Inside the Lines: Grace & Tommy Review the Le Moyne Series
- Thread starter GraceNugent
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I mean, they can’t get a P4 or an in-state rival every weekend. I’d argue a series like this to get meaningful reps for the bench players could mean the world in May.
I’m fine with the series, but I know the committee looks closely at the RPI of each team when determining national seeds and regional hosts. Obviously we are a very long ways away from that, and who knows what could happen, but I would think playing a team with a RPI rating of 307 isn’t great.
We always play 3 non conference series, and it’s usually ECU, a mediocre team (Indiana this year), and a bad team (LeMoyne).
Problem is, I think LeMoyne is a lot worse than anyone could’ve imagined when we scheduled them. They had right handers throwing 85 MPH fastballs today. That pitching staff was atrocious for a D1 staff.
Problem is, I think LeMoyne is a lot worse than anyone could’ve imagined when we scheduled them. They had right handers throwing 85 MPH fastballs today. That pitching staff was atrocious for a D1 staff.
No need to shut up. The pre-conference schedule this year has been weaker than most years. It's one thing to have a three-game series with Seton Hall or Stonybrook, but playing a team as apparently weak as Le Moyne might not get you ready to face Virginia to open ACC play. I don't know if there have been any changes to NCAA selection criteria, but in past years there has been a lot of discussion that games like these hurt your RPI no matter how much you win by. Under Fox and Forbes, UNC has traditionally played a tough non-conference schedule. I fondly remember trips in February to LA for a tourney at S. Cal. and for 3-game series at UCLA, as well as a trip to Houston for a tournament with good competition. It's going to be a big step up for our players when UVa gets to town. Hope they're ready.
They lost 6 innings worth of reps and had exactly 0 high leverage situations the entire weekend. Everyone that consistently watches UNC baseball understands there is typically an early season tune-up series but there was absolutely nothing about that team that made us better.
I think that's only been the pattern the past couple of years? IIRC the 2024 team didn't play a P4-level team in nonconference other than ECU.
Second part of your comment seems spot on, though. Seems like Coach Jackson expected them to be at least contenders in the NEC, they didn't have an awful showing in-conference last year but they look really bad.
I just don’t understand what people want when complaining about Le Moyne. Do you want Forbes to say “they suck, we’re debasing ourselves by playing them?” Like what is the complaint? everyone was complaining we weren’t pasting bad teams during week one and then in week three we paste a bad team and people are worried about metrics. The coaching staff clearly found a way to make this series productive for the team in its development for the year, you can’t really ask for more for the non-conference weekend schedule.
I’m not sure how many high-leverage situations you get that your bench will play in over the course of a season. They lost starter reps, but that may also be a blessing in disguise for arms later in the season. We can disagree.