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Come on, TT. We aren't talking about playing SEC or Big 12 teams here. We got two money games last year from the Big 12 and two this year from the ACC. There are 27 other DI conferences besides the SEC, Big 12, C-USA, Southland, and SWAC.Originally Posted by TYLERTECHSAS
This is how you put together a schedule to earn an at-large bid...
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Oh and SMU, Tulane and I believe Tulsa won't play us as well per MW.
Wow, ODU has a great OOC schedule. ODU has 8 home games, 3 neutral site games, and only 1 away game before conference play starts. That is an ideal schedule. However note that only one team (LSU - neutral site) is in a power conference. From their home state they play George Mason, VCU, and Richmond. I would love for us to have a schedule like that.
Note that P5 schools Virginia Tech and Virginia are not on the schedule. Also, we don't have 2 non-P5 top 100 RPI schools within 100 miles, i.e. VCU and Richmond. ODU also has much higher attendance than us.
I believe our coaches did the best they could do to get a schedule like that. Unfortunately, it just didn't work out as well as ODU's. They have a good team and they will be among the favorites to win the C-USA tournament.
Basically that is our schedule -
Unfortunately - Southern and Nicholls St and NWSt are not GM, VCU and Richmond...
Sale 3,000 season tickets and we can BUY some home games like ODU
Their basketball ticket revenue is probably 7x to 10x greater than ours
And they have a huge population base to draw from
Not really comparing apples to apples
''Don't be a bad dagh..."
I keep waiting for the time when we can compare apples to apples when looking at schools like ODU. However, I doubt that it will ever happen because. as you said, they have greater basketball ticket revenue.
I was impressed last season by the crowd ODU had for our game with them. I plan to go back to the game in February.
I'm not buying it.
You might have a case if we had Tulane on our schedule, but we don't. Tulane would be most similar to a school like Richmond. ODU isn't playing at in-state HBCU gyms like Norfolk State and Hampton like we are playing at Jackson State and Southern. Tech playing Nicholls State would be like if they played Longwood. Yes, they have better hoops schools in Virginia, but we have plenty of DI schools within reasonable driving distance that are more respectable than the ones on our schedule.
You say we don't have the money yet we pay our coach a lot more than they pay their coach, and like you said, they probably actually have ticket revenue unlike us. The difference in coaching salaries is probably equivalent to two bought home games, but like I said before, if we trade bought games then the net is essentially zero, right? I question why we have the highest paid coach in C-USA, but we seem to be the only school in C-USA that supposedly doesn't have enough money to put together a decent schedule. That money excuse for scheduling doesn't add up to me when I look at our coaching salaries and the offseason trip to the Bahamas. If the reason why we can't put together a better schedule really is financial, then it would seem like we are investing in the coaching staff and not the program.
BTW I watched the 2nd half and OT of the ODU-GSU game last night. ODU is gonna eat us alive on the boards.
You can argue all day long -
But I have been a season ticket holder almost as long as you have been alive
We can wish and do something else in the other hand, but in reality we are what we are
It amazes me we can put the product on the floor and fields of play that we do when we are basically a core group of donors away from being McNeese St
Could it be better - of course, but it could also be where we for the last 15 of the 20 past years
I have NO problem playing home and homes with NWSt, USLs and McNeese - and I have almost $2k in season basketball tickets
The question going into this season was not whether we are going to be good - but whether we were going to be good out the box or come late January
We have that answer now
90% of the problem is NO ONE outside of the LA schools will come to play in Ruston - THEY NEVER HAVE - the only decent games we got were 2 for ones and the return games off the Bracket Buster series
It's steps - small one's albeit but steps
Just win the games - everything else will be taken care of
They played decent at Temple, good at Syracuse and still have NCSt who is probably going to be pretty good based on their win in the Big10/ACC challenge
''Don't be a bad dagh..."
Dwayne, I watched most of the game last night when NC State beat Tennessee. The Wolfpack are very good.
Is it...
Wolfpack are
Wolfpack is
?
I know you thought about it.
I'm not sure - just went with what seemed right. I did know it was not Wolf Pack (two words), like UN-R. I put that "-R" in for our UL-L posters and lurkers.Is it...
Wolfpack are
Wolfpack is
?
I know you thought about it.
Concerning scheduling, I'm not happy with our strength of schedule and the road games. I wish it were more like ODU's. However, there's no doubt in my mind that our coaches tried their best to get a better schedule.
As Dwayne says, we are what we are. Although I've got accustomed to that, I still wish for a better schedule.
Are you familiar with how schedules are made or what has been attempted to improve Tech's home schedule? I heard a commentator or analyst on ESPN say it was very difficult for Tech to find schools with higher RPIs to play, away or at home. How do you suggest, specifically, Coach White overcome the obstacles? Its easy to say what the outcome should be; its quite another to solve how to get that result.
I'm part of an entire generation of Tech fans who have never seen Tech play in the NCAA Tournament. I was a student during the WAC era when our peers were Rice, SMU, Tulsa, UTEP, New Mexico State, Utah State, Boise State, Fresno State, Hawai'i, Nevada, SJSU, and Idaho. I'm not driving 145 miles round trip and buying tickets to watch us play these Samford, Presbyterian, Southern Arkansas, Southland (SFA is an exception right now), or SWAC schools. I bet there are very, very few from my generation that will do that, and that means lost revenue by Tech, albeit not much. I guarantee you Tech is averaging less than $5K in ticket sales for these bad OOC games. We'd make the trip for respectable OOC opponents if we ever got them, and you'll see us show up for most of the C-USA and NIT games.
Like I said before, I have no problem playing ULL every year. I'd much rather watch us play ULL twice in one year than watch us play the Northwestern States, McNeese States, Nicholls States, Jackson States, and Southerns of the world.
And yes, I'm saying it can be better because I know we can schedule better than this. We have to find a way to improve our OOC schedule.
And here's my question to you or anyone who knows... Are we actively trying to get at least one game in Shreveport/Bossier? Considering supposedly no one decent will come to Ruston, many of our OOC games are over fall quarter break or Christmas break, we have minimal walk-up sales for our OOC games, we are trying to host the C-USA Tournament in Bossier, we don't get to watch us play Centenary in the Gold Dome since they dropped down, and the university is trying to reach out to Shreveport, why aren't we playing at least one home game at the CenturyLink Center? They don't even have a tenant anymore, and I would think the Shreveport-Bossier Sports Commission would help cover the rent and maybe more. I went to an LSU-Wichita State MBB game at the CenturyLink Center a few years ago and the Mavs-Pels preseason game this year. I would think they would love to lure a Top 100 RPI OOC opponent for Tech to Shreveport-Bossier similar to how we do for football and Indy Stadium. I think we will eventually get to host the C-USA Tournament in Bossier, and the more experience our guys have playing in that arena the better our chances of winning it.
The east coast provides a better selection of like and good opponents than here, possibly.
I know coaches schedule the games, and I've heard White talk about and read in the paper White's comments on scheduling. I've seen the schedule board that coaches including Coach White post on asking for games. I pay pretty close attention to scheduling. The ULL insiders were claiming White turned down ULL the first year Marlin was allowed by their AD to schedule Tech again because White did think Tech was ready. Then White added them back to the schedule last year when we were ready... Last year the UALR insiders were saying White turned them down. I know White is trying his best to put together a good schedule, and I know he's tried to land 2-for-1's with "BCS" schools as he calls them. It appears maybe White went for home runs but "struck out" as he said. It sounds like he's just using a bad strategy. It's kinda like those recruits with DI offers holding out for a big time school to offer, and then when they realize that no big time offer is coming, the spots are full at their backup schools so they are forced to drop further down to FCS.
Instead of going for home runs he should go after singles in scheduling UALR, UT Arlington, SFA, Arkansas State, South Alabama, etc. Even play ULL twice in one season. As mentioned in my previous post, we should be trying to get the good opponents to come play us in Bossier if they won't come to Ruston. Play an extra money game, and use that money to buy a decent home game. And like I said before, it's too late now, but that extra salary money could've been used to improve scheduling.
Look around at other schedules. Look at Marshall. They lure a Big 12 team to a neutral site in nearby Charleston (with a little political help) and get SFA and Arkansas State to travel up to West Virginia. You think those schools wouldn't rather make the easy drive to play Tech? How about Georgia State and Green Bay, two teams left out of the Big Dance last year due to weak OOC schedules like Tech. What did they do? Scheduled each other twice this year! You think they wouldn't have wanted Tech to help boost their resume than playing each other twice in one year? How bout Missouri State, Southern Illinois, Murray State, Belmont, NMSU, etc.? I know we can do better.
I'm not asking for a schedule that looks like Old Dominion's schedule. Just better than what we have, no games in SWAC or Southland gyms other than SFA or UNO when they get their feet back beneath them.
Last edited by Dawg06; 12-18-2014 at 05:33 PM.
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