This seems to be a common theme. If you are a mid major and you want to beef up the schedule you have to go on the road. I wonder if part of the LU problem is guaranteed money? Again we come to all the little things that add up to building and buying in to the big boys game. It is more than players and coaches.....to get the players you need to do all the little things,,,,,,recruiting budget, good schedule....fill the gym....Wish I knew if LU had bought in or is hoping that this just will happen.

It's definitely not easy, but I believe Marty was feeling some heat under his seat and decided wins, no matter the competition, were more important. UE fans seem to be split on what they think of Marty and if he should still be there. He may have bought himself a year or two because of the win total, but I expect to see the Aces plummet to the bottom of the conference.

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It has to be a quandary for a coach,,,,,,,,I wonder how much say Xavier wants to play on the road with what they consider a lesser opponent.
Also I wonder what the results are for teams like IUPUI and even Illinois State this year who played a lot of tough road games. In the end does it benifit them financially and more importantly is it a path to getting better.

I can answer this for you: they don't want to do it at all. Look at Creighton. They flat out said they wouldn't have returned the game to us this year if not for Porter's connection with them. Winning on the road is hard, almost no matter who you play, but the selection committee doesn't see it that way. It's a huge risk for teams looking for an at large bid to play that type of road game.

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Tough to answer. If you expect to be good, possible NCAA good, you have to try and challenge yourself. It's the scheduling smart and tough part that can be difficult. I think sometimes people focus too much on P5 types of teams because they have the big splashy names, but you can definitely find good, solid teams that will play. Top teams from lesser conferences are much more willing to go on the road. Those are games top Valley teams should win and will help boost RPI/SOS numbers. I'd think finding some H/H matches with teams from similar conferences could be done. Horizon/Summit/Belt/CUSA/MAC/Southland/Southern/CAA/OVC are all conferences with some decent/solid basketball programs that would probably like some games with MVC teams and can also help the numbers. Not as sexy, but can be good wins.

The following are from RealTimeRPI.com and are schools from the previously mentioned conferences that could have added value this year to anyone's schedule

South Dakota State (Summit) 28
Akron (MAC) 34
Little Rock (Belt) 42
Wilmington (CAA) 46
Valpo (Horizon) 49
Chattanooga (Southern) 50
Hofstra (CAA) 54
Stephen F Austin (Southland) 66
IPFW (Summit) 71
Middle TN ST (CUSA) 78
Ohio (MAC) 81
Tex A&M-CC (Southland) 82
E. TN St (Southern) 86
Buffalo (MAC) 91
Belmont (OVC) 95
Monroe (Belt) 96

Most aren't sexy names, but some struggle to schedule and others would take buy games from just about anyone. All would be considered good wins. Others, outside the top 100 but inside to top 150 can help strengthen a schedule even if they're not tallied as good wins, they also aren't considered bad losses.

James Madison (CAA) 103
Arlington (Belt) 105
Northeastern (CAA) 109
Eastern Michigan (MAC) 112
Green Bay (Horizon) 114
Oakland (Horizon) 117
La Tech (CUSA) 121
Kent State (MAC) 124
North Dakota State (Summit) 125
Marshall (CUSA) 126
Morehead State (OVC) 127
Tenn Tech (OVC) 134
Charleston (CAA) 135
NIU (MAC) 136
ODU (CAA) 140
Omaha (Summit) 143
Wright State (Horizon) 146
Tenn. State (OVC) 148
Towson (CAA) 150

Obviously there are no guarantees who these teams will be, but a little research into what teams did, who they return, is the coach returning and how long has he been there, and such things you can make some educated guesses as to who will have a decent year. Of course, you could play the same game with a number of other mid/lower conferences and help put yourself in position for at large talks or at least an NIT invite if you have some success out of conference and in.

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We scheduled UIC for a four-year contract when we left the HL. At that time, they were coming off a 17-16 season with a 177 RPI and had improved each year under coach Howard Moore. Yet the moment we left the league, they went into the toilet-- they've been in the 300s each year since. I really do honestly think that as a program, institutionally, they have little long term or sustaining motivation if they aren't trying to defeat Loyola.

We had Tennessee Tech for the two years they were horrible in a long streak of many years being a solid team in the 100s. Same with Northern Illinois. Same with Tulane, etc. Last year we lucked out with a win over a Boise State team that unexpectedly had an RPI in the 40s... And if you're looking at these metrics, there's no better team to show how fickle and unpredictable it all is from year to year than LOYOLA.... We were 183 in 2012-13, 292 in 2013-14, 87 in 2014-15, and 237 in 2015-16.

As a team, I KNOW that we were better than 237 this year. We beat Creighton and UNI (twice). We won a lot of games on the road for a team well below the RPI Mendoza line. We are currently 182 in Pomeroy's ranking, 187 in the BPI, and 209 in the NPI-- which is closer to where I think we fit in as a team this year considering the whole season. I would put us around 170... in other words, we WAAAYYY underperformed in the RPI compared to our actual ability.

Great posts by both Sub and John.
We should always attempt to schedule MAC---Akron Kent Bowling Green and Western Mich --NIU as well
ODU and G Mason in the East
No Horizon except Valpo and Detroit

Take a nice western trip with returns built around our Conf commits.

And finally find a nice ACC or SEC middle or less but with a name (Wake For) who will home and home us. There MUST be teams like this. THAT IS what Watson is supposed to be paid to do. (btw, Bonny would be great h and h )

Brot when you say no Horizon does that include not scheduling UIC. I enjoy local rivalry games even if the RPI is not great and I think more Chicago area schools should play each other.

At this point it is almost impossible to get big schools to play on the road so I think while it isn't perfect adding strong mid majors would be a good option.

You know, Dinger finger, I am ambivalent about Flames. They are a perfect example of our getting better--A few years back, we had trouble beating them. Now it is relatively easy. Like Chgo St, they are doing us little good. Chgo teams ?? DePewl and Mild-cats are the ones to play with a dash of Valpo and No Ill tossed in. Those arte the teams close in that we should play each year. NW and DePewl are both arrogant and apparently feel we are beneath their lofty stature , where in reality they are both mediocre losers at best in their Leagues. Of course we are not much better in our league--That is PM's fault BUT we will soon be better.

If I had to be the GREAT Scheduler, I would list the above four, with Duquesne, St Louis Bonny ODU and a western trip to coincide with our League deal==Throw in G Mason, St Johns Holy Cross and the like.

Moser and Watson are also doing well in scheduling Tourney trips--Keep that up every year--no excuses.

MVC transfers according to ESPN (http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketb ... nsfer-list)

LOYOLA

Pernell Adgei
Jay Knuth

BRADLEY

Davante Cooper
Scottie James
Joel Okafor

DRAKE

Kale Abrahamson

EVANSVILLE

ILLINOIS STATE

Roland Griffin
Elvis Harvey

INDIANA STATE

Grant Prusator

MISSOURI STATE - (none)

NORTHERN IOWA

Aarias Austin

SIU

Jermey Postell

WICHITA STATE - (none)

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