rlh04d wrote:
More than likely UNI will schedule well but have a couple of hiccups that will look bad on their resume and MoSt. will have a non-conference SOS of 250+
If you are going to complain about Non-Con SOS you should probably pick on someone other than the bears. Having a top 50 RPI does no good when you lose all the meaningful games.[/quote]
#198 non-con SOS this year. #215 last year. #72, #83, #261, #296. Five year average of #187. Not good.
Having 25 wins does no good when you lose all the meaningful games, either. You can't win meaningful games if you don't play any.
You can't get an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament with a top 45 RPI and no good wins -- you've already proven that. Which means the only way to make the tournament is to win the conference guaranteed bid. Is a team less likely to win the auto-bid if the nonconference schedule is tough? Either schedule weak and have one shot at the tournament, or schedule strong and have multiple shots at the tournament. Seems like a simple choice to me.
If you don't think your team has a shot at an at-large bid, by all means, I understand a desire to schedule weak to pad the win total. MoSt isn't in that boat, though. That's a legit at-large team next year. Give the team the opportunity to win the tough games to earn it. Otherwise it just really doesn't matter what your win total or RPI will be -- the entire season will come down to the Arch, against another great WSU team.
MoSt didn't get an at-large bid the year you won the regular season despite having a 40-ish RPI because your schedule was due to the SOS being #125, 0-3 against RPI top 100 out of conference, 2-6 against the top 100 overall, and 0-1 against the top 50. Learning from history and all that jazz.[/quote]
The bears had the 3rd highest SOS in the league last year behind only UNI & WSU if the league wants to get better they put the scheduling mandate back in.