Crafting the OOC schedule for next year

[Greene Rice FIG]

I have no idea how complete it is. 2 things I think we can conclude....

1. This year's weak schedule helped jump start the program with Ws AND
2. Hurt us with the beginning of the B1G schedule as we aren't acclimated with better competition

Keeping in mind with the need for home court revenue I'd like to see the schedule.......

6 cupcakes (6H 0A) (real cupcakes) I am guessing having a "psuedo tournament" like this year is needed to maximize OOC games
2 challenges (1H 1A) hopefully we get a home date with either ACC or BE
1 SHU (.5H .5A)
1 P5 school (.5H .5A)
3 local games (2H 1A) schools within 100 miles that are higher than cupcakes that would be willing to do 2 for 1s)...not sure if Princeton or Monmouth would be willing

Not much different than last year. Maybe the extra P5 school thrown in there would help.

Anyone with insights of anything that has been finalized or is in the works. I do know the early B1G tourney at MSG has moved some B1G games early.

 

[willisneverrana43]

I don't think it hurt us with the start to the B1G. We'd already played Miami, SHU and Wisconsin, the last two recently, when PSU came into our building and won. I think we just lost to better teams.

 

[ScarletLongIsland_rivals]

We definitely need to toughen up the OOC next year, no doubt about it. It certainly helped PSU by having a tougher OOC and it showed.

 

[NewJerseyHawk]

The schedule (to my knowledge), will look similar to OOC slate this year....there is no Princeton on the docket as of now and I don't think Monmouth, Rider, St. Peters or another MAAC team is currently slated as well. Obviously things can change but I don't think the schedule contributed to our "decline" once we played SHU, Wisconsin, etc....

It;s my opinion that we would be worse right now with a tougher schedule and we need to keep things in context.....Season tickets are or were at an all time low, we need to get people back into the RAC first........we have no context other than the great reports about what we can expect from the basketball program.....teams like Northwestern rebuilt their "credibility" under Carmody and early under Chris Collins, by rebuilding confidence and installing their system against opponents they can control. It may be tougher to digest, but players need to score and have success before getting crunched....

I think after Season 2 with this staff, two recruiting cycles, rebuilding confidence and learning what we are seeing this conference year, will allow the staff to recruit to fix things that are situational basketball, while eliminating the viewpoint that RU is a single digit winning program or cannot win games.

RU is not losing ground because there are a lot of new faces that are not used to scoring, getting important rebounds, rotating properly on defense and being in the proper position, until it's taught over multiple off-seasons. If RU gets to .500 this year, it would be ahead of schedule, because the assumption is that Year 2 will be better than Year one and that RU can get over .500 next year....

 

[PiscatawayMike]

ACC Squad home...in Big 10 ACC Matchup
Stony Brook home (part of Pikiell's contract)
Seton Hall home
Fordham......Site TBD (4-6 year deal)
Princeton - possible
BE squad - home possible

 

[RUsince52]

Given the uncertainty of what this team would look like or perform with a new CS, playing an easy OOC schedule was a smart move. Unless you're a really young team, you don't gain confidence by losing to even good teams. Wins while learning were important. The problem was and is the fact that it's harder to score against good teams when you can't shoot .
The one constant seems to be that our rebounding is legit, but doesn't always translate to points.
Unless we get some guys who prove they can score might just as well stay with an easy schedule again. Except for fan appeal, a mixture of better teams only mean more losses. Until we get some better talent, it's a toss up.

 

[Greene Rice FIG]

NJH....not sure I agree with the weak schedule not hurting us now. I do 100% agree this was the right schedule for us this year.

We will never know. Maybe 100% of the increase in TO is due solely to the bump up in competition and NOT the adjustment to the bump up. Also the rotations have changed quite a bit. I think it is taking time for Pikiell to figure out who and what combinations can help us and who can't.