The schedule is baby steps better, and even a pessimistic fan like me feels uncomfortable completely ripping on improvement. The MTE tournament is probably the biggest killer, but if we win & other teams improve (or in UNCW's case not regress completely), it won't be too terrible. I'm also excusing the Eureka game because of the NC St. fiasco (even though my gut tells me that Florida replaced NC St. on the schedule).

But JCT makes really solid points. We should be trying to set up home and homes with A-10/WCC teams that are similar in school profile to us. Ditto to schools in the MWC/AAC/CUSA who are less similar (bigger, state schools with football) but have quite frankly comparable basketball to the Valley. We should be trying to find P5 teams who would take a R/H/H with us, and I do think there are plenty of options out there that don't include NU or DPU. I think we need to start pounding the pavement early though to get these things done and try to branch out all over the country to find those teams.

It seems like Porter or whatever assistant is in charge of scheduling (Matt Gordon maybe?) is constantly scrambling to put in place a schedule every year and some comedy of errors leads to a big game falling through (DPU because Purnell didn't sign the contract before he got fired, NC St., Dayton). Hopefully we get started on the schedule earlier and lock stuff in earlier. If it happens again next year, I'd start to think it's less bad luck/circumstances around college basketball and more ineptitude from PM and his staff.

NC State bailing is actually a win for the program. Why? Nc St is 1-2 years away from being good, their RPI will be terrible this year. The buyout shows how talented the staff is at putting together a very penal exit clause that the Wolfpack had to pay. That alone will pay more dividends for the Rambler program than a win over a team that might squeak out 10 wins this year.

How much did they have to pay?

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I think it was a $75k buyout? Couple that with the Florida game (I'd estimate it at around $80k), it's a nice haul for our budget...

I think NC St. will obviously be towards the bottom of the barrel in the ACC but would not have dragged down our RPI though. I'd say they're more than a 10 win team, and Keatts will have them competitive.

The overlying fork-in-the-road question though is are we going to grow as a program or keep playing big fish with a little pond schedule. Baby steps are nice, but if you never leave the pond, it's a waste of time.

Still thinking about the promise the Chastain showed then seeing him get hurt in a non-exhibition meaningless game vs Eureka college. Our time has many vets this season, we dont need tune up games. Put our guys in situations to shock a team and steal a win against a team with a good name.

Many of these games are lose-lose games in my opinion. If we beat Eureka in front of 150 fans, it does nothing. If we lose to them, some of those 150 wont come back.

If we lose to Eureka, Porter Moser won't be back.

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I would think a talented staff would be even better at putting in a penal entrance clause!

I completely agree with Tony on this on many levels; the only reason why I'm not standing as tall on my soapbox is the NC state fiasco.

If we lose to Eureka, Porter and anybody in the athletic department who thought a 4 year contract extension was a good idea should be fired immediately after the game.

The good news is we beat them by 40 last year.

I could be wrong, but I think every MVC team that's released a schedule this year has a non-D1 game.

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Most teams will play 1 non-D1 opponent a year. Even Wichita State had one in their schedule annually. While I agree we have a veteran team we also have 6 returners who played in game with a Rambler uniform on last season (Aundre, Donte, Ben, Clay, Bruno, Cam). The Lewis exhibition may make this a moot point. But you're giving real season minutes to some newbies. I'd gladly watch a game where the people getting the most PT are Krutwig Negron, Williamson, Satterwhite and Skokna.