Schedule

bac2therac

Hall of Famer
Jul 30, 2001
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9-2
10-10

that is my more realistic scenario (not necessarily this year or last)

For 19-13 not to get us in we would need us to just pick off all the dregs in B1G and to have our OOC rate really bad and for the B1G to be down.

All 10-10s are not created equal
 

bac2therac

Hall of Famer
Jul 30, 2001
247,272
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I will say it again......the reason and only reason we weren't seeded higher, wasn't because of the losses to Lafayette and UMass, it was also the low margin of wins in the other wins, where RU was a significant favorite.

There is nothing wrong with the schedule. I saw the same things mentioned with Schiano in the old Big East, but that was different because the old BE, didn't have the respect or marketing around those opponents. Teams like Cincinnati, West Virginia and even UConn just didn't have the respect or tradition like other leagues.

In Pike's case, the B1G carries enough of a resume year after year, that is enough of a schedule to not worry about it. If someone can show me consistent teams making the NCAAS with 14, 15 and 16 losses or having a .500 record or 1 or 2 games over. 500, then we can change the schedule in the OOC.

The ooc sos was 300..just because it didnt bote us last year doesnt mean its not an issue
 

Greene Rice FIG

Heisman
Dec 30, 2005
40,437
23,613
0
The issue/question is are there 3 sliding scales when it comes to NCAA

1. win loss %
2. SOS
3. Margin of victory (as it relates to NET)

How does the change in 2 impact 1 and 3?

Too much thinking that you can change 2 and keep 1 and 3 relatively constant.

Beating Columbia by 40 helps our cause more than losing by 16 on a neutral site to Gonzaga (I think)
 

PSAL_Hoops

Heisman
Feb 18, 2008
13,096
12,435
78
It is already stupid enough with all the quality teams that are in the area that college athletes need to get in an airplane 10+ times per year.
Right - to be clear I’m not in favor of adding this type of game at all.

But our schedule for next year is shaping up to potentially be worse than last year. What games are replacing @ DePaul and @ UMass? Maybe we can play a second home game vs. Central CT.

Those 2 true road games were a lot tougher than neutrals vs Howard and George Mason would be. And we get Seton Hall at home this time too.
 
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PSAL_Hoops

Heisman
Feb 18, 2008
13,096
12,435
78
W AT UMASS
W Lafayette
L Purdue
L Ohio State

not sure if we would be out last year. If i were on the committee it wouldnt impact our position. Last I checked I wasnt on the committee.
Out? I think it’s more likely we’d have been a 10 seed than out with that resume. Your thinking everything else would’ve been the same, right?

But that’s because we also had the road wins at Wisconsin and Indiana plus home wins over Illinois, Iowa, Michigan State and Michigan.
 

dpwhite

All-American
Jan 21, 2003
2,909
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Clearly the only way to solve this problem is for Rutgers to play Rutgers as both a home and away game
 
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Plum Street

Heisman
Jun 21, 2009
27,306
23,009
0
I’ll believe it when I see it. Like it or not, there is enough of a sample size to see that Pike is playing the type of schedule he wants…and he’d rather not challenge the team early. Year after year, our OOC schedule sucks. It is what it is. So far, he’s had 3 consecutive NCAA tournament caliber teams, so you can’t argue with the strategy yet.
Well said ….I noticed you ended with “yet”
 

lloyde dobler

All-Conference
Jan 26, 2004
735
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How about the idea of playing some big-time teams with the idea of beating them? It can certainly happen. The past couple of years have proved that. Too much play-it-safe thinking going on, especially with that exempt “tournament” each year at the RAC.
 
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kcg88

Heisman
Aug 11, 2017
10,862
17,230
0
Every Big Ten school is in some sort of neutral site preseason tournament except Rutgers and Indiana, and the Hoosiers have a neutral court game against Arizona and a road game at Kansas.


Illinois - Roman Main Event
Wisconsin - Battle 4 Atlantis
Michigan State - Phil Knight Invitational
Michigan - Legends Classic & Jumpman Classic
Iowa - Emerald Coast Classic
Ohio State - Maui Invitational
Purdue - Phil Knight Legacy
Maryland - Hall of Fame Tipoff
Northwestern - Cancun Challenge
Penn State - Charleston Classic
Minnesota - SoCal Challenge
Nebraska - ESPN Invitational

Weird how twenty Big Ten games plus ACC/Gavitts isn't enough for everyone else.
 

Local Shill

All-American
Aug 30, 2001
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Every Big Ten school is in some sort of neutral site preseason tournament except Rutgers and Indiana, and the Hoosiers have a neutral court game against Arizona and a road game at Kansas.


Illinois - Roman Main Event
Wisconsin - Battle 4 Atlantis
Michigan State - Phil Knight Invitational
Michigan - Legends Classic & Jumpman Classic
Iowa - Emerald Coast Classic
Ohio State - Maui Invitational
Purdue - Phil Knight Legacy
Maryland - Hall of Fame Tipoff
Northwestern - Cancun Challenge
Penn State - Charleston Classic
Minnesota - SoCal Challenge
Nebraska - ESPN Invitational

Weird how twenty Big Ten games plus ACC/Gavitts isn't enough for everyone else.
Thanks for compiling that info. I wonder how the head coach would respond if publicly presented with that information.

Again, he's done a magnificent job getting a woebegone program to 3 straight NCAA tournaments.

But the excuses and spin we hear about the schedule get tiresome after awhile.
 

PSAL_Hoops

Heisman
Feb 18, 2008
13,096
12,435
78
I thought we’re not even playing in Gavitts this year? And SHU is a home game. It’s one thing to have a weakish non-conference. I’m not advocating for anything close to murder row.

Our upcoming schedule is lining up to stand out as historically bad. I mean, 2019-20 could’ve headed in that direction too but SFA kind of bailed us out. Granted it was a very bad schedule, but at least we had that game and the neutral one vs St Bonnies.
 

Mikemarc

Heisman
Nov 28, 2005
69,220
17,902
97
I thought we’re not even playing in Gavitts this year? And SHU is a home game. It’s one thing to have a weakish non-conference. I’m not advocating for anything close to murder row.

Our upcoming schedule is lining up to stand out as historically bad. I mean, 2019-20 could’ve headed in that direction too but SFA kind of bailed us out. Granted it was a very bad schedule, but at least we had that game and the neutral one vs St Bonnies.

2019-2020 SOS was 25th in the country.
 

Plum Street

Heisman
Jun 21, 2009
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Are we playing umass again ? Would like to keep the northeast a-10 rivalry . The game last year was an all-time classic
 

PSAL_Hoops

Heisman
Feb 18, 2008
13,096
12,435
78
2019-2020 SOS was 25th in the country.
I’m obviously talking about the non-conference SOS. And again, SFA saved us from being dead last. Keep in mind we’re shaping up not to have that game or a neutral St Bonnie’s type either. Perhaps the ACC match up will be better than @ Pitt.
 
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PSAL_Hoops

Heisman
Feb 18, 2008
13,096
12,435
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Are we playing umass again ? Would like to keep the northeast a-10 rivalry . The game last year was an all-time classic
If we play them it would be at home.

The non-conference schedule is going to be so much worse than last years. We played @ DePaul, @ UMass and @ SHU. Depending on the ACC match up, we may not have a single game away from the RAC except Michigan State at the Garden.
 

Mikemarc

Heisman
Nov 28, 2005
69,220
17,902
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I’m obviously talking about the non-conference SOS. And again, SFA saved us from being dead last. Keep in mind we’re shaping up not to have that game or a neutral St Bonnie’s type either. Perhaps the ACC match up will be better than @ Pitt.

in the big ten, we can afford to have bad non conference SOS..since our conference SOS will almost always move us to the top 30 in the nation.
 

kcg88

Heisman
Aug 11, 2017
10,862
17,230
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1. @ UMass last season was the end of a home-and-home that we started in 2020.

in the big ten, we can afford to have bad non conference SOS..since our conference SOS will almost always move us to the top 30 in the nation.
2. If there's no advantage to doing so then why are 12 other Big Ten coaches signing their teams up for neutral site tournaments?
 

PSAL_Hoops

Heisman
Feb 18, 2008
13,096
12,435
78
in the big ten, we can afford to have bad non conference SOS..since our conference SOS will almost always move us to the top 30 in the nation.
Don’t be so sure. It was 37 last year, but OOC was 255. We’re looking at a much easier schedule than last year. We could seriously be in the 340s. And you have no way of knowing which season the BIG will have a year like the ACC had anyway.
 

Mikemarc

Heisman
Nov 28, 2005
69,220
17,902
97
Don’t be so sure. It was 37 last year, but OOC was 255. We’re looking at a much easier schedule than last year. We could seriously be in the 340s. And you have no way of knowing which season the BIG will have a year like the ACC had anyway.

in that case..we have no way of knowing our OOC SOS either.
 

PSAL_Hoops

Heisman
Feb 18, 2008
13,096
12,435
78
1. @ UMass last season was the end of a home-and-home that we started in 2020.


2. If there's no advantage to doing so then why are 12 other Big Ten coaches signing their teams up for neutral site tournaments?
The selection committee isn’t going to view MSG as a neutral game for us against Sparty and that game is not a given anyway.

By not playing in a neutral tourney, we’re setting ourselves up to be in a similar situation to 2019-20 where we had no wins away from home until the Purdue road game - we had hardly any opportunities to play non ranked teams away from home to collect those wins. It’s going to be the same thing.
 

Mikemarc

Heisman
Nov 28, 2005
69,220
17,902
97
The selection committee isn’t going to view MSG as a neutral game for us against Sparty and that game is not a given anyway.

By not playing in a neutral tourney, we’re setting ourselves up to be in a similar situation to 2019-20 where we had no wins away from home until the Purdue road game - we had hardly any opportunities to play non ranked teams away from home to collect those wins. It’s going to be the same thing.

you’re assuming we win those games had we scheduled them.

what if we had scheduled a bit harder OOC but lost 2 or 3 more games. Likely not in the Tourny.
Scheduling a harder OOC isn’t always a good thing
 

PSAL_Hoops

Heisman
Feb 18, 2008
13,096
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you’re assuming we win those games had we scheduled them.

what if we had scheduled a bit harder OOC but lost 2 or 3 more games. Likely not in the Tourny.
Scheduling a harder OOC isn’t always a good thing
Okay - but what if we scheduled a bit easier and instead of @ UMass and @DePaul we scheduled 2 more games like Lafayette and Lehigh and lost those too? Think we’d still be in?

Also - we were one of the very last teams in the field. What if instead of Clemson we scheduled another game with Central CT? Are we still in the clear? At some point the non-conference schedule gets too weak it becomes a death sentence if you don’t win 100% of your games on it.
 

Mikemarc

Heisman
Nov 28, 2005
69,220
17,902
97
Okay - but what if we scheduled a bit easier and instead of @ UMass and @DePaul we scheduled 2 more games like Lafayette and Lehigh and lost those too? Think we’d still be in?

Nope. The fact is we scheduled who we scheduled the last 3 season and it worked out fine. You’re using 2019–2020 as your evidence, but we were in the Tourny that year. So not sure why you are

We will schedule who we will this season and it will be fine. Until we miss a Tourny due to our OOC SOS, I’m fine with how we schedule
 

PSAL_Hoops

Heisman
Feb 18, 2008
13,096
12,435
78
Nope. The fact is we scheduled who we scheduled the last 3 season and it worked out fine. You’re using 2019–2020 as your evidence, but we were in the Tourny that year. So not sure why you are

We will schedule who we will this season and it will be fine. Until we miss a Tourny due to our OOC SOS, I’m fine with how we schedule
No - I didn’t. I actually said we got lucky that year because SFA turned out to be decent so the schedule ended up more respectable. The current schedule may be way worse than that one if we don’t add a few decent opponents.

Unfortunately we lost the St Bonnie’s neutral game that year so that put us in a position where we had to win at Purdue or we’d of had no wins away from the RAC.
 

Mikemarc

Heisman
Nov 28, 2005
69,220
17,902
97
No - I didn’t. I actually said we got lucky that year because SFA turned out to be decent so the schedule ended up more respectable. The current schedule may be way worse than that one if we don’t add a few decent opponents.

Unfortunately we lost the St Bonnie’s neutral game that year so that put us in a position where we had to win at Purdue or we’d of had no wins away from the RAC.
Lucky how?? so you’re saying if SFA wasn’t “decent” we wouldn’t have been in, in your opinion?
 

PSAL_Hoops

Heisman
Feb 18, 2008
13,096
12,435
78
Also
so you’re saying if SFA wasn’t “decent” we wouldn’t have been in, in your opinion?
No - we also played St Bonnie’s.

I’m more saying saying that if you replaced those two games (SFA and St Bonnie’s) with 2 more home games vs Bryant (73-71 win) and Drexel (62-57 win) and we lost either one of those there’s a real chance we would have been out. I don’t think it’s a given at that time that we would’ve won 2 more games against those teams based on the way we were playing. We almost needed the reality check loss to get us in gear.
 

Mikemarc

Heisman
Nov 28, 2005
69,220
17,902
97
Also

No - we also played St Bonnie’s.

I’m more saying saying that if you replaced those two games (SFA and St Bonnie’s) with 2 more home games vs Bryant (73-71 win) and Drexel (62-57 win) and we lost either one of those there’s a real chance we would have been out.

so how SFA finished was irrelevant that year
 

PSAL_Hoops

Heisman
Feb 18, 2008
13,096
12,435
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so how SFA finished was irrelevant that year

Your making an argument that is meaningless. Yes - based on our final resume, if you swapped SFA with another game vs. Niagara we would’ve still gotten in.

But are you betting your mortgage on us knocking off Purdue next time at their place again? We needed OT dude. Had we lost that game and also played a Niagara type instead of an SFA team that was going to make the field as an auto bid it’s very possible that could’ve been the difference.
 
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Mikemarc

Heisman
Nov 28, 2005
69,220
17,902
97
Your making an argument that is meaningless. Yes - based on our final resume, if you swapped SFA with another game vs. Niagara we would’ve still gotten in.

But are you betting your mortgage on us knocking off Purdue next time at their place again? We needed OT dude. Had we lost that game and also played a Niagara type instead of an SFA team that was going to make the field as an auto bid it’s very possible that could’ve been the difference.

I understand what you’re saying..but every season we can play that game. We can play the what if game every year…
Let’s just win the games we’re supposed to and we’re in good shape.
 

PSAL_Hoops

Heisman
Feb 18, 2008
13,096
12,435
78
I understand what you’re saying..but every season we can play that game. We can play the what if game every year…
Let’s just win the games we’re supposed to and we’re in good shape.
You can’t guarantee that we’re going undefeated against a terrible non-conference either though. We lost to Lafayette last year.
 

Mikemarc

Heisman
Nov 28, 2005
69,220
17,902
97
You can’t guarantee that we’re going undefeated against a terrible non-conference either though. We lost to Lafayette last year.

agree. Just as we can’t guarantee a SOS that looks great in May will turn out great in March.

let things play themselves out.
 

RUJMM78

Heisman
Jul 25, 2001
26,193
12,453
113
If we play them it would be at home.

The non-conference schedule is going to be so much worse than last years. We played @ DePaul, @ UMass and @ SHU. Depending on the ACC match up, we may not have a single game away from the RAC except Michigan State at the Garden.
Rutgers has already played UMass at home and they won the game.
 

bac2therac

Hall of Famer
Jul 30, 2001
247,272
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Don’t be so sure. It was 37 last year, but OOC was 255. We’re looking at a much easier schedule than last year. We could seriously be in the 340s. And you have no way of knowing which season the BIG will have a year like the ACC had anyway.

Ooc was 300 on section sunday
 
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PSAL_Hoops

Heisman
Feb 18, 2008
13,096
12,435
78
Ooc was 300 on section sunday
Interesting. I just looked in up and saw something in the 2I guess it adjusts based on NCAA results?

Regardless - the OOC schedule could clearly get worse as we played 3 true road games last season and probably won’t play any unless we’re forced to in the ACC challenge.
 

Scarlet83

Heisman
Feb 4, 2004
9,541
10,700
103
Our entire fanbase it seems is obsessed by the schedule. If we had the schedule that most want there is no way we make the NCAA tournament last year. Go do wordle or watch the NBA, don't worry about our schedule. The 20 B1G games will be plenty hard.
Greene, these last 3 years we have had a good chance against any team. We have been an NCAA tournament team. We can schedule a top 25 type team. We can grow a pair.
 
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