy BCSs" scheduled than any team from the Valley.

In fact, I think that Drake's success this year will actually make it even harder for Valley teams to schedule tougher teams from the BCS conferences. Our perennial doormat of the conference just came out of nowhere to storm the nation, are any of the BCSs going to risk it next year or in years to come? There's more risk for them in losing to us than us in losing to them; we're expected to lose, they're not. How else do you explain this year's Cincinatti team being called a "good win" for ISU?!?!?

[Beninator]

I have always wanted to see them on our schedule!

Same here. After the SPI, I would also like to see Vandy. But that will probably be tough to schedule after this year.

[Bravesfan]

I think we can all agree that scheduling is easier said than done, right?

As a counterpoint, SIU did get a very aggressive non-con schedule this year and it didn't work out too well for them. It was high-risk, high-reward, and it didn't pan out. As far as the Davidson example, I think a team from the Southern Conference is going to have a heckuva easier time getting the "big boy BCSs" scheduled than any team from the Valley.

In fact, I think that Drake's success this year will actually make it even harder for Valley teams to schedule tougher teams from the BCS conferences. Our perennial doormat of the conference just came out of nowhere to storm the nation, are any of the BCSs going to risk it next year or in years to come? There's more risk for them in losing to us than us in losing to them; we're expected to lose, they're not. How else do you explain this year's Cincinatti team being called a "good win" for ISU?!?!?

That's okay. There are plenty of like minded mid-majors that would be more than happy to schedule home and home series with us. I think teams like VCU, Valparaiso, Butler (already playing us), Kent St, Xavier, St. Joseph's, Murray St, St. Louis, Gonzaga (doubtful since BCS teams comprise most of their schedule), New Mexico, Air Force, Oral Roberts, Davidson, George Mason, Old Dominion, Winthrop and others from the MAC, MAAC or Atlantic 10 would be more than happy to play us since most of these teams are in the same boat as we are. That and the fact that we don't schedule too many weak teams should be more than enough to keep our RPI up as long as we win games.

[DUBrave5]

I think we can all agree that scheduling is easier said than done, right?

I have to argee. Besides Michigan St., most BCS teams don't like to schedule against "Mid-majors" because it doesn't seem worth it to them. I would love to see more BCS games scheduled but just because we want to see it, doesn't mean it is going to happen. It is a two way street and if the BCS schools don't want to drive down it, then we are out of luck. Until we can get to a point where scheduling games against us benefits the BCS schools more, I would be happy with games against the teams that Bravesfan listed.

[Bradleyguy10]

Well maybe instead of scheduling DII and DIII schools for preseason to boost our confidence we should schedule big teams. Scheduling up against team like Milwaukee or Oral Roberts is a sart as those are programs we should emulate.
This will give us the experience we need to figure out what we need to do as a team to win games against opponents like that. Also, it won't damage our confidence because the mind set will be that we just lost to two pre-season top 15 (or so) teams, and we'd get much more out of it than the "confidence" that we get by destroying DII and DIII teams. And it's that "confidence" that I'm talking about that the bigs could get by playing us. If they beat us...it's a legitimate DI pre-season win for them, it gives them a little bit more competition to get ready for the season and yet it would still be a confidence booster for them. I think in that setting big schools wouldn't mind playing us, they get experience against legit DI and confidence and if they lose..no harm done. We get MUCH needed experience as to what it takes to win, and our confidence is either unaffected or drastically goes up, depending on the result.

Also, I like the IDEA of playing those other mid-majors that are in the same boat as us, but it would make me a little nervous, because most of those teams are bubble teams by the end of the year and if we lose, it'd be a little early in the season (for my liking) to draw the line between who's in and who's out. If we win obviously that's great but if we lose most of those and get hot at the end of the year...would those games hurt us?

[bugregshu]

You aren't taking into consideration the fact that most Top 25 BCS teams would not want to play a mid-major like us because it has UPSET written all over it, especially for one of the first games of the season.

[Bradleyguy10]

You aren't taking into consideration the fact that most Top 25 BCS teams would not want to play a mid-major like us because it has UPSET written all over it, especially for one of the first games of the season.

I know...what i wrote before was talking about preseason games...not regular season. Sorry if it wasn't clear.

I realize this doesn't help us rpi wise or anything like that but the immediate experience that we get and the competition we get would help us a lot starting off the season, and probably would prevent another UIC type of situation.

[Fetz86]

Can a D1 play another D1 as a preseason game? For some reason I thought you could not play another D1 team until the regular season starts. . .

[Da Coach]

No, a D1 can't play another D1 as a preseason exhibition.
The NCAA does allow two D1 schools to schedule one scrimmage in the preseason in place of an exhibition game, but it has to be behind closed doors and not viewable by the public or media.

[BU ICEMAN]

...There are plenty of like minded mid-majors that would be more than happy to schedule home and home series with us. I think teams like VCU, Valparaiso, Butler (already playing us), Kent St, Xavier, St. Joseph's, Murray St, St. Louis, Gonzaga (doubtful since BCS teams comprise most of their schedule), New Mexico, Air Force, Oral Roberts, Davidson, George Mason, Old Dominion, Winthrop and others from the MAC, MAAC or Atlantic 10 would be more than happy to play us since most of these teams are in the same boat as we are.

So, are you advocating an incestuous mid-major conference scheduling scheme? If nobody plays high-RPI (i.e. BCS) teams, there won't be any bonus for mid-majors to schedule the other mid-majors because their RPIs won't be good because nobody played the big schools to boost the RPI. Wouldn't it almost be like voluntary segregation?

I think it would be great to schedule those schools, don't get me wrong, but they're not going to give up a shot at a BCS school to play another mid-major. I can foresee your situation happening only if mid-majors leave dates open on their schedule to try and late-schedule a BCS school and can't and both mids have to fill the schedule and find each other as a fall-back option.

[squirrel]

No, a D1 can't play another D1 as a preseason exhibition.
The NCAA does allow two D1 schools to schedule one scrimmage in the preseason in place of an exhibition game, but it has to be behind closed doors and not viewable by the public or media.

Its probably just semantics, but Quinnipiac played both @ Harvard and Iona for their exhibition games this year. Granted they were at off times (one at 4 PM and the other at 9 AM), and one was ridiculously early (October 26) but on the schedule they are listed as exhibitions and were both open to the public and media.

There were other instances of DI's playing other DI's and I believe they were on or before November 3.

Perhaps DI exhibitions may be played but before a specific date?

[ph]

So, are you advocating an incestuous mid-major conference scheduling scheme? If nobody plays high-RPI (i.e. BCS) teams, there won't be any bonus for mid-majors to schedule the other mid-majors because their RPIs won't be good because nobody played the big schools to boost the RPI. Wouldn't it almost be like voluntary segregation?

I think it would be great to schedule those schools, don't get me wrong, but they're not going to give up a shot at a BCS school to play another mid-major. I can foresee your situation happening only if mid-majors leave dates open on their schedule to try and late-schedule a BCS school and can't and both mids have to fill the schedule and find each other as a fall-back option.

SIU's scheduling before this year was all about scheduling (as much as you can predict) other D1 Conference champs. RPI wise, you want to schedule games vs teams that win a bunch of games. Conference champions from even low majors win bunches of games, thus SIU regularly had top 10/20 RPI's. In other words, you do not need to schedule other big schools to have a very, very good RPI.

Now when you're like BU and play half of another mid-major, it will not do much for your RPI.