For-DaLove Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 You must have perfect foresite to know that two teams with near identical RPIs last year will be dramatically different this year. Stanford is generally expected to be in the top 4-5 of the Pac 12 next year that's good enough for me. Last year, when people would ask who we played and beat in non-con my answer was always Washington, BC, Villanova and Oklahoma. I never mentioned Tennessee St. and Vermont, who actually had RPIs better than 2 of those teams. Perception does matter. Maybe to you and I, but not to the committee. Most of our early wins didn't mean ###### when it came March because those teams weren't good. Our schedule this year will be way better than last year. And sorry to break it to you guys but Stanford wouldn't have drastically changed our schedule. Like Brian said, Valpo is most likely going to be the better team this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slufanskip Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 You must have perfect foresite to know that two teams with near identical RPIs last year will be dramatically different this year. Stanford is generally expected to be in the top 4-5 of the Pac 12 next year that's good enough for me. Last year, when people would ask who we played and beat in non-con my answer was always Washington, BC, Villanova and Oklahoma. I never mentioned Tennessee St. and Vermont, who actually had RPIs better than 2 of those teams. Perception does matter. Top 4 or 5 in the Pac 12 might get them one of the last seeds in the CBI Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bellevegas Bill Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 Jumping into this discussion kind of late, but wouldn't the committee view a conference champion (Valpo) win more important than a win against a CBI team (Stanford) even if Stanford had a slightly better RPI. In the end perception has a lot to do with what people think about the Billiken team. Last year throughout the 76 classic some were surprised that we beat Villanova (Final RPI 120) and Oklahoma State (RPI 121) but considered the game against Vermont(RPI 127) an easy win. I know that Stanford is a BCS opponent but in the end Valpo has a MUCH better chance of making it into the big dance and actually not be a 16 seed (might be a little higher but not much more than a 14 or 13). Stanford's best chance of post season play is with Dayton in the NIT at best! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshoe Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 Why could Stanford not have scheduled a bb game on Sat if the football game is on Friday - sorry that makes no sense. Also, the problem is not staying one more night but 4 more nights - by not playing Stanford, we can come on Thurs AM not Mon. AM. Had we been able to play on Sat we come home on Sun AM and no more classes or missed by the players. I am sorry I am not buying the football reason as a valid excuse - there is no assurances that they will even be in the football game championship game. Well, they obviously had a pretty strong reason for not wanting the game on a Saturday and I guess I'm just crazy because I can see why they wouldn't want it the day after the biggest football game of the season. Maybe the biggest point here is that early on, a bunch of people said it wasn't about the money but if you think about it, palying on a Sunday is no problem if you take a chartered flight back. You'd miss no school. Instead, we are likely passing on a good home and home series because we wanted to fly commercial. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbizzle09 Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 Maybe to you and I, but not to the committee. Most of our early wins didn't mean ###### when it came March because those teams weren't good. Our schedule this year will be way better than last year. And sorry to break it to you guys but Stanford wouldn't have drastically changed our schedule. Like Brian said, Valpo is most likely going to be the better team this year. Valpo returns all of their best players and will be a senior laden squad this season. They are set up to dominate the Horizon (especially with Butler gone) and get into the NCAA. They did not lose anyone of note from last season. Stanford only lost one good player (Josh Owens) who was their best rebounder. They should be any better or worse than last season, and are probably an NIT team and possible NCAA team. We have a better shot at beating Valpo at home than Stanford on the road at the end of a road trip, and a Valpo win will look better than a Stanford loss. In the end, though, I am just doing a positive spin on this. The best scenario would have been to have both games. But if we had to choose only one, I am fine with the Valpo home game. Doesn't really irritate me nearly as much as it does kshoe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshoe Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 Maybe to you and I, but not to the committee. Most of our early wins didn't mean ###### when it came March because those teams weren't good. Our schedule this year will be way better than last year. And sorry to break it to you guys but Stanford wouldn't have drastically changed our schedule. Like Brian said, Valpo is most likely going to be the better team this year. Why do you say that? The only non-con opponent on our schedule better than last year will be Kansas (hopefully we play them). The rest of the schedule is very comparable if not weaker. Last year, we played 5 games away from Chaifetz, this year it will be 3. I don't think anybody believes New Mexico will be as good as they were last season. Bascially our schedule is as follows: - Texas A&M (Neutral) 165 RPI last season - Kansas (Neutral) - @ Washington - Home vs. Valpo - Home vs. New mexico - 9, count them 9, buy game quality opponents. And make no doubt about it, the two SIUs are buy-game caliber these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbizzle09 Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 Why do you say that? The only non-con opponent on our schedule better than last year will be Kansas (hopefully we play them). The rest of the schedule is very comparable if not weaker. Last year, we played 5 games away from Chaifetz, this year it will be 3. I don't think anybody believes New Mexico will be as good as they were last season. Bascially our schedule is as follows: - Texas A&M (Neutral) 165 RPI last season - Kansas (Neutral) - @ Washington - Home vs. Valpo - Home vs. New mexico - 9, count them 9, buy game quality opponents. And make no doubt about it, the two SIUs are buy-game caliber these days. IMO, I don't think LMU is a buy game quality opponent. They will be a quality team this season. Maybe only a CIT/CBI level team, but definitely better than buy game quality (and they did beat us last season.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kshoe Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 IMO, I don't think LMU is a buy game quality opponent. They will be a quality team this season. Maybe only a CIT/CBI level team, but definitely better than buy game quality (and they did beat us last season.) Fair enough. I admit I had forgotten about them. We are down to 8 buy game quality opponents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BACKHANDtheRICAN Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 Here is the info that we got at the lunch today. Much of it is was just chit-chat, but there were some interesting tidbits from May: -The Stanford series cancellation came down to a couple of things. Stanford couldn't do a Saturday game and wanted to do it on a Sunday instead. At the same time, we had an offer from Valpo for a home and home. As the Stanford series wasn't actually signed, they decided to go with Valpo and start it at the 'Fetz. From an RPI standpoint, both teams were nearly identical last year. In the end, instead of staying on the West Coast a little longer to do the Stanford series, they decided to just go with an extra OOC home game this season and start a series with Valpo. Our only road games in the OOC schedule will be Washington and the pre-season tourney (which are technically 'neutral' games.) -The department is going to put together something for the Kansas City games. More details will be known in September. -May was confident that the next TV contract will be a whole lot better than the current one. We are in the last year of the current contract. His goal is to get every Billiken game televised. -May reiterated an earlier statement from this summer in that Evans has gained 20 pounds of muscle. He pointed out that Manning has also put on a lot of muscle. -Loe and Ellis apparently learned a lot this summer and played well with their national teams. May said that Loe is in the best shape he's ever been. -Once we go back to 14 teams in 2013-14, we will play Butler, Dayton and Xavier twice a season. This should be permanent. -May also pointed out that everyone is on track academically and we should have no issues on that front. He stated that the cumulative GPA of the student-athletes is 3.18. -He was asked about Creighton and GMU as possible A10 members in the future. He said geography is the main issue for Creighton, while GMU is just not very high on the priority list. He said it is possible that UMass may leave sometime in the future as they are very agressive with their football program, but doesn't see anyone else leaving anytime soon. I am sure that I am missing some things. I also might not be giving a full account of what I did list. Was anyone else from the board there? It was a small gathering, only about 12 guests. Good summary of what was covered today. Backhand doesn't have much to add. Although, May did give a shout out to section 108. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheeseman Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 Well, they obviously had a pretty strong reason for not wanting the game on a Saturday and I guess I'm just crazy because I can see why they wouldn't want it the day after the biggest football game of the season. Maybe the biggest point here is that early on, a bunch of people said it wasn't about the money but if you think about it, palying on a Sunday is no problem if you take a chartered flight back. You'd miss no school. Instead, we are likely passing on a good home and home series because we wanted to fly commercial. You are right - you may be the only person who sees playing on Sat after a Friday big football game is a problem - I do not. It is not like they are likely to get a better quality opponent than us so to demand it be on Sunday is strictly up to them and their need and takes none of our needs into consideration - one way street in my mind as I said before. What was said that the cost of an extra night would not be the reason for not scheduling the game that is a lot different then saying money is no concern - the cost of a charter flight makes the one night extra stay pale in comparison. I think you have to take a big picture approach to this matter: 1. the 4 extra nights and the missing of at least 2 more days of classes has to be factored in 2. We already know that charter flights cost something like 50K so is the game at Stanford worth the missed classes or the expenditure for the charter flight would equate to about 40K over commercial flying? 3. The trade off RPI and SOS wise is at worse a wash. Sorry, as much as I would have liked to have a home game with Stanford and Valpo I do see their thinking. Just because I feel disappointed does not mean that what I wanted was the best way to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bellevegas Bill Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 Good summary of what was covered today. Backhand doesn't have much to add. Although, May did give a shout out to section 108. Clearly May meant to give a shout out to 121/122 front... but I guess we can forgive him once... Something that hasn't been discussed recently is do we think this schedule of teams will lead to an increase in student attendance. Playing a few bigger named schools may help us out with in the bleachers. I have been in a few college arenas and it is pretty safe to so that when the students show up to games our arena can be one of the louder arenas that I have been to give the Bills a fantastic home court advantage. Butler should end up being a big game, but I could also a few of the OOC teams such as the NM team help out attendance (only if you can get a viable student section to attend over the break). I personally do not think we need to worry about our regular fans, there seems to be a decent supply of season ticket holder and hopefully SLU will be able to market our program much better over the coming years now that we have some recent success and a bright future ahead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slu72 Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 Problem w/ the NM game is it's over Xmas holidays, student turnout won't be as great as it should be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbofive Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 For lunch today, I had only a small bag of malt vinegar and sea salt potato chips. When I get home, I'm going to eat an unbelievable number of sandwiches. Like 2 or 3. And some chocolate pudding. And *****. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westy03 Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 For lunch today, I had only a small bag of malt vinegar and sea salt potato chips. When I get home, I'm going to eat an unbelievable number of sandwiches. Like 2 or 3. And some chocolate pudding. And *****. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bellevegas Bill Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 Problem w/ the NM game is it's over Xmas holidays, student turnout won't be as great as it should be. Which makes me wonder why did SLU schedule one of our bigger games (home and home) on the 31st. With the number of local students SLU has I would love to see more students there, but I went to all of those games last year and it was pathetic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnnyJumpUp Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 Which makes me wonder why did SLU schedule one of our bigger games (home and home) on the 31st. With the number of local students SLU has I would love to see more students there, but I went to all of those games last year and it was pathetic. Maybe they will make that game Boyscout Night at the Fetz! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waldo027 Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 We played New Mexico at their place on Dec 31st last season. Nothing wrong with playing it then. Last season's premiere non-conference home game was at 11 am on Sunday morning, fresh off a 12-19 season. We already play TA&M, UW, New Mexico, and Valpo. If we play KU, then the non-conference schedule is definitely better than last season. We also get Butler home and away, UMass, SJU, VCU at home, Xavier and Temple away. The overall schedule will be the strongest since the CUSA days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waldo027 Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 For lunch today, I had only a small bag of malt vinegar and sea salt potato chips. When I get home, I'm going to eat an unbelievable number of sandwiches. Like 2 or 3. And some chocolate pudding. And *****. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quality Is Job 1 Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 Jumping into this discussion kind of late, but wouldn't the committee view a conference champion (Valpo) win more important than a win against a CBI team (Stanford) even if Stanford had a slightly better RPI. In the end perception has a lot to do with what people think about the Billiken team. Last year throughout the 76 classic some were surprised that we beat Villanova (Final RPI 120) and Oklahoma State (RPI 121) but considered the game against Vermont(RPI 127) an easy win. I know that Stanford is a BCS opponent but in the end Valpo has a MUCH better chance of making it into the big dance and actually not be a 16 seed (might be a little higher but not much more than a 14 or 13). Stanford's best chance of post season play is with Dayton in the NIT at best!The Bills played Oklahoma (not State) in the 76 last year. I suspect the Sooners' RPI was significantly better than the Cowboys'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bellevegas Bill Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 Maybe they will make that game Boyscout Night at the Fetz! Haha they don't cheer, they just look good on camera. Those are tough games on the band having to cheer extra. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bellevegas Bill Posted August 17, 2012 Share Posted August 17, 2012 The Bills played Oklahoma (not State) in the 76 last year. I suspect the Sooners' RPI was significantly better than the Cowboys'. My fault, I wasn't really thinking when I said that. The point still makes sense minus Oklahoma. Its tough to think living above a night club. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SLUMedBilliken15 Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 I got a phone call from someone within the Athletic Department about a month ago asking if I would like to atttend a lunch. The dates were Aug 1st, 9th, 16th, or 23rd. Too bad I cant make any of them. I was wondering when that check would clear, ouch... Did anyone go to today's lunch? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimbofive Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 Did anyone go to today's lunch? i'm going to lunch here in a minute. i'm going to have a sandwich and a pickle and a soda and some chips and a cookie. then i'm going to go home, have a cigar and about 9 beers, and then take my kid brother across the street to thirsty thursdays at the college bar and we'll try to stick our fingers in something. what are you all having for lunch? what did ricky baby have for lunch? i'll bet one was greater than the other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Box and Won Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 Did anyone go to today's lunch? Wasn't invited. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kwyjibo Posted August 23, 2012 Share Posted August 23, 2012 I missed this thread last week as I was out in the wilds. I must say a lot of people are confused about RPI and if what is reported in this thread is true it includes Chris May. Swapping a home game for an away game in the RPI, even with comparable teams "RPI-wise", is in not a wash. It means your win potential goes down by .8 (almost a whole win) as a home win counts as .6 wins and a road win counts as 1.4 wins. This would translate at the end of the season to a few RPI places. It gets worse though, as away victories are a criteria for selection (although given that the RPI formula is biased toward the away games this independent factor has diminished since the change in formula). I do not know if Valpo or Stanford will be better next year (my guess is that Valpo may have a better record and this help our RPI more directly but I would think Standford has a better chance at being top 100 RPI so a chance at a top 100 road win is an issue). I think the thing that disturbed me the most was the comment about getting to 11 wins non-conf. 11 wins is nice and all but if this is to be a serious program you have to recognize that quality matters (Norfolk St. can do that). Even "big-time" programs get punished at selection time with that mentality. It looks like Pomeroy/Cannon will be doing their projections this year so I can figure out roughly how many victories will need to get SLU into the tourney and to get a good seed. I just like it when that number is lower and feel that intelligent scheduling should be about maximizing your chance at tournament selection or tournament seeding (if you see selection as a foregone conclusion). Kshoe was definitely right when he said that SLU should be upping the quality of the schedule. Scheduling is something that you control and it should be used a tool to improve your program not creating unnecessary barriers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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