inthelou Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 I kind of laughed earlier in the year when Ramsey and Brad kept bragging about our RPI and how they had "figured it all out" by scheduling teams like Pacific and Loyola and Ole Miss. I knew once the league schedule hit the RPI would drop a rock and sure enough it did. To me you can fool around with RPI all you want early in the year, think you can fool the system and "schedule yourself" into the tournament. But the bottom line is, unless the whole conference is doing something similar, it's all for naught. Brad was in denial early in the year when he bragged about our "Top 15" RPI. Until the A-10 as a league does something you'd be much better off focusing only on league play and the conference tournament. Get the first round bye and take your chances on three games in three days. Some my disagree but I think those early conference debacles showed a team and a coach too happy with their early fat, RPI ranking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAG Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 The MVC figured it out. We need a new A10 commish that stresses figuring out the RPI. Brad tried but did not figure it out. He picked Pacific b/c they had 20 wins the previous season. He somehow failed to see that they lost 3 seniors from that 20 win season. Loyola was an ok game to schedule. At least that game made sense to travel to. Houston twice was perplexing. Quincy made no sense whatsoever. If you're going to lose 2 games to 200+ rpi teams it doesn't matter who you schedule. CAG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
satrap Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 >The MVC figured it out. We need a new A10 commish that >stresses figuring out the RPI. Brad tried but did not >figure it out. Guys, this is the reliable old trope that has been swallowed hook, line and sinker, by almost everyone. It's bullshite. The MVC and Doug Elgin didn't "figure" anything out. They didn't crack some miraculous DaVinci code. Their teams beat other teams more than those other teams beat them!!!! Ta Da!!! The miracle of Doug Elgin. In the A10, other teams beat ours more than we beat them. So, the answer to this whole riddle is just to build good teams. The RPI takes care of itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAG Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 Wrong. Look at the stats. TA DA. UMASS played 10 teams out of the top 200 and only 4 of them were A10 teams. Yes it's not hard to figure out but the MVC teams don't have crap schedules like this. Had UMASS at least scheduled a few of those teams in the top 200 and still won their rpi in turn would have been better and we'd be talking about them on the bubble. Apparently the majority of the A10 teams have not figured out that it does nothing for you to schedule teams out of the top 200. That's why we dropped teams like Savanna St. That's why SLU chose Quincy b/c they couldn't find a team in the top 200 to schedule another game that late. CAG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 i think had the billikens won the duquesne, temple and st bonaventure games our rpi would have indeed been close to the consideration line. he did a great job of scheduling with the games he could control. as the billiken ooc rpi ended up at 38 and the strength of schedule at 58. where he failed was losing those 3 games that looking back should have been wins. had we won those three we would have been in third place and we could have easily gotten an at large bid. so i am not sure what you are saying. how could dumbing down the preseason have helped the cause? look at umass. they did essentially what you wanted to do and had a great coference season and will not get an at large bid either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 brad figured it out. it is the rest of the knucklehead league that doesnt get it. if umass and gw had followed soderberg's example they would be in as at large bids. add slu not blowing their three games with duquesne, st bonnie and temple, that would have been four at large teams for the league. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 you are wrong. they have figured out the system. they avoid bottom tier teams. they win those mid major matchups and arent afraid to go on the road to play top 100 teams. you are correct on the winning aspect. the rpi only works for teams that do indeed win, but you have to schedule correctly with that. umass and gw are proof of that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 The MVC did figure out. You don't have to play many if any top 25 teams to have a top 25 rpi. Just don't play any or very few really bad 200+ rpi teams and win. The problem in the A10 is not only some of the out of conference scheduling but too many poor teams in conference that teams have to play. Official Billikens.com sponsor of H Waldman Official Sponser of the Stemmler and Ahearn could and would have helped club. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
satrap Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 >you are wrong. they have figured out the system. they >avoid bottom tier teams. they win those mid major matchups >and arent afraid to go on the road to play top 100 teams. > >you are correct on the winning aspect. the rpi only works >for teams that do indeed win, but you have to schedule >correctly with that. umass and gw are proof of that. A little of both, OK? Go to Yahoo sports and take a look at UMass schedule. To me, not shabby at all from a preseason scheduling perspective. At BC and Pitt. Miami (FL) at home. Wow, win those games and your RPI shoots up like Billy's packer on Viagra. But they lost them all, so their rating is just so - so. Agree? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billiken_roy Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 umass's ooc rpi was 63 and strength of schedule was 139. gw was 101 and 240! two opponents dont help when they know they also scheduled 6 over 200 teams. they should have known they had to be under 40 by the time conference rolled around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAG Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 Roy. I hope you were agreeing with me. Yes, the MVC figured it out. SLU is very close. I don't think we had a 200+ team out of conference. The rest of the A10 has not figured it out. satrap. do you get it yet? CAG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
satrap Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 I understand what you guys are saying. But I think alot of this is subjective mumbo jumbo. So UMass or GW scheduled some teams, before the season, that turned out to be weak. So what? How can one predict with certainty how their opponents will flop? Or suceed? MO State scheduled Wisconsin - or met them in a tourney, whatever- and won somehow. Wisconsin turned out to be a relative beast this year. If they lost their rating would be much lower. If UMass beats BC at BC (like Vermont did)..... you get my point. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 You are right it isn't an exact science and we were hurt this year because Loyola and Pacific were not as good as we expected them to be when we scheduled the games. However there is a difference between that and scheduling a bunch of teams that are consistently 200+ with no expectations to be any better. It kills your rpi. The thing the MVC does along with very smart scheduling is win. Official Billikens.com sponsor of H Waldman Official Sponser of the Stemmler and Ahearn could and would have helped club. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inthelou Posted March 10, 2007 Author Share Posted March 10, 2007 Did I say that? I'm saying don't fool yourself into thinking you can schedule yourself into the NCAA when the rest of the league is not doing the same with your OOC schedule. Your preseason RPI and victories don't mean crap because the conference is going to drag you down. Right now the conference and the seeding in the A-10 tournament is the key. This BS about Pacific and Loyola and Brad locking himself in his office for five days and having it all figured out is all a bunch of bunk. The way the A-10 is right now and the way the it schedules OOC makes what SLU does irrelevant. Until the league get it act together and mandates all its programs do something with their OOC schedule it is better to focus on the the league. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
courtside Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 > You are right it isn't an exact science and we were hurt >this year because Loyola and Pacific were not as good as we >expected them to be when we scheduled the games. However >there is a difference between that and scheduling a bunch of >teams that are consistently 200+ with no expectations to be >any better. It kills your rpi. The thing the MVC does along >with very smart scheduling is win. > > > Official Billikens.com sponsor of H >Waldman > >Official Sponser of the Stemmler and Ahearn could and would >have helped club. Creighton lost 7 games this year to teams with RPI of 75 or worse. Creighton won only one game non-conference v top 50 RPI...73-67 at home over Xavier. Not too impressive so far. They made sure to not schedule past 200 RPI level schools, as did the league. And, they finished 2nd in the league. Ok, that is helping. So what is deciding factor for Creighton this year? Strong conference tourney, as they do most years. A poor conference tourney and the MVC is a one bid league this year, for those jumping up and down for the MVC. It will be a two bid league instead of one thanks to Creighton's conference tourney run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted March 10, 2007 Share Posted March 10, 2007 To a point you are right, but you still have to try and schedule a strong non conference schedule, due to the fact the league is what it is. If you don't you could easily go 14-2 in conference and lose in the title game of the conf tourney and not make the NCAA tourney. Take GW if they lose today ... they are out despite a decent conference record. Official Billikens.com sponsor of H Waldman Official Sponser of the Stemmler and Ahearn could and would have helped club. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CAG Posted March 11, 2007 Share Posted March 11, 2007 GW opened with... Boston University (210) Dartmouth (255) Longwood - never even heard of them (307) Keenesaw St. (277) Maryland E. Shore (332) MD Baltimore County (214) I would have guessed 3 of those weren't D1. Come on now they didn't just schedule some that "turned out to be weak". That is pathetic scheduling. I would have bet you a million bucks all those teams would suck or "flop". I'm surprised MD Baltimore County was 214. Not too shabby. UMASS had... Dartmouth (255) St. Francis NY (281) Jacksonville St (315) Savannah St. (289) Boston University (210) Luckily they added these power teams above 200 Central Connecticut (147) Yale (142) Northeastern (183) Oakland(125) This is actually pretty comical. I didn't even think it was this bad. CAG Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
satrap Posted March 11, 2007 Share Posted March 11, 2007 I'm back and I understand your analysis. But there are, what, 337 DI programs? Teams are going to schedule those above 200 - you have to. There are just too many teams for it to be any other way. Also, teams like Boston U., Central Ct. State, Oakland, Northeastern, Ivy Leaguers, well they're not great but they just aren't DIII either. People are getting their perspectives warped by the constant "We need to be top 50!!" screaming when there are a good 200 schools (conservatively) that aspire to this. And tell me, do you guys really think that the MVC, with all their so-called tricked out scheduling, has more than 1 team DEFINITELY better than Xavier, UMass, RI, or GW. I don't. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inthelou Posted March 11, 2007 Author Share Posted March 11, 2007 nm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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