Shedule Announced

[Fessor]

Yes Power 5 is mostly a football term. Call them the 5 major conferences, big boys, whatever. Doesn't change anything. Yes Villanova is a huge game but still not as recognizable as a Big Boy.. Loyola-Chicago is only a big game because of their cinderella run last year. Chances are their success will not continue. Agree with everyone else that 3 non D1 is too many. 25% of the OOC and 10% of the overall schedule. One is ok, 3 too many. No interest from anyone in these games. At least only one is the NCCAA.(National Christian College Athletic Association). 3 last year.

Villanova is as big as anybody these days and has been for a while.

[tya1]

Well, sure, Villanova is the defending national champ. And two of the last three years. But if we were playing a "power conference" team like Rutgers, Mississippi, or Wake Forest that would be recognizable as a Big Boy.

Actually, would like to get Wake Forest on the schedule - especially because they went 11-20 last year while starting the season 0-3 against Georgia Southern, Liberty, and Drake. And had their 7 foot center bail out this year. Recognizable!

Speaking of Loyola. Here is an interesting story about their problems putting together this year's schedule.

LINK

"When I say men's 2018 NCAA Tournament, what comes to mind?

There are three answers.

One is Villanova 3-point balling and Donte DiVincenzo'ing its way to a second national title in three years. Another is UMBC's unprecedented upset as a 16 seed, knocking off No. 1 overall Virginia -- with authority -- in the first round.

The third, of course, is Loyola-Chicago's stunning run to the Final Four. As charmed a March fable as we've ever seen, one aided by buzzer-beaters and some help from the divine in the form of Sister Jean, a 98-year-old nun who became a global star as the Ramblers pulled off an unforgettable push to college basketball's ultimate weekend. "

"Loyola released its 2018-19 non-conference schedule this week: It features just one game against a 2018 NCAA Tournament team (Nevada) and just one game against a school from a power conference (Maryland).

"I had a little more optimism [in the spring] that I was going to get some more home-and-homes against some power conferences," Moser told CBS Sports. "I feel like our schedule is noticeably better than last year, and I think that -- I hope -- the [selection] committee considers, 'Look what he's done since the Final Four, what he's tried to do.'"

Regrettably, scheduling paranoia from the major-conference illuminati has struck again. Rather than see an opportunity to play against a trendy/name mid-major and potential top-50 team, nearly two dozen big schools balked in fear. Loyola reached out to approximately 20 teams from the ACC, Big East, SEC, Big Ten, Big 12 and Pac-12. All of them, except Maryland, said no. "

Brief Furman mention, as the best team they could get at home.

[MNORM]

The fact is we have been playing similar type schedules for years. How many NCAA tournament bids have we gotten?
Zero. Why not try something different and schedule a really tough schedule and see if that has any positive effect come tournament time. Wouldn't hurt.

Please tell me the last time two SoCon teams made the NCAA tournament?
The OOC schedule has ZERO impact on whether or not we make the tournament, aside from preparing the team for the SoCon schedule and tournament by playing tougher competition. The idea that going .500 (or less) in our OOC schedule is somehow going to convince the selection committee to give us an at-large bid is incredibly unrealistic. Would I like to play someone else other than Bob Jones? Of Course. Fact is...we still do not have the reputation as a strong mid-major and, therefore, are unable to attract the number of good OOC games as we'd like. Win, make the NCAA tournament, and they will come.

[Jasper]

The fact is we have been playing similar type schedules for years. How many NCAA tournament bids have we gotten?
Zero. Why not try something different and schedule a really tough schedule and see if that has any positive effect come tournament time. Wouldn't hurt.

Please tell me the last time two SoCon teams made the NCAA tournament?
The OOC schedule has ZERO impact on whether or not we make the tournament, aside from preparing the team for the SoCon schedule and tournament by playing tougher competition. The idea that our OOC schedule is somehow going to convince the selection committee to give us an at-large bid is incredibly unrealistic. Would I like to play someone else other than Bob Jones? Of Course. Fact is...we still do not have the reputation as a strong mid-major and, therefore, are unable to attract the number of good OOC games as we'd like. Win, make the NCAA tournament, and they will come.

Right now the SoCon is perceived as a 1 bid conference and that bid goes to the winner of the SoCon tournament and not the league winner. That is the stated reason Davidson left the SoCon. Our OOC schedule is virtually meaningless o the committee. Another factor in putting together a "really tough schedule" is that it is difficult to do. Those schools have got to agree to play Furman. What is their incentive?

[apaladin]

The fact is we have been playing similar type schedules for years. How many NCAA tournament bids have we gotten?
Zero. Why not try something different and schedule a really tough schedule and see if that has any positive effect come tournament time. Wouldn't hurt.

Please tell me the last time two SoCon teams made the NCAA tournament?
The OOC schedule has ZERO impact on whether or not we make the tournament, aside from preparing the team for the SoCon schedule and tournament by playing tougher competition. The idea that going .500 (or less) in our OOC schedule is somehow going to convince the selection committee to give us an at-large bid is incredibly unrealistic. Would I like to play someone else other than Bob Jones? Of Course. Fact is...we still do not have the reputation as a strong mid-major and, therefore, are unable to attract the number of good OOC games as we'd like. Win, make the NCAA tournament, and they will come.

It's not about getting an auto bid. Everyone knows that is not going to happen. What I was talking about is by playing a tough OOC schedule that maybe would prepare us better and give us a better chance to win the SoCon tourney.

[cavedweller2]

The best way to get into the NCAA tourney is to beat 3 teams in 3 days that we have already played twice each. OOC is not going to get us in. Those games are distant memories when the SoCon tourney begins.

[CharlieFU]

How many of you have asked Bob Richey or Niko before him about how they come up with the schedule and their philosophy in doing so? How many of you are aware of the financial considerations for OOC games? How many "money" games do we have to play? How many of you have been on the "inside" for scheduling games with the big schools? Or Clemson or Carolina? Who of you is aware of the efforts we have made to schedule Clemson or USC recently?

Rhetorical questions. As you can guess, I totally fine with the schedule overall. Is it perfect? No. Playing Nova and Loyola AT THIS TIME is an excellent opportunity for us.

[fufanatic]

Absolutely love the games against Villanova, LSU and Loyola. Villanova is a top 5 program in the country without question and had one of the most impressive teams I've ever seen last year. That NCAA Tourney run was dominant. Thankfully a lot of those guys are gone. Chance for an upset? Who knows. Fully believe that the other two games provide an opportunity for an upset. Really would be nice to pick off a bigger team one of these years. I don't remember the last time we have a win like that. USC in 2008 or 2009?

As far as the rest of the schedule ... I would love to see 1 or 2 more big games but I'm not as outraged as some. I'm surprised we can't get a Georgia Tech on the schedule. Or a Wake Forest or NC State. We are an above average mid-major or low-major, but we certainly aren't a powerhouse where bigger schools that aren't that good should be scared to schedule us. If these teams are playing Wofford, I wouldn't see any reason why they wouldn't be willing to play us.

The small school games baffle me with the exception of Bob Jones (local, I get it). I've said this before, but can we really not trade out those non-NCAA games for say a Lander or another DII team? Shouldn't make much difference in the final score, but at least looks mildly better on paper and maybe brings a few more people out since they are local schools. Maybe the money guaranteed is a big difference between NCCAA and DII and that's why we choose the former over the latter?

[CharlieFU]

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

$$$$

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[Affirm]

Absolutely love the games against Villanova, LSU and Loyola. Villanova is a top 5 program in the country without question and had one of the most impressive teams I've ever seen last year. That NCAA Tourney run was dominant. Thankfully a lot of those guys are gone. Chance for an upset? Who knows. Fully believe that the other two games provide an opportunity for an upset. Really would be nice to pick off a bigger team one of these years. I don't remember the last time we have a win like that. USC in 2008 or 2009?

As far as the rest of the schedule ... I would love to see 1 or 2 more big games but I'm not as outraged as some. I'm surprised we can't get a Georgia Tech on the schedule. Or a Wake Forest or NC State. We are an above average mid-major or low-major, but we certainly aren't a powerhouse where bigger schools that aren't that good should be scared to schedule us. If these teams are playing Wofford, I wouldn't see any reason why they wouldn't be willing to play us.

The small school games baffle me with the exception of Bob Jones (local, I get it). I've said this before, but can we really not trade out those non-NCAA games for say a Lander or another DII team? Shouldn't make much difference in the final score, but at least looks mildly better on paper and maybe brings a few more people out since they are local schools. Maybe the money guaranteed is a big difference between NCCAA and DII and that's why we choose the former over the latter?

Not outraged, just disappointed that we could not have had about 2-3 additional more interesting opponents replacing about 2-3 of these: BJU, NGU, SWU, Upstate, CSU, GWebb. Again, I’m fine with UNCA.

[furpep]

Well now, I could rant and rave about our home schedule but I am not going to to do. Why? Well we have a very tough away OOC schedule and this is going to be an Extremely Young Team! Therefore we need some of these games in order to keep the confidence up. This is not a year for us to have unrealistic expectations about the team (as many did last season), and so I support this scheduling. I expect the home schedules to get tougher as the team matures.

[paladinfan12]

I like playing the big teams. If we go beat Villanova it'll be the talk of the nation for a few days.

[apaladin]

fanatic, in all fairness, 2 of the 3 Christiaan colleges we played last year are replaced by 2 D2 teams this year: North Greenville and Southern Wesleyan.

[edwards555]

Two things have changed which effect our ability to schedule home and home out of conference games. The first is that many conference schedules in the major conferences are now 20 plus games. This is to correct schedule imbalance when the number of conference members such as in the ACC made it impossible for each team to play the same conference opponents thus making it difficult to rank teams within the conference for seeding purposes. The second is the use of Team Quadrants for selection in the tournament. Because we finished as a top 90 school this year we begin as tier 2 team. Many major conference teams are also tier 2 team schools. A loss to us home or away lowers both their team and overall conference rating, no way they schedule us unless they are a Villanova or an LSU(top ten recruiting class) who will be 10-15 point favorites against us. People know that we came close in the last 2 years at Georgia, Michigan, and Tennessee. Why take the chance?
Wofford is playing the schedule it is because they want to feature Fletcher McGee for the NBA Draft. If the go 3-2 in those games and don't win the conference they will not get an at large bid unless they have 3 or 4 total loses and then they would be a bubble team probably being passed over for a 15-15 Syracuse team. Power 5 wants the money and they control the committee. They believe too many slots go to the smaller confernces, thus our best play their best in the first round. God forbid a Loyola or Witchita State wins more than one game and takes "their money". Not fair but it is still the best deal we can get and better than having no teams in the NCAA. We just have to win the Conference tournament and who we schedule matters not.

[Affirm]

Two things have changed which effect our ability to schedule home and home out of conference games. The first is that many conference schedules in the major conferences are now 20 plus games. This is to correct schedule imbalance when the number of conference members such as in the ACC made it impossible for each team to play the same conference opponents thus making it difficult to rank teams within the conference for seeding purposes. The second is the use of Team Quadrants for selection in the tournament. Because we finished as a top 90 school this year we begin as tier 2 team. Many major conference teams are also tier 2 team schools. A loss to us home or away lowers both their team and overall conference rating, no way they schedule us unless they are a Villanova or an LSU(top ten recruiting class) who will be 10-15 point favorites against us. People know that we came close in the last 2 years at Georgia, Michigan, and Tennessee. Why take the chance?
Wofford is playing the schedule it is because they want to feature Fletcher McGee for the NBA Draft. If the go 3-2 in those games and don't win the conference they will not get an at large bid unless they have 3 or 4 total loses and then they would be a bubble team probably being passed over for a 15-15 Syracuse team. Power 5 wants the money and they control the committee. They believe too many slots go to the smaller confernces, thus our best play their best in the first round. God forbid a Loyola or Witchita State wins more than one game and takes "their money". Not fair but it is still the best deal we can get and better than having no teams in the NCAA. We just have to win the Conference tournament and who we schedule matters not.

Good comments, edwards555. However, I still do not see why we couldn’t get a 2-yr “one year home and the other away” with schools that I’ve mentioned like Army, Air Force, Navy (like we did recently), W&M, Columbia, Harvard, Yale, Penn, Richmond - nationally well-known schools. Not even 1 or 2 of those in place of 1 or 2 from the group of very local schools on our OOC schedule (BJU, NGU, SWU, Upstate, GWebb). I know that scheduling is hard and complicated, with various components about which I’m not knowledgeable. Still, I state my opinion, state my hope for a better OOC schedule next year, and state my hope for outstandingly good results this 2018-2019 season.