Scheduling Thoughts

[Jrberendzen]

http://whiteandbluereview.com/?page_id=293#bigeast

Go down to Wichita State's listing.

there's a question mark there which means it may or may not happen

[Billikenboy]

13th ranked? We can play anyone! So what we lost. We are bound to catch a giant sleeping sooner or later. Helps the RPI anyway.

[GOSLU68]

I believe they are trying to work out a TV game theme like best A10 vs best of MVC now that Creighton has left WS is pretty a given to take the Conference lead again: I did not mention it when I mentioned Vanderbilt as WS was not finalized

[ARon]

So we'll be playing at least 1/3 of the Valley. That should some people happy.

[TheOldie]

So we'll be playing at least 1/3 of the Valley. That should some people happy.

Is it a prelude to joining the Valley

[wgstl]

having WSU and vandy is nice

[RUBillsFan]

Is it a prelude to joining the Valley

Playing multiple Valley teams is nothing new for SLU. For years SLU had home and homes going with both SIU-C and Missouri State. I'm not a huge fan of playing so many teams from the same conference, but really it makes sense for SLU to schedule home and homes with Valley teams if they can't get top level BCS teams to do home and homes. The Valley is a decent league and because the schools are close to StL, it makes for easy OOC road trips to the away games.

[RUBillsFan]

I'm going to add the 2012-13 RPIs to Pistol's list, so we can get a little bit better judge of SOS.

2013-2014 Schedule:

11/21 vs. Bowling Green - 274, Presbyterian - 340, Georgia Southern - 266, or Oral Roberts - 151 (Cancun Challenge, home sites)

11/23 vs. Bowling Green - 274, Presbyterian - 340, Georgia Southern - 266, or Oral Roberts - 151 (Cancun Challenge, home sites)

11/26 @ Wisconsin - 32 (Cancun Challenge, Cancun, Mexico)

11/26 @ West Virginia - 146 or Old Dominion - 318 (Cancun Challenge, Cancun, Mexico)

12/18 vs. Indiana State - 74

Dates TBD:

@ Valpo - 58

@ SIUC - 192

@ SIUE - 304 (if the 2-for-1 has the road game second)

Vanderbilt - 120 (site TBD)

Wichita State - 37 (site TBD)

So top 5:

Wisconsin - 32

Wichita St - 37

Valpo - 58

Indiana St - 74

Vanderbilt - 120

For reference SLU 2012-13 top 5 RPI opponents:

New Mexico - 2

Kansas - 5

Valpo - 58

Washington - 88

Santa Clara - 101

[Pistol]

So we have a little work to do in the RPI department. Those KU and New Mexico games were huge last year- who knew UNM could finish that high in the RPI?

[JettFlight5]

So we have a little work to do in the RPI department. Those KU and New Mexico games were huge last year- who knew UNM could finish that high in the RPI?

The MWC gamed the RPI pretty good with the D2 games. I think we need to have a pretty tough OOC, because of the conference taking a hit.

[HusakAttack]

So we have a little work to do in the RPI department. Those KU and New Mexico games were huge last year- who knew UNM could finish that high in the RPI?

New Mexico's RPI was a fraud...Bilas wrote about it a month or so ago...they played a ton of D2 schools that worked toward their record but didnt effect RPI negatively

[kshoe]

New Mexico's RPI was a fraud...Bilas wrote about it a month or so ago...they played a ton of D2 schools that worked toward their record but didnt effect RPI negatively

New Mexico didn't play any D2 teams.

They just weren't a traditional power team so when their RPI gets too high people assume they must have "gamed" the system. Which of course begs the question, if its so easy to game the system why doesn't everyone do it?

[NH]

I think the real question is why the college bball community gives so much credit to RPI. It's clearly a flawed stat.

Also, are we playing Vandy and Wichita St? I don't speak 68 but would really appreciate a translator.

[Pistol]

I think the real question is why the college bball community gives so much credit to RPI. It's clearly a flawed stat.

Also, are we playing Vandy and Wichita St? I don't speak 68 but would really appreciate a translator.

Hard to say for sure, but that site with the Wichita State info is pretty solid on the other schedules. I've got no clue on either, though. Figured it couldn't hurt to add them.

[JettFlight5]

New Mexico didn't play any D2 teams, but the MWC played 14 such games.

If SLU drops 2 of the weak sister buy games and adds two D2 games, it would help the RPI.

[kshoe]

I think the real question is why the college bball community gives so much credit to RPI. It's clearly a flawed stat.

Also, are we playing Vandy and Wichita St? I don't speak 68 but would really appreciate a translator.

I agree that neither are necessarily the done deal that some seem to believe it is.

[kshoe]

New Mexico didn't play any D2 teams, but the MWC played 14 such games.

If SLU drops 2 of the weak sister buy games and adds two D2 games, it would help the RPI.

It would help OUR RPI but its not clear how much it helps the rest of the league's RPI. Basically, if we no longer have two wins on our record that will hurt the RPIs of teams that play us in-conference as 50% of their RPI is based on our W/L record. I read the pieces that Bilas and someone else wrote about how the MWC "gamed" the system by playing an average 1.4 D2 games for each team and I think they were flawed.

The simple truth is the MWC played very well during the non-con part of the season and avoided any bad losses while going on the road to beat some pretty good teams. They didn't back it up in the NCAA tourney so everyone believes they were frauds but there is no doubt that during November and December they played great ball. That is why their RPI was so good, not some technical issue about D2 teams.

[JettFlight5]

It would help OUR RPI but its not clear how much it helps the rest of the league's RPI. Basically, if we no longer have two wins on our record that will hurt the RPIs of teams that play us in-conference as 50% of their RPI is based on our W/L record. I read the pieces that Bilas and someone else wrote about how the MWC "gamed" the system by playing an average 1.4 D2 games for each team and I think they were flawed.

The simple truth is the MWC played very well during the non-con part of the season and avoided any bad losses while going on the road to beat some pretty good teams. They didn't back it up in the NCAA tourney so everyone believes they were frauds but there is no doubt that during November and December they played great ball. That is why their RPI was so good, not some technical issue about D2 teams.

14 games with 200+ RPI teams are going to have some collateral damage to the RPI. All the RPI formula has to do is count D2 the same as the lowest D1 and that "game" will end. The MWC has one other huge advantage...they don't have RPI anchors in the league because it's a smaller league.

[JMM28]

The MWC has one other huge advantage...they don't have RPI anchors in the league because it's a smaller league.

The quality top to bottom is the key for a conference RPI. The Fordhams of the world put an incredible hurt on the league RPI along with the other rotating cellar dwellars in the A10.

The MVC and MWC have played the RPI game well in recent years and they were able to do that in various seasons by mandating non-con scheduling policy, beating mid level teams, limiting the RPI killer games (200+), and simply winning games.

[RUBillsFan]

If SLU drops 2 of the weak sister buy games and adds two D2 games, it would help the RPI.

I wonder if there is a difference in how much a buy game with a D-II school costs vs a buy game with a D-I school. If D-II is significantly cheaper that would be another reason to play more D-II schools instead. I can't imagine that attendance would be affected very much.

[kshoe]

14 games with 200+ RPI teams are going to have some collateral damage to the RPI. All the RPI formula has to do is count D2 the same as the lowest D1 and that "game" will end. The MWC has one other huge advantage...they don't have RPI anchors in the league because it's a smaller league.

So, let's say they made that rule change and the MWC teams all decided to simply not play 14 fewer non-conference games during the regular season, would they be gaming the system? Because that's the equivalent of what they did per the RPI.

[JettFlight5]

So, let's say they made that rule change and the MWC teams all decided to simply not play 14 fewer non-conference games during the regular season, would they be gaming the system? Because that's the equivalent of what they did per the RPI.

If they do that, fine. But to say they didn't exploit the system is wrong.

I believe without a doubt SLU would have run the table in the MWC last year.

[Billikenboy]

I second that!

[Emoracze]

Just read an interesting article, the SEC has hired a scheduling consultant and the league will review all non-con games for approval. Seems the SEC was pissed about their poor showing this year. Should be an excellent way for teams like SLU to get some SEC games on the schedule (see Vandy as example). Would be great to see us line up some solid future games beyond this year.

[SLUMedBilliken15]

If they do that, fine. But to say they didn't exploit the system is wrong.

I believe without a doubt SLU would have run the table in the MWC last year.

You probably would have also believed that we would beat Rhode Island last year without a doubt.... The point is that it is difficult to run the table.