LU Rambler12 wrote:
GoRamblers wrote:
It's times like these that I miss the Basketball Travelers site.
Also, we're going to have a REALLY tough time scheduling next year.
Obviously, teams from the P5 will not want a piece of us, but hopefully a lot of good mid majors will want us on their schedule...
And that's where scheduling Q1/Q2 games is going to be a problem. If we get a home game, they've got to be in the top 30 for a Q1 and top 75 for a Q2. That's a very high bar. If we had a return game from Florida with the same RPI they have this year, it would be a Q2 game. If we had a game against Miami at home next year with the same RPI they have now (28), if we beat them, their RPI might drop below the Q1 cutoff.
If we get a road game, they've got to be in the top 75 for Q1 and 135 for Q2. I'd look for some A10 teams like Saint Bonnies and Saint Louis (why can't we get these teams on the schedule??!??!) and BYU or St. Mary's from the West Coast Conference, plus a guarantee game and a challenging MTE. As we've learned this year, losses against good teams are often totally forgiven as long as you get a couple of wins.
In conference, I think Illinois State and maybe Southern Illinois have the potential to be a top 75 RPI team next year. Maybe Bradley. However SIU and ISU have been notorious as slow-starting teams that have some disappointing results in the non-con. It might be time for the MVC to get together with the A10, MWC, West Coast, and MAC to strategize on how to break the lock on P5+BE scheduling. Maybe it's time to start using non-revenue sports as a tool to force more equitable revenue sport scheduling.