Originally Posted by
Dawg06
Because Tech shouldn't stoop to playing at NWST's gym.
If you want to play NWST, why don't you want to restart the series with ULM? It's pretty much the same thing except that ULM is actually a step up in conference.
The bottomline is that we are a former WAC and now C-USA member (and a Tier 1 National Research University), and we should be acting like it. Our basketball program isn't going to take the next step by playing games at NWST, at Grambling, and at other SWAC schools. We should never play another game at ULM, at NWST, at Grambling, at any SWAC school, or at any Southland school not named UNO or SFA.
Not only should playing H&H with Southland and SWAC schools be beneath us, ours fans aren't going to drive, show up, and buy tickets to watch us play those schools nor would our students show up to watch it. Tech students these days don't even have friends that attend those schools. I'm a diehard fan, and I guarantee you that I won't be driving over from Shreveport and paying money to sit through these pitiful OOC games.
It's sad that so many of our fans have bought into White's BS that nobody will play us. He put together super weak schedules to rack up wins to get out of Ruston. Scheduling isn't rocket science. Just lock up some of these games in advance so we aren't left holding the bag every year.
We play 18 C-USA games and 4 tourney games every year. That's 22 games right there. Just don't find the worst tournament possible to schedule. That leaves 9 games left to schedule.
Go find 2 money games. Bam. Down to 7 remaining.
Schedule H&H with ULL, UT-Arlington, UALR, and Tulane. There's no reason we shouldn't be able to get a deal with Tulane now. Our scheduler spent his entire career with Conroy, and our top assistant is Ed Conroy's brother. If it's too late for Tulane, then UNO is an acceptable substitute. The other 3 we should have no problems getting done every year. That leaves only 3 games remaining.
Go buy 1 home game. If we can't afford a DI team, then offer Centenary or LC. Bam! Down to only 2 games remaining.
I think there's a coach at Murray State that will schedule us. How about SFA? Underwood's complaining he can't get games. Houston, SMU, Tulsa, and New Mexico State have all played on our court recently. How about Utah State? They have trouble getting home games. Nevada's new coach really likes recruiting Louisiana. Everybody in C-USA schedules Georgia State except for us. Teams like Rhode Island and Drexel play at Southern Miss. Northern Iowa played at SFA last year. Heck, Green Bay and Georgia State played each other twice last year. How about Belmont? Missouri State? Southern Illinois? Iona? There are plenty of teams out there in our similar situation. You may say that we can't bus to a few of those schools, but I'll say it's just 1 road flight H&H game per season. Put White's $500K buyout to good use.
If we truly can't get a couple of those H&H games, then schedule another money game, and use that money to buy a home game. Let's go play at a Wisconsin on TV, and then buy NWST for that weekend that they left open for us. Problem solved. Don't schedule a return game to Natchitoches for next season.
In 2015, there is absolutely no good reason for Louisiana Tech to be playing basketball games in Grambling, Monroe, or Natchitoches. Those schools are not on our level (neither academically nor athletically), and by stooping to play in their venues, it puts us on their level with the local media pushing their "rivalry" agenda as if we are equals, which is exactly what we want to avoid. If they want to play a guarantee in Ruston, then go for it. If not, too bad. We should leave those Gulf States H&H series in the past where they belong. It's truly sad that some of our own want to take 5 steps back (literally... C-USA->WAC->Sun Belt->American South->Southland->Gulf States) to relive those Gulf States days. Our few fans who actually want to stoop to play H&H with the Southland/SWAC/ULM are probably the same fans who insult us by referring to us as a "mid-major." Louisiana Tech is not a "mid-major," and Sun Belt H&H should be the lowest that we should stoop.
/rant
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