If you had to choose - should we be shooting just for wins in our OOC schedule like last year or do you like us stepping up which seems to be somewhat coming from the SEC office?
Basketball Scheduling...
- Thread starter dawgstudent
- Start date
We need to step up if we are serious about making post season tournament play. Like the moves. Couple of major conference games to replace the likes of eastern maryland shore and whatever other little sister of the poor school we would schedule.
Can't we do both? It's year three for Rick Ray. Time to step up the schedule but also time to expect to win some OOC games that have some meaning.
I don't think I phrased my question correctly - are # or wins more important right now for Rick Ray vs quality wins.
Could he afford 2-3 more losses in OOC with 1 decent OOC win as well but maybe be 8-10 in conference. Is it a huge difference between 18-12 and 16-14 if both are 8-10 in the SEC to gaining support from our fanbase?
Could he afford 2-3 more losses in OOC with 1 decent OOC win as well but maybe be 8-10 in conference. Is it a huge difference between 18-12 and 16-14 if both are 8-10 in the SEC to gaining support from our fanbase?
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To me, it's playing tougher opponents for RPI purposes. To the majority of the fanbase, it's about W's.
I think stepping up the difficulty is a good move, assuming we can actually compete against the schedule.
We're not going to get any help RPI-wise from our SEC schedule. Assuming we think we're competing for a postseason spot, we'll need to beef up the SOS.
We're not going to get any help RPI-wise from our SEC schedule. Assuming we think we're competing for a postseason spot, we'll need to beef up the SOS.
We should step up the OOC schedule, but only to teams that we can still mostly beat. We could win 10 games against teams with an RPI of 301 - 310 or we could win 10 games against teams with an RPI of 191-200. Doing the latter will help our RPI and SOS come the end of the year.
...those RPI #s are totally made up.
...those RPI #s are totally made up.
We should schedule our OOC games to be as challenging as possible while having a reasonable home/away balance. There is a point where a grueling OOC schedule is detrimental because of physical wear and confidence issues. Realistically, we probably can't get to that point in basketball because we're not going to get enough good teams to travel to Starkville. With how important RPI is, plus how relatively weak the SEC is in basketball, we should go as difficult as possible in OOC. This is going to help our players get better, help our RPI, provide more entertaining matchups, and because we will likely have to schedule some weaker teams just to fill out a good home schedule, we'll still have some cupcakes that give our players a chance to build confidence, recover from nagging injuries if necessary, and hopefully pick up some almost guaranteed wins. And I doubt we'll have too many guaranteed losses scheduled because we're not going to get Duke, Michigan State, Wisconsin type teams to travel to Starkville. I would have been against this approach with Ray's first two teams because there was no pointin proving they weren't good and hammering their confidence while racking up L's, but we should have a full team this year and if we can't compete in the SEC and against the type of competition taht we will generally be able to get to Starkville, then we might as well find out early.
With what we witnessed on the court last year, I honestly don't have a clue as to how anyone would think it's time to step up our schedule in any way, shape, or form.
Edited to answer the rephrased question: Quality wins are more important in year 3, but it's somewhat of a moot point for me because I believe that we're still going to have so few total wins such that the quality ones won't make a bit of difference as it relates to postseason. Not trying to be debbie downer here, but I know what I've seen the last two years, and Ray didn't exactly light the world on fire with his incoming class. If we get to 18 wins next year with this more difficult schedule, I will be very pleasantly surprised to say the least.
Edited to answer the rephrased question: Quality wins are more important in year 3, but it's somewhat of a moot point for me because I believe that we're still going to have so few total wins such that the quality ones won't make a bit of difference as it relates to postseason. Not trying to be debbie downer here, but I know what I've seen the last two years, and Ray didn't exactly light the world on fire with his incoming class. If we get to 18 wins next year with this more difficult schedule, I will be very pleasantly surprised to say the least.
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We are in a spot where we have to step up a couple of games just to have a few games to get the fans up for games and put asses in the seats.
If we are mediocre and playing d2 teams, fans definitely wont come
Plus it outs some large challenges and goals out there for the team
If we are mediocre and playing d2 teams, fans definitely wont come
Plus it outs some large challenges and goals out there for the team
I think it's just about # of wins. I don't see any need for us to schedule tougher opponents OOC. I don't believe that postseason play is a realistic goal for us next year, but our OOC won't be what determines if we go. At this point, we simply need to show improvement, and try to get it done with conference play. If we were to walk through an easy OOC schedule and be competitive in the SEC(even .500), we will have the opportunity to play postseason. We need to win 19-20 games to get there. If we don't make the postseason because of RPI, while finishing next year with 19-20 wins, I think most realistic fans would consider that one heck of a turnaround from Rick Ray.
Did you happen to catch our nationally televised game against #2 Florida at the Hump last year? There may have been 2500 in attendance.
It's not that I disagree with what you're saying in theory, but when you're team is as bad as we've been the last couple years, even then powerhouses and ESPN won't draw fans.
It's not that I disagree with what you're saying in theory, but when you're team is as bad as we've been the last couple years, even then powerhouses and ESPN won't draw fans.