M. Basketball. Bulldogs Upset Sooners in OT Thriller

[RealityCheck]

How many "elite" teams (top 10) do you propose we play every season b/f conference?

Tech should try to schedule a minimum of 6 elite (an NCAA at-large lock) or good (capable of either winning their conference tournament or getting an NCAA at-large bid) teams in OOC play. The only Tech opponents in the current E$PN Bracketology bracket (along with Tech) are Oklahoma State, St. Mary's, and ULL. Oklahoma is in the Next 4 Out list.

A SWAC team gets in the NCAAs by default, so I don't include any opponent from that conference. St. Bonaventure is not in the good or elite group, and no other team Tech has played to date is any closer to being there than the Bonnies.

[Dwayne From Minden]

Tech should try to schedule a minimum of 6 elite (an NCAA at-large lock) or good (capable of either winning their conference tournament or getting an NCAA at-large bid) teams in OOC play. The only Tech opponents in the current E$PN Bracketology bracket (along with Tech) are Oklahoma State, St. Mary's, and ULL. Oklahoma is in the Next 4

I think you have to include NWST in that group -

And Southern (SWAC or not) almost knocked off a #1 seed in last years tourney -

That is 6 - you add a decent Jackson St team (and yes they are decent) and you have a representative schedule

For years we have played a very tough OOC schedule and got a .500 schedule headed into conference play and an rpi of basically 90-140 at the end of the year

We make our FT's against the Cajuns and we win

We can't help what the lower half of the conference is doing by not winning games - just win the games you have scheduled

[HoDo-Tech70]

To me, scheduling "elite" teams means scheduling teams from power conferences.

The way the RPI is figured gives an advantage to power conferences. They rack up a lot of wins at home against non-conference foes and then finish .500 in conference to get an at-large bid.

The MVC scheduled lower ranked power conference teams and played them on the road. The road game wins (or losses) against the power conference teams raised the RPI of the entire MVC. This gambit slowed when power conferences began losing bids to MVC teams. Power conferences, SEC SEC SEC, are becoming very savvy in scheduling for RPI. The savvy of the power conferences makes it difficult for good teams like TECH to schedule games.

Remember, unlike football, most basketball games are not scheduled years ahead. Power conference teams can be more selective about the teams they schedule.

[Dwayne From Minden]

Remember, unlike football, most basketball games are not scheduled years ahead. Power conference teams can be more selective about the teams they schedule.

Yep -

And it has become increasingly more difficult over the last two years and looks to be even more difficult next year...

WE would of had another RPI building game had Bama not cancelled early in the summer

When you are good and capable of beating anyone on the road - games are hard to come by

We known we had these NCAA teams on the schedule this year - NWSt, Southern, St Mary's, Okie St and the Bonnies - am I missing anyone?

[HoDo-Tech70]

Technically, we didn't have the Bonnies on the schedule. They were on the opposite side of the bracket in the Florida tournament. We were seeded #1 and they were seeded #2. We hoped that we would meet them in the finals.

[skilldawg]

That's putting a lot of expectation on McCree. I've heard he can play but it's not like he's proven it at this level. I've seen many not meet expectations (especially early) after transferring. Heck, Johnny Miller was atrocious for us for a while after coming from Memphis--and he was widely recognized as being really good. Chris Anderson is a very talented player and will not be easily replaced. CJ is also good. Both of those guys play defense and rebound too.

Anderson is the guy that I think we need moving with Hamilton when he gets the isolation opportunities in the halfcourt. We can run an offensive set through either of those 2.

I agree with this one hundred percent. Against physical half-court teams, the set offense needs to run through these two guys. They are both match-up nightmares.

I did see some flashes of this against OU with an isolation of one or the other. If they are both in there, we need to be looking at some pick and role action with those two or clear out with Anderson at high post and Alex as the entry man.

[inudesu]

It seems like I read once that one of the best ways to manipulate RPI was to schedule the best teams from bad conferences because they go on to win a lot of games. If that is true, then Southern and NWST and the like are really good games for us (or could be).

[HoDo-Tech70]

It seems like I read once that one of the best ways to manipulate RPI was to schedule the best teams from bad conferences because they go on to win a lot of games. If that is true, then Southern and NWST and the like are really good games for us (or could be).

There's a lot of strategies used in scheduling men's basketball. There is a huge element of luck involved in scheduling the right teams. It's probably the most difficult college sport to schedule because RPI is so important in making the tournament and in seeding for the tournament.

25% of RPI is based on a team's own record. 50% is based on opponent's records but the other 25% is based on opponent's opponent's record. Southern and NWState could turn out to be better games than power conferences, but then again, maybe not. That's the luck part.

TECH had a hard time getting games because we were expected to be good. I'm surprised we got a game against Oklahoma. That win may make it even more difficult to get games next season. The reality of the system works against the non-power conferences.

[inudesu]

There's a lot of strategies used in scheduling men's basketball. There is a huge element of luck involved in scheduling the right teams. It's probably the most difficult college sport to schedule because RPI is so important in making the tournament and in seeding for the tournament.

25% of RPI is based on a team's own record. 50% is based on opponent's records but the other 25% is based on opponent's opponent's record. Southern and NWState could turn out to be better games than power conferences, but then again, maybe not. That's the luck part.

TECH had a hard time getting games because we were expected to be good. I'm surprised we got a game against Oklahoma. That win may make it even more difficult to get games next season. The reality of the system works against the non-power conferences.

Yeah, it'd probably be tough to predict who is going to win the Southland or SWAC every year, but playing the best couple of schools from those conferences seems like it would help your RPI more than playing a mid or low level team from a top tier conference. For one thing, you're more likely to get the game at home (which aids in the 25% based on your record) and more likely to win in general (depending on how good a particular team and the alternative is). For another, their record is going to be really good (even if that other 25% based on opponent's opponents would be better for say, a TCU than a Southern).

[Dwayne From Minden]

After they beat Auburn - who would of thought the Demons would of started 4-8 with the players they had returning...

You put the best possible schedule together that you can -

Until we can BUY games its a non-issue

[RealityCheck]

I think you have to include NWST in that group -

And Southern (SWAC or not) almost knocked off a #1 seed in last years tourney -

That is 6 - you add a decent Jackson St team (and yes they are decent) and you have a representative schedule

For years we have played a very tough OOC schedule and got a .500 schedule headed into conference play and an rpi of basically 90-140 at the end of the year

We make our FT's against the Cajuns and we win

We can't help what the lower half of the conference is doing by not winning games - just win the games you have scheduled

I don't include any SWAC teams since there is exactly one team out of 10 better than 208 in RPI right now, and that is fairly typical of most seasons.

Northwestern State is at 164 in RPI, and with 9 Southland teams below 200 (4 at 299 or worse) that will be an RPI drag also.

Scheduling SWAC and to a lesser extent Southland teams does not help RPI...period. Oral Roberts or SFA would have been the Southland teams to go after for this season.

Longwood (333 last year, 308 this year to date) should never have been put on this year's schedule knowing that a return game at UCA (287 last year, 343 this year to date) was already locked in by the 2012 BracketBuster.

[DocMarvin362]

After they beat Auburn - who would of thought the Demons would of started 4-8 with the players they had returning...

Damn!! Is Skip coaching them too?!?!?