Time to start dreaming about 2014-15 !!
We should be better--hence we should schedule a better non-conf basket.
Here is what I wish for--
--1-- A better pre-season tourney--Alaska ?? or maybe one of the Islands Hawaiian or otherwise
--2-- More Home Games
--3--Upgrade in teams--but Detroit and maybe Valpo for sure
--4-- add to those a Big TEN pair--maybe Penn St or Neb, Purdue or---
--5--then a couple of lesser names--Like a Tulane reprise
--6 --Any way at least SEVEN out of TWELVE Home games--may 8 and 4 --Let's do what ND and Syracuse get away with doing--only leave home when we are forced to do so. My dream seven Homers--Mich St Tulane Detroit UIC Penn St St Louis and a Canisius or No Illinois

Would it not be neat to see St Louis at home ??
For another sell-out arena--Izzo and his Spartans ??

Anyway , you get the point--I love to dream nice things--HOW ABOUT YOU GUYS ???

Oh Brot, I admire your dreaming. I think the only way we make it to Maui, Great Alaskan Shooutout, Bahamas, Virgin Islands, or any other delightful Caribbean paradise is as the first round fodder of a Kansas, Duke, et al.

We're not getting any decent non-conference team to come to Gentile unless it's charity. Are we even appealing guarantee game fodder? At this point, if I'm a major conference team looking to load up my home schedule with cupcakes, Loyola looks like a devastating hit to my RPI and other metrics even if I win.

I moderately disagree, Socrates. The way the RPI works, if you're in a conference with mostly winning teams, a bad team in that conference is a pretty good get for your schedule because of the opponents' opponents record component of the RPI (roughly 25% of the RPI formula). You get a win (probably) and you get the benefit of the won/loss record of the other teams in the conference.

I think we'll also be able to get more (and better) teams to schedule us for straight-up home and home series.

Arena size is going to be a problem for us on scheduling area teams we SHOULD get, like Northwestern, DePaul, Marquette, and Notre Dame. They just won't go for it if we're good and there's a chance we might knock them off. But again, calculations are slightly different now that we're in the MVC.

I think we should try hardest for Jesuit schools in the A-10, West Coast, MAAC, and Patriot Leagues. I would love to see a Thanksgiving Jesuit MTE, possibly with an academic symposium in conjunction to lure professors, staff, and students to an event. Expenditures could be spread across athletics and academics budgets, and it would foster a sense of comaraderie between schools. All it would take is three other schools to participate out of the 19 Jesuit schools (?) that play DI hoops. It would be great.

I guess I'm fine with one guarantee game in there somewhere, just to bolster our OOC SOS. I guess I'd want it to be a lower eschelon big conference team that refuses to play road games, if possible. Minnesota, Penn State, Arkansas, Southern California, Virginia Tech, etc. fit the bill.

You see--63 explains my dreams better than I--Lower placed teams in good Conferences --That's the ticket. We could sell a Penn St, Ark etal--Those are NAMES--Folks would come out if promoted correctly--An All Jesuit MTE would be superb--Eight teams---St Louis, Canisius Santa Clara Fordham Gonzaga Detroit St Joseph and LOYOLA--Promote it and use Fr G and his influence. Could be a money maker with a sponsor Company hiding somewhere in Chgo.

In our home sched , we could have a name weak sister and a biggie or two--

PM should now go for more homers--We should be a better team--this fact should warrant this--a tad better sched anyway---Being an MVC team also would help.

This can and should be done.--I wager we could average 3500 to 4000 if handled correctly.

I guess I'm being too pessimistic but I don't think we can even get the lower teams of good conferences. Even after the Final Four run, Wichita had trouble scheduling any home-and-homes with good teams. That will change over time, but we're not anywhere close to the position of Wichita while representing a much more significant risk as a horrible loss. Yes, the MVC is in a down year this year, but it's hardly filled with a glut of winning teams that make a door mat like the Ramblers that appealing. And that reality will dominate perceptions from the outside for at least next season. Wichita still has largely only beaten St. Louis, whose only major win was the scrape by VCU. Indiana State has twenty wins and then the MVC is a whole lot of middling.

Maybe we could scrape some commitment from the bottom of the American (like the Florida schools or even Temple). Then I like the idea of aiming at the MAAC and Patriot League. Fordham is god awful and if they won't give us a home-and-home, they're just being obnoxious. With their eyes towards eventual expansion and now in the top 10, I doubt St. Louis will call us back, but the smaller Jesuit schools are compelling--if they have the budget to travel. Gonzaga won't come. Maybe St. Joe's but only because Phil Martelli is a fairly decent guy.

I think a home-and-home with Tulane would be a steal. Throw in Detroit, Fordham, and Canisius and I think we make out like bandits. Still not even within striking distance of big time, but better than Campbell and Rockhurst. Which I will take at this point.

The big key for SOS purposes is avoiding 250+ RPI teams. Coaches can do analysis on what teams from what conferences should be decent (win a lot of games in conference). I've heard our staff looks at 3 to 5 year trends. They look at the roster and see if teams had a lot of SRs. They try to find programs where coaches are secure and haven't been replaced recently or possibly being replaced soon.

The BcS teams are the tough one as even the lower end teams are hard to get into a H/H series and will want a buy game or a 2-1 or 3-1. Be careful on taking too many of those. I know we avoid those at all costs under the belief that it'll hurt in the future when trying to get a H/H series set up. I'd like to see WSU and other in the conference try to schedule more A10 type schools. The problem for most of us is we aren't located in a good recruiting area that can help attract teams to play at home. That's one area Loyola could have an advantage over most of the conference. However, you also have other options that teams can go to with the likes of DePaul and Northwestern there. They may not be great programs, but they seem to carry more weight right now. Mostly because they'll benefit from the B1G and the BE.

I'm not sure where else you guys recruit outside of the Chicago area, but something that can be very beneficial is to find schools in areas you recruit to go play at. I know WSU wants to play more games in the Southeast and is one reason we were more than pleased to get Tennessee and Alabama on our schedules. Would really like to get into Georgia and the Carolinas.

Rumor has it, our Final Four and great start are paying off for us. I don't think anything is finalized, but we are in negotiations with UConn, Purdue and a "big name west coast" school. UConn would be great and Purdue isn't bad. Plus, we've tried to recruit some in Indiana with little success so far. We haven't landed anyone from the west since we got Graham Hatch out of Arizona 7 or more years ago. But we have been in on a few kids in California. Getting exposure around kids you want to recruit can be quite beneficial.

I wouldn't do a buy game with anyone unless you feel you have a chance. Just getting a paycheck isn't worth it. Winning goes a long way in RPI/SOS and I wouldn't take a game against a team you felt you had next to no chance against. Even if you do lose, being able to play a team close can go a long way and if you can get it on TV, it helps even more.

I am afraid that you'll have to wait a couple more years before getting a schedule that a few of you have mentioned. Improve your RPI and you'll improve your chances of landing better games. I've seen a number of postings in the past on the basketball travelers website where teams are specifically looking for teams with an RPI of less than 75/100/150/200. All depends on needs obviously, but the better that number is, the more chances you have to schedule better teams.

So, next year, if you have a better OOC record it'll help in future years as the RPI number will look better. Plus, I expect the MVC to be better as a whole in RPI next year with so many young players returning and teams building strength. So your numbers shouldn't be harmed by too many bad teams in conference.

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The Roundhouse

Socrates-- This year's schedule was put together haphazardly (the announcement that we were joining the conference wasn't until April 19, 2013), and included a lot of games that were returns from earlier scheduling committments (Tennessee Tech, Fordham, UW-Milwaukee to replace a Bradley game, Northern Illinois). Here are some of the highlights of non-con schedules in the MVC:

Drake:
at UIC, St. Mary's, IUPUI
home against Nebraska-Omaha, New Mexico State, Albany, Western Michigan
MTE Fresno State Classic

Evansville:
at IUPUI, Indiana, Murray State, Xavier
home against Butler, Miami-Ohio, Jackson State, Grambling
MTE Ohio Classic

Bradley:
at Arizona St, UWM (replacement for us)
home vs. Central Michigan, Texas-Pan Am, IUPUI, IPFW, South Florida
MTE Global Sports Invitational, South Point Holiday Hoops Classic (Jacksonville State, Alabama State, Chicago State, at Illinois, vs. Portland, and vs. Pacific)

Southern Illinois:
at Missouri, Austin Peay, Chicago State, Murray State, Miami-Ohio
home vs. St. Louis, Western Ky, Ball State, SIUE
MTE Gulf Coast Showcase (St. Bonaventure, Stetson, San Diego)

These were all schools figured to finish in the lower half of the MVC. Most have had recent coaching changes. As you can see, there were home games from St. Louis, Butler, South Florida, Western Kentucky, New Mexico State, Western Michigan, and Miami-Ohio, any one of which would have been the highlight of our home OOC schedule (UWM was better than most expected this year, UIC much worse). Some of the road games, which I assume are home and home, include Murray State, Xavier (maybe not home and home ?), Miami-Ohio, and St. Mary's. Albany, Central Michigan, and Ball State are not always really good, but at least recognizable fillers.

Wow SubGod that's phenomenal work. Glad to hear WSU is getting better shakes from the older basketball powers now. But I guess we better keep PM for that stability.

Well thanks Rambler63. I'll buy some of this hope then. I'd take those non-conference schedules. Thanks for that.

I don't think Evansville and Xavier is a home-and-home. Xavier's coach, Chris Mack, began his college career at Evansville and I think that's what led to a sentimental matchup, but not a full blown home and home. I could be wrong though. Couldn't find confirmation one way or the other.

Scheduling and scheduling philosophy have always been a bit of a passion of mine and I follow ours as closely as I can. The MVC should help you guys, but winning will help even more. Just win the games in front of you. Being in Chicago will eventually be a big help to you guys. I only wish Wichita had the talent level it had back in the late 70s and 80s.

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The Roundhouse

I would like to get fellow Jesuit school DETROIT back on the schedule. I'm pretty certain that the Titans have played Loyola more than any other team. We have also played against Western Michigan almost as much as Detroit.