not if you win them. this place goes crazy when we dont beat someone by enough. i doubt fans would be so forgiving if we drop 4, 5, or 6 non conference games
OCC schedule needs a significant upgrade
- Thread starter WeepNoMore
- Start date
not if you win them. this place goes crazy when we dont beat someone by enough. i doubt fans would be so forgiving if we drop 4, 5, or 6 non conference games
Some people would act like idiots if UK lost to the Warriors.
But I actually think people tend to act less idiotic when UK drops games against better opponents. Lose to Kansas at their place, people are mostly OK. Lose to a bad UCLA team, and people start to jump off bridges.
It would be impossible to play the top 12 teams, but if you ramp the schedule up from where it is now, most people will understand if UK doesn't go into SEC play 12-0 or 13-0. It would mainly be a question of how UK responded in March, because that's what it all boils down to now, regardless of the quality of the schedule. Play the toughest schedule in the country, get to the FF, and people will say "totally worth it". Play the weakest OOC schedule in the country, get to the FF, and people will say that all the winning gave the team confidence. Reverse the situation (as in losing early in the tournament), and people will think that the strength of the schedule wore the team down, or that the weakness of the schedule didn't prepare the team.
Beyond the little bit of hyperbole in this thread, I think that UK's OOC schedules used to be tougher than they are now on a pretty regular basis (and the same is true for almost all power conference teams- you used to have to go out of your way to get on national TV in November and December, unlike now, where every game is on somewhere). Look at 98-99. UK played 3 warmup type games, then played 10 consecutive games against schools that are now in power 5 conferences. That included 4 games against ranked teams (none lower than 11). In 97-98, 8 of 14 OOC games were against teams now in power 5 conferences. In 99-00, it was 10/14.
I'd take stuff like that.
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If everyone scheduled super tough games, I wouldn't have a problem with it.
But if UK was playing let's say seven top 10 teams OOC, but Duke and Louisville were only playing two, it would skew the numbers come tournament time and UK would be punished with a lower seed because Kentucky's record could be less impressive. Now if you win all seven games, the Cats would fare better, but if they split them 4-3, they would be punished by the committee. In other words it's an extreme risk/reward that's really not worth it, IMO.
I've already added to this conversation before you popped up your ugly lil whackamole head and started insulting others. This whole keyboard warrior routine for the umpteenth time ??? There are rip off replicas of dog crap more original than you....
[roll]
uh oh. Are there any legal ramifications for him taking such a vital daily need away from us ? [laughing]
As I have said before, he is around 13 years old and has the common sense and intelligence of a rock.
Sorry, but our OOC schedule this season included KU, Duke, UL, UCLA, Ohio St, and Arizona St. Two of those on the road, two more on neutral courts. And those are some pretty big names in the NCAA basketball, all P5 conference teams, Practically half that portion of the schedule. I think it stacks up well against anyone's OOC schedule.
It seems obvious to me that since we start with basically a whole new, inexperienced team every year in some of those years we're going to take some losses. The losses to UCLA, and OSU help plunge us in the rankings, and helped keep us from getting that 3 seed instead of a 4. What a difference that could have made. And you want us to add more? Not me. I've not shied away from being critical of Cal at times about some things, but his scheduling is most definitely not one of them.
It seems obvious to me that since we start with basically a whole new, inexperienced team every year in some of those years we're going to take some losses. The losses to UCLA, and OSU help plunge us in the rankings, and helped keep us from getting that 3 seed instead of a 4. What a difference that could have made. And you want us to add more? Not me. I've not shied away from being critical of Cal at times about some things, but his scheduling is most definitely not one of them.
I agree with your logic....but the simple answer is that coaches including Cal are obsessed with their statistics. They want to get to 30 Win seasons as much as possible. They want their lifetime coaching record to be as high as possible. Now what is interesting is that the argument for that statistics obsession is pride but realistically it's an argument to get you into the hall of fame someday. Now that Cal has already achieved admittance into the Hall of Fame perhaps he would be more willing to take some early season losses against his record??? Honestly he will never admit this but I firmly believe Cal is copying K's scheduling philosophy of refusing to play anybody in the non-con away in "true" road games and insisting they all be neutral court because the officiating isn't nearly so biased on neutral courts as it is at away games. It's a clear competitive advantage to play neutral court opposed to away games and Duke has mastered this scheduling philosophy. We have to play Louisville on the road because of the KY legislature but I'll be fascinated to see if we bring back the Home and away series with Carolina after the game this year because again I think Cal is copying K's scheduling philosophy. The problem is as this thread has already discussed the ACC is the premier conference in college basketball and the SEC is tied with the PAC 12 for worst power conference over the last 5-8 years. Let's see how next year goes because right now we project to have clearly have the toughest non-con schedule in the country.
Kentucky Basketball usually has a Top 10 Stength of Schedule each year for OOC. The problem with OOC schedules is that you can schedule the best teams in your 13 game OOC schedule. The issue is you don't know year to year how well they are going to being playing that year. This year Kentucky had one of the best Pre-Season OOC schedules set for 2015-2016 season. They had Ohio State(Neutral), UCLA on the Road, Arizona State, Louisville, Kansas on the Road, and Duke(Neutral). Teams like Ohio State, UCLA, Arizona State are you usually NCAA Tournament teams and have better records. That is a chance you take when scheduling these OOC teams you don't know what kind of season they will have when you play them. Ohio State and UCLA hurt us this year with the seasons they had and on top of that we lost to both of these teams. These losses hurt you at the end of the season when the Committee gets together and figures out the Tournament and seedings. The OOC schedule doesn't need a upgrade when you play in the CBS Sports Classic, The Champions Classic, The UL game, SEC vs Big12 Challenge, and the other games for the OOC schedule. The SEC is Killing us in Men's Basketball and that is where we need upgraded like the ACC, Big10, Big12, etc. We finished with a RPI of 10 or 11 and Texas A&M was at 18. The next best was Florida at #55 and Vandy at 62 and Georgia at 65. The two teams that killed us with defeats was UT and Auburn and their RPI's were 145 and 175. These were the 2 losses that everyone kept saying that killed us in our RPI and in our NCAA Tournament Seeding. The OOC schedule doesn't need a significant upgrade its the SEC teams in Mens Basketball that is killing us when we lose on the road and then hurts us in our Seeding in the NCAA Tournament.
I am a federal prosecutor and would smoke you in a court of law homeslice.[laughing] And I happen to be very smug in real life.imp:
haha omg no. Did that just happen? Did he just watch some daytime rerun of law and order and pull out federal prosecutor out of his butt ?
What case would you two go up against and how do you know you'd smoke his homeslice and I'm absolutely sure that homeslice isn't a legal term.
i wonder if he's trying to be funny on purpose or if he's just trying really hard like the lil toaster
What case would you two go up against and how do you know you'd smoke his homeslice and I'm absolutely sure that homeslice isn't a legal term.
i wonder if he's trying to be funny on purpose or if he's just trying really hard like the lil toaster
Lol! You are blatant liar. No federal prosecutor would make the grammatical and spelling errors like you douchebag. He or she would also not make the moronic statement "I would smoke you in a court of law". [roll] Not only are you an idiot, but you have now proven yourself to be a total clown. [eyeroll]
lol...soooo, you think I am on here to prove my worth as a master of the English language? Since I make so many grammatical mistakes, you should tell me about them. In addition, if you would like to take a look at my facebook page just let me know! It should clear thing sup a bit for ya! While were at it, I have never heard of a lawyer acting so foolishly on a message board as you obviously do.
That was cool, but I'm all for playing in front of a green screen and then adding cgi of dinosaurs eating people in the stands for the telecast.
Nice of you to swiftly admit you aren't a lawyer. I mean unless you really honestly think you are acting appropriate and in that case [roll][roll][roll][roll][roll][roll][roll][roll][roll][roll][roll][roll][roll][roll]
:joy::joy::joy::joy::joy: [roll][roll][roll]
Kentucky does historically play the toughest OOC schedule than any other program in history. And frankly it's not even close.
Someone who claims to have studied the game of basketball for a long time should have already known that.
The problem with the SEC is that its all about Football instead of Basketball. Just go to the Famous and one and only Paul Finebaum on the SEC Network Channel each day from 3pm-7pm. All he wishes and wants to talk about is how great the SEC Football will be each year. Then to top that off all he wants to talk about is Coach Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide Football.
According to Jerry Palm of CBS Sports, Kentucky had the 11th toughest OOC schedule. That is very strong.
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/bracketology/sos
http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/bracketology/sos
Guess I grew up during a different era.
During Adolph Rupp's last season (71-72) the OOC schedule consisted of Northwestern, Kansas, Kansas State, Indiana, Michigan State, Missouri, Princeton and Notre Dame. Toward the end of the Joe Hall Era we started to see a smattering of lesser teams come on the schedule.
This trend continued, not only at UK but throughout major college BB, until today's OOC schedules are dominated by directional teams, Popcorn States, and others that take a Google search to locate. I simply don't see how this trend results in better, more exciting college basketball.
You may be correct that UK plays the toughest OOC schedule. However, IMHO, to add "it's not even close" is a bit of a stretch. (See RC_Texas post immediately above.)
But surely you realize that we play in the weakest of the Big 5 conferences and as you say "it's not even close".
IMHO, we need to upgrade our OOC schedule at least by 3-4 games to offset the awful quality of the vast majority of our SEC opponents.
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I agree with much of what you posted here. Unfortunately, we have no way alone to upgrade the SEC. However, our OCC schedule is something we control and that we can easily upgrade.
Might want to move into the 21st century, pal. It isn't 1972 anymore. 20 wins per season is now sub par. We now play in a 24,000 seat arena. It is what it is and it is never going to go back to the way you sort of remember it. Gas won't be 19 cents a gallon, bread won't be a quarter a loaf. What you are asking for, what you are arguing, is ridiculously shortsighted. Doesn't matter how much you've "studied basketball", you obviously have a very loose grip on the reality of todays sports landscape. Either adapt and accept, or take up knitting. Maybe you can knit one and pearl three.
The OOC schedule is fine. You arent getting teams like Arizona or Xavier to play games without a return match-up. And, Kentucky brings in way more revenue by playing 17-20 home games (including exhibitions) than they do playing home and homes instead. May not like the reasoning, but that's just reality.
For this year? Louisville is a mainstay, and were Elite 8/Final 4 caliber except for the whores. We have no control that Duke, UCLA or Ohio State weren't as good as they normally are. Arizona State stunk this year after a coaching change, but they are a Power 5 conference team. Kansas may win it all (oooops!).
As for the rest of the schedule: In order to play 31 games, we have to schedule an exempt "tournament" (some years its the Bill Keightley Classic; this year, it the Naismith Hall of Fame Classic, which included the South Florida game in Miami), and that is going to be scheduled with three or four other teams that are willing to 1.) come to Rupp without a return game and 2.) can schedule most of the other three or four teams so they can make it an official exempt event so they can play 31 games, too. You are kinda limited on who you can schedule for those four games other than the marquee game (in this case, South Florida). The low-major teams we played in the remainder of those guarantee games had good years. Albany came in second in the NEC behind Stony Brook (you may have heard of them). Boston U and NJIT were both in the CIT.
As for the rest of the OOC schedule, the mid-major/guarantee portion of the schedule was actually pretty good, too. Wright State ended up second in the Horizon League regular season and runner-up in the league tournament. Illinois State came in third in the Missouri Valley Conference, just ahead of Northern Iowa. Until this year, Eastern Kentucky had been a regular at the top of the OVC. Again, UK has no control on a coaching change or a rebuilding year at EKU.
Simply put, no one today is going to put together a strictly Power 5 non-conference schedule.
For this year? Louisville is a mainstay, and were Elite 8/Final 4 caliber except for the whores. We have no control that Duke, UCLA or Ohio State weren't as good as they normally are. Arizona State stunk this year after a coaching change, but they are a Power 5 conference team. Kansas may win it all (oooops!).
As for the rest of the schedule: In order to play 31 games, we have to schedule an exempt "tournament" (some years its the Bill Keightley Classic; this year, it the Naismith Hall of Fame Classic, which included the South Florida game in Miami), and that is going to be scheduled with three or four other teams that are willing to 1.) come to Rupp without a return game and 2.) can schedule most of the other three or four teams so they can make it an official exempt event so they can play 31 games, too. You are kinda limited on who you can schedule for those four games other than the marquee game (in this case, South Florida). The low-major teams we played in the remainder of those guarantee games had good years. Albany came in second in the NEC behind Stony Brook (you may have heard of them). Boston U and NJIT were both in the CIT.
As for the rest of the OOC schedule, the mid-major/guarantee portion of the schedule was actually pretty good, too. Wright State ended up second in the Horizon League regular season and runner-up in the league tournament. Illinois State came in third in the Missouri Valley Conference, just ahead of Northern Iowa. Until this year, Eastern Kentucky had been a regular at the top of the OVC. Again, UK has no control on a coaching change or a rebuilding year at EKU.
Simply put, no one today is going to put together a strictly Power 5 non-conference schedule.
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I saw this thread and thought the same thing. Other teams need to step up their schedule. Ours is fine the way it is. And as far as the SEC, its on the other schools in conference to recognize what they need to do.
Good gravy you're a pompous ***. Either provide your credentials or shut the hell up about your experience.
Well no one believes you are an AUSA so post your Facebook page and prove it.