How difficult is it to schedule as terrible an OOC as Howland did?

[Dawg61]

I honestly don't think anyone on this board can schedule a worse one than Howland did by just picking 13 D1 schools. You have to really dig deep into the RPI numbers to intentionally make it worse than what he scheduled. Try it. Don't look up RPI and just put 13 schools down H/A. Quoarsking can have a field day ranking your OOC if he likes. Here's my 13 entries without looking up RPI's. I wonder where my schedule ranks vs Howland's.

H) Troy
A) UAB
H) FIU
A) Penn
H) Arkansas State
A) Toledo
H) La Tech
A) Colorado
H) Georgia Tech
A) Ohio
H) Western Kentucky
A) ETSU
H) Davidson

That's probably a top 50-75 OOC schedule right there without any real scary teams on it. Now you try it. Pick 13 teams without looking up RPI. I guarantee your schedule is better than Howland's.

[BulldogDX55]

I honestly don't think anyone on this board can schedule a worse one than Howland did by just picking 13 D1 schools. You have to really dig deep into the RPI numbers to intentionally make it worse than what he scheduled. Try it. Don't look up RPI and just put 13 schools down H/A. Quoarsking can have a field day ranking your OOC if he likes. Here's my 13 entries without looking up RPI's. I wonder where my schedule ranks vs Howland's.

H) Troy
A) UAB
H) FIU
A) Penn
H) Arkansas State
A) Toledo
H) La Tech
A) Colorado
H) Georgia Tech
A) Ohio
H) Western Kentucky
A) ETSU
H) Davidson

That's probably a top 50-75 OOC schedule right there without any real scary teams on it. Now you try it. Pick 13 teams without looking up RPI. I guarantee your schedule is better than Howland's.

To be fair, a few of the teams on the schedule were expected to be decent but had historically bad years. Granted, the schedule was designed to be relatively easy to give confidence to a young team, which was accomplished, but it's not 100% on Howland.










Like 70% Howland. I am sure it will get better next year.

[Bulldog1]

I wouldn’t mind seeing Memphis or MTSU on a neutral court next year

[bulldawg28]

I wouldn’t mind seeing Memphis or MTSU on a neutral court next year

Leave Memphis alone.

[Tbonewannabe]

To be fair, a few of the teams on the schedule were expected to be decent but had historically bad years. Granted, the schedule was designed to be relatively easy to give confidence to a young team, which was accomplished, but it's not 100% on Howland.










Like 70% Howland. I am sure it will get better next year.

I believe you hit the nail on the head. The schedule was supposed to be a little easy for our young team to gel and get momentum. I am sure the SOS is about 50 spots lower than the coaches expected. We aren't getting much benefit from going 9-9 in one of the toughest leagues in the country. We seem to only have the negatives associated with our early schedule. I want to get in the Big Dance but I might prefer to make the Final Four or win the NIT rather than One and Done in the tourney.

[smootness]

I believe you hit the nail on the head. The schedule was supposed to be a little easy for our young team to gel and get momentum. I am sure the SOS is about 50 spots lower than the coaches expected. We aren't getting much benefit from going 9-9 in one of the toughest leagues in the country. We seem to only have the negatives associated with our early schedule. I want to get in the Big Dance but I might prefer to make the Final Four or win the NIT rather than One and Done in the tourney.

We do definitely get the benefits of going 9-9 in the SEC. It's a good league this year, but it's not all-time great or anything. So going 9-9 in the conference is the only reason we were ever on the bubble to begin with. It definitely matters. It's just not enough to outweigh the fact that we have 0 good wins out of conference.

[WeWonItAll(Most)]

NCAA tourney appearances in the last 4 years:
Stephen F Austin (x3), Dayton (x4), Green Bay, Jacksonville St (last year), North Dakota State (x2)

I believe I read we scheduled USM before they tanked too.

Not only are any of these teams not good as they've usually been, I don't think any of them even have a pulse besides Dayton.

I'm not saying we tried to make a good OOC schedule, but literally every team we scheduled besides Cincy is abnormally horrible compared to the last few years.

[LC Dawg]

I guess I'm in the minority because I think if we had much tougher of an OOC schedule we would be nowhere near the bubble right now. This team needed to grow up and winning early was necessary. We were having trouble beating a lot of the teams on our schedule and players were getting suspended and pouting. If we were getting our asses beat that would have gotten worse and screwed the rest of the season in my opinion.
Vandy had a really tough OOC schedule and they got there asses beat early and ended up with a few nice home wins in a shitty season. I think if our OOC schedule was very much more difficult than it was our record would be similar to Vandy's.

[smootness]

NCAA tourney appearances in the last 4 years:
Stephen F Austin (x3), Dayton (x4), Green Bay, Jacksonville St (last year), North Dakota State (x2)

I believe I read we scheduled USM before they tanked too.

Not only are any of these teams as not good as they've usually been, I don't think any of them even have a pulse besides Dayton.

I'm not saying we scheduled a tried to make a good OOC schedule, but literally every team we scheduled besides Cincy is abnormally horrible compared to the last few years.

This is very true. I don't really fault Howland for our schedule. I think there was a reason for it, and it mostly served its purpose. I just don't think we should be sitting here confused as to why we're on the outside looking in right now.

[Coach34]

If we had played a tougher schedule pre-conference we would have more bad losses and not be in the conversation of getting in

[Tbonewannabe]

We do definitely get the benefits of going 9-9 in the SEC. It's a good league this year, but it's not all-time great or anything. So going 9-9 in the conference is the only reason we were ever on the bubble to begin with. It definitely matters. It's just not enough to outweigh the fact that we have 0 good wins out of conference.

The SEC is a really tough league this year and we are barely even close to the bubble. We probably have to win 2 more to really get in the discussion. No matter what, Howland has done a great job with this team and what we add next year could make this a great team. We definitely need to upgrade our OOC for next year's veteran team. We also as a program desperately needed to go to some type of post season so this at least is taking the step in the right direction.

[Dawg61]

If we had played a tougher schedule pre-conference we would have more bad losses and not be in the conversation of getting in

We could afford to lose 4 OOC with my schedule and still be in much better shape than we are with Howland's 12-1 OOC schedule. The point is that Howland scheduled egregiously bad instead of just bad. Had he just scheduled bad we go 9-3 OOC maybe and we are in the dance right now.

[Coach34]

We could afford to lose 4 OOC with my schedule and still be in much better shape than we are with Howland's 12-1 OOC schedule. The point is that Howland scheduled egregiously bad instead of just bad. Had he just scheduled bad we go 9-3 OOC maybe and we are in the dance right now.

with that schedule- we wouldnt have done better than .500. We just werent very good before moved Peters to the starting line-up

[Tbonewannabe]

with that schedule- we wouldnt have done better than .500. We just werent very good before Peters decided to play team basketballto the starting line-up

fify. Peters himself said he wasn't doing what he should at the beginning of the year. Everyone knows that Peters is a possible NBA player but Howland kept him from becoming a cancer like we have had in the past. It took big brass ones for Howland to send that message.

[Coach34]

fify. Peters himself said he wasn't doing what he should at the beginning of the year. Everyone knows that Peters is a possible NBA player but Howland kept him from becoming a cancer like we have had in the past. It took big brass ones for Howland to send that message.

Oh I know Peters was partly to blame and the suspension was on him. It's just a fact that this team didnt become what it has until Peters began starting. It changed our season.

[MadDawg]

If we had played a tougher schedule pre-conference we would have more bad losses and not be in the conversation of getting in

We can and should get more home and homes with teams like Virginia, Rhode Island, Tulsa, and the like. And less games with JSU, Green Bay, Florida A&M, and the other countless shit teams we play every year. So what if we have to go on the road in the beginning to play a big time basketball school? It gets us on national TV more. It gets our name out there more. It gets us talked about more.

[sonofozarka]

If we had played a tougher schedule pre-conference we would have more bad losses and not be in the conversation of getting in

You literally argued the opposite during Stans tenure, railing on the lack of quality of our non conference schedules then.

And you're wrong now, the non-con is absolutely what is keeping us out, any idiot knows that. Losses to top 50 teams would've helped us more than beating teams 275+. Just scheduling teams in the 75-200 range would've gotten us closer to getting in

[Dawg61]

We can and should get more home and homes with teams like Virginia, Rhode Island, Tulsa, and the like. And less games with JSU, Green Bay, Florida A&M, and the other countless shit teams we play every year. So what if we have to go on the road in the beginning to play a big time basketball school? It gets us on national TV more. It gets our name out there more. It gets us talked about more.

We don't even have to play big time schools on the road. We remove our 3 worst home games for RPI and replace them with 3 road games at Troy, UAB and Memphis we are in the tournament right now. We can't play 12 bullshit home games before SEC starts and expect to be included into the tourney. Hell even if Howland keeps the same 13 teams and just plays 6 of them on the road we would be in the tourney. You can't schedule horrible teams and also schedule them all at home and ever expect the committee to put you in.

[Coach34]

You literally argued the opposite during Stans tenure, railing on the lack of quality of our non conference schedules then.

And you're wrong now, the non-con is absolutely what is keeping us out, any idiot knows that. Losses to top 50 teams would've helped us more than beating teams 275+. Just scheduling teams in the 75-200 range would've gotten us closer to getting in

Yep- because our program was on solid ground. Our program now has not been been. All seasons are not created equally and dont begin at the same point.
We needed a winning season this year at all costs- hadnt had one in 6 years. And we got it. As I said earlier in the thread and in previous threads- next year we will schedule tougher- as we should with a veteran team that might be ranked in the preseason with 5 starters returning. We should have a good schedule next year and I cant wait.

So wipe your nose and get your little Stands chip off your shoulder.

[Coach34]

We don't even have to play big time schools on the road. We remove our 3 worst home games for RPI and replace them with 3 road games at Troy, UAB and Memphis we are in the tournament right now.

No because we probably lose 2/3 of those games- and those bad losses keep us out of the tourney. You keep acting like we would have won tougher games early in the season when if you had watched us- you would realize that we would have clearly not done that