Bradley @ K-State

[TheAsianSensation]

Bradley isn't even close to being a top 25 team, so I don't understand why you'd want to play a top 25 program. What's the point of getting crushed by a team on the road significantly better than your team? If the issue is SOS, schedule teams hovering around the 100 mark home/home. Those are teams that would improve the SOS and offer a realitsic shot at a victory.

You just sneakily pointed out Bradley's problem. We can't even get home-and-homes with top 200 teams right now. I don't know whether it's incompetence, bad luck, reputation, or whatever, but BU is having significant issues finding teams of any kind of quality to play in Peoria.

And to broaden the point, it's starting to become harder to get home-and-homes with top 100 teams. The access to those series that Wichita has isn't accessible for everyone.

[Snaggletooth]

You just sneakily pointed out Bradley's problem. We can't even get home-and-homes with top 200 teams right now. I don't know whether it's incompetence, bad luck, reputation, or whatever, but BU is having significant issues finding teams of any kind of quality to play in Peoria.

It is money, the money your program is willing to buy those teams to come and play. They are refusing to play you because you are not good enough, they are refusing to play you because your program is to cheap. Marshall remarked last year about how there are some buy teams holding out for bigger $$ to play knowing program want to buy those wins, but they don't want them to have 300+ RPI - you pay a price for that.

Now for Top 100 programs is probably a combination of competitiveness and money (for those Top 100ish programs) who are looking for buy games.

[rlh04d]

Bradley isn't even close to being a top 25 team, so I don't understand why you'd want to play a top 25 program. What's the point of getting crushed by a team on the road significantly better than your team? If the issue is SOS, schedule teams hovering around the 100 mark home/home. Those are teams that would improve the SOS and offer a realitsic shot at a victory.

You just sneakily pointed out Bradley's problem. We can't even get home-and-homes with top 200 teams right now. I don't know whether it's incompetence, bad luck, reputation, or whatever, but BU is having significant issues finding teams of any kind of quality to play in Peoria.

And to broaden the point, it's starting to become harder to get home-and-homes with top 100 teams. The access to those series that Wichita has isn't accessible for everyone.

Unfortunately, Bradley's probably brought that on themselves. They've become so bad at scheduling that it's now institutionalized. They'd be a hindrance to even small schools in the 100-200 range, due to being 200+ for ... what? Four consecutive seasons now?

I certainly don't think other MVC schools have access to games against Tennessee, but Western Kentucky, Davidson, NC Central, William & Mary, ORU, etc. should be realistic home/home games for most MVC teams. Granted, maybe not Bradley, because Bradley doesn't have much to offer to an opponent at this point.

[BCPanther]

UNI is a clinic in scheduling. We may have been a bit over aggressive the last couple of years, but I would rather go that way than pull in a bunch of 300+ RPI teams every year.

Recent series with Ohio, VCU, Milwaukee, South Dakota State, and George Mason; along with either Iowa or Iowa State and a solid MTE is a great start and one that is totally attainable for EVERY Valley school. We've built at large quality OOC SOS while at the same time only taking 2 buy games (@ Syracuse in 2010 and @ Virginia last year).

It can be done by looking at numbers and not at names on the front of jerseys...

[Cdizzle]

UNI is a clinic in scheduling. We may have been a bit over aggressive the last couple of years, but I would rather go that way than pull in a bunch of 300+ RPI teams every year.

Recent series with Ohio, VCU, Milwaukee, South Dakota State, and George Mason; along with either Iowa or Iowa State and a solid MTE is a great start and one that is totally attainable for EVERY Valley school. We've built at large quality OOC SOS while at the same time only taking 2 buy games (@ Syracuse in 2010 and @ Virginia last year).

It can be done by looking at numbers and not at names on the front of jerseys...

The problem is that a lot of these schools are ok with scheduling UNI because they feel they have a good chance to win, and they've been right. It gets easier to schedule teams between 75-125 when you are also always between 75-125, and have a history of winning about half of those games. This is not intended as a slight to UNI, just that the realities of scheduling change based on your recent history. Bradley is having trouble getting good home-n-homes because they are an RPI drag. WSU is having trouble getting home-n-homes cause very few teams think they have a chance to win. UNI is in the sweet spot of not being an RPI drag, and providing a realistic win opportunity for their opponent.

[Mikovio]

Why do you need home and hoome games with top 25 programs?

WSU can't even get home and home games with top 25 programs. Neutral site with Memphis is about the best we're doing at the moment.

Bradley isn't even close to being a top 25 team, so I don't understand why you'd want to play a top 25 program. What's the point of getting crushed by a team on the road significantly better than your team? If the issue is SOS, schedule teams hovering around the 100 mark home/home. Those are teams that would improve the SOS and offer a realitsic shot at a victory.

Maybe you have more of a shot at being on TV against a K-State, but again, the chance for victory is remote, so I don't see how the loss on TV helps much.

I don't buy the "whoring" argument, but I do believe in scheduling intelligently. Schedule teams that offer a realistic chance at victory ... if you think the team has a realistic shot at beating a top team on the road, then sure, take the buy game and go win it. But if you're taking a buy game for a 5% chance at a victory, and then you're still scheduling 250+ RPI teams, all you're doing is scheduling a loss and making sure the RPI benefit is irrelevant. Look at what WSU's doing: rather than taking buy games on the road to get top opponents, they're stacking the schedule with solid teams with realistic shots at the tournament. WSU actually has a realistic shot at winning road buy games, unlike the rest of the MVC, but isn't taking them, and is instead taking teams that most MVC teams CAN schedule. Probably not as buy games as some of ours have been, but they could still be scheduled home/home.

WSU didn't have a single marquee nonconference opponent last year, but still ended up with the #28 noncon SOS and wins over four tournament teams, and of the other teams, #1 CUSA, #2 Sun Belt, #3 Colonial, #1 Southern, and only one flat out bad team (Tennessee State).

That's the blueprint for MVC teams to follow, not buy games against teams they can't beat. Schedule teams that are consistently in the top 100-200 RPI range. Try to get a few top 100 home/home games against smaller teams, and buy really small teams that tend to sit around 200.

Neutral site games with top 25 teams aren't easy either. I very much doubt the Maui Invitational would return our phone call. So the only way to get chances at top 25 opponents is a buy game. Why do I want to play them? Because this is a program in need of a splash, and those games provide that opportunity. And the SOS benefit. Even with a loss the SOS is helped considerably, and that has standings tiebreaker implications.

I am jealous of other MVC programs signing VCU to home and homes but I don't think our failure to put them on the schedule is due to lack of effort on our ADs part. As for money, we have the second highest budget in the conference by a wide margin, so again all signs point to recent performance as the culprit. We did just announce we're bringing Robert Morris (125 RPI last year) in for a buy game which I assume cost a little more. It's certainly important to get more of that.

[rlh04d]

UNI is a clinic in scheduling. We may have been a bit over aggressive the last couple of years, but I would rather go that way than pull in a bunch of 300+ RPI teams every year.

Recent series with Ohio, VCU, Milwaukee, South Dakota State, and George Mason; along with either Iowa or Iowa State and a solid MTE is a great start and one that is totally attainable for EVERY Valley school. We've built at large quality OOC SOS while at the same time only taking 2 buy games (@ Syracuse in 2010 and @ Virginia last year).

It can be done by looking at numbers and not at names on the front of jerseys...

Agreed. UNI and WSU are the two MVC schools that are scheduling smart.

[rlh04d]

Neutral site games with top 25 teams aren't easy either. I very much doubt the Maui Invitational would return our phone call. So the only way to get chances at top 25 opponents is a buy game. Why do I want to play them? Because this is a program in need of a splash, and those games provide that opportunity. And the SOS benefit. Even with a loss the SOS is helped considerably, and that has standings tiebreaker implications.

I am jealous of other MVC programs signing VCU to home and homes but I don't think our failure to put them on the schedule is due to lack of effort on our ADs part. As for money, we have the second highest budget in the conference by a wide margin, so again all signs point to recent performance as the culprit. We did just announce we're bringing Robert Morris (125 RPI last year) in for a buy game which I assume cost a little more. It's certainly important to get more of that.

I'm much happier about your Robert Morris game than the K-State game. That has the potential to be a solid game.

I don't think Bradley can get top 25 teams at a neutral site either, but, like I said, Bradley doesn't need a top 25 opponent. Bradley isn't a program in need of a splash. Bradley's a program in need of beginning a steady cycle of improvement.

And while K-State helps the SOS, avoiding bad games would help the SOS more. Like Central Michigan. Every drop of SOS help you get from losing to K-State is lost to scheduling Central Michigan, win or lose. What's the point of ever scheduling Central Michigan? They've been better than a 250 RPI three times since at least the 2003-04 season. Bradley doesn't have control over UIC, but ... they need to do better with the teams they can control.

[Mikovio]

A big win would take some heat off Geno and help bring attendance back up much more than beating a bunch of 150s, and just maybe he thinks we have a chance with the incoming talent.

Central Michigan was a 2-1 series signed when they had just hired Keno Davis to rebuild. Since then, much of the MAC has improved (Western Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Toledo) but not CMU, unfortunately. They were good a decade ago with Chris Kaman. It wasn't the worst horse to bet on.

[rlh04d]

A big win would take some heat off Geno and help bring attendance back up much more than beating a bunch of 150s, and just maybe he thinks we have a chance with the incoming talent.

Not being a 250+ RPI and a punching bag in conference and out would be a good way to get heat off him and bring attendance back up.

A big win is a good way to get enthusiasm up for a team that's already turned the corner, as an exclamation mark to the fans. A big win before you turn that corner will only get expectations up to a point where fans will be disappointed quickly.