View Full Version : Bama getting a dose of SEC baseball reality tonight
Coach34
04-04-2013, 09:41 PM
It's still just 3-1 in the B9- but it should be about 7-1....Bama's schedule is about to show them who they really are
engie
04-04-2013, 09:51 PM
But they are 7-2 in the SEC -- they are #1 in-conference Batting Avg...SOS doesn't matter -- Clearly, they are a great squad much better than the punchin judy crap we've got going**
The lack of parity in the SEC schedule is going to spur changes this year IMO. It's just so ridiculously unbalanced now...
I'm still in favor of adding the 3 "off" schedule teams as a home and home midweek to make it 36 games...gone into detail about how that would be accomplished before...
CadaverDawg
04-04-2013, 10:25 PM
The lack of parity in the SEC schedule is going to spur changes this year IMO. It's just so ridiculously unbalanced now....
Couldn't agree more.
Todd4State
04-04-2013, 10:46 PM
I hope one of the changes spured is LT getting removed from SEC scheduling. I can dream- please no one ruin this for me by saying "it's not going to happen".
I'm sure this will be brought up by the coaches this summer when they have their meetings. Having 14 teams just makes things really unbalanced especially with such a short season. We are one of two teams that has beaten LSU- mainly because LSU has had to play Mizzou and Auburn. Meanwhile we are 3-6 with a really high RPI because we had to play Arkansas, Kentucky, and LSU.
Playing three teams from the other division twice during midweek makes a lot of sense. I can tell you that players missing class is going to be an issue in the double standard that is SEC athletics. I could see it being a 33 game season with three Tuesday games for that reason plus the fact that then your record would be more influenced by teams in your division.
I would like to see a schedule where you play everyone in your division once on the weekend- except you play your permanent rival twice- so we would play Ole Miss in Starkville and Oxford every year and then you play three teams from the SEC east on the weekends rotated every year and then the remaining four SEC teams midweek on Tuesday for one game that counts in the standings. That should come out to 34 games if my math is correct.
maroonmania
04-04-2013, 10:54 PM
But they are 7-2 in the SEC -- they are #1 in-conference Batting Avg...SOS doesn't matter -- Clearly, they are a great squad much better than the punchin judy crap we've got going**
The lack of parity in the SEC schedule is going to spur changes this year IMO. It's just so ridiculously unbalanced now...
I'm still in favor of adding the 3 "off" schedule teams as a home and home midweek to make it 36 games...gone into detail about how that would be accomplished before...
IMO the regular season baseball champion now is no longer the true SEC champion. It was reasonable equity when everyone was playing all other teams but one but now SEC baseball would be like determining the football champion if schedules remained as they are and the best record after the season was declared champion with no title game. Our East schedule in baseball this year would be the equivalent of having GA, FL and SC in football this past year while missing out on KY, TN and Missouri.
engie
04-04-2013, 11:19 PM
My thing is... Is an extra 3 games on the road all that much? I know we only played 1 true nonconference road game this year(@ South Alabama) plus we played USM and will play OM at Trustmark -- and Memphis at Autozone... So, that's 4 midweeks away from Dudy Noble, 3 of which I expect every year(although we could set up the USM and OM series as a weekend double round robin in Pearl early in the season).
IMO, my model makes great sense for the upcoming SEC network IMO. Trying to find the post where I discussed it at length before and haven't found it yet... It lets you do Thurs, Fri, Sat or Sat, Sun, Mon series -- plus midweek SEC series on Tues or Wed, basically hooking up the network with SEC baseball 7 days a week.
Heck, do it on a Wednesday(for Fri, Sat, Sun series) and coordinate the trips -- or even do it 4 days in a row. It's a meat grinder certainly, but if every team has to do this uniformly, I don't see the problem(and all these kids will play 28 days a month at the next level anyway) . For instance, play @ Vandy on the way to UT or UK... then they play you on the way to Oxford, Baton Rouge, or Tuscaloosa...Seems easy on the surface.
It's a HUGE problem -- and will be a HUGE headache come tourney selection time, when they've got MSU is 16-14 in the SEC with a #8 RPI and the #2 SOS ---- while Arkansas is 20-10 in the SEC with a #45 SOS and a #25 RPI. They've simply got to find a way to balance it back out...
engie
04-04-2013, 11:25 PM
IMO the regular season baseball champion now is no longer the true SEC champion. It was reasonable equity when everyone was playing all other teams but one but now SEC baseball would be like determining the football champion if schedules remained as they are and the best record after the season was declared champion with no title game. Our East schedule in baseball this year would be the equivalent of having GA, FL and SC in football this past year while missing out on KY, TN and Missouri.
Exactly.
It's total bullshit... and it would be even if we were playing Georgia, Tennessee, and Missouri, which has 8-1 written all over it. Consequently, that's exactly what Alabama gets to do. South Carolina, Florida, and Kentucky is what we get(we both play Vandy). The difference there? EASILY the difference between 20-10 and 16-14...
M.Fillmore
04-04-2013, 11:27 PM
I hope one of the changes spured is LT getting removed from SEC scheduling. I can dream- please no one ruin this for me by saying "it's not going to happen".
Todd, the lunacy of putting LT in charge of scheduling goes beyond the fact he is incompetent. Just think about the idea of geting a fair and balanced schedules from a guy who doesn't like computers.
LT is a cancer that MSU may never be rid. Thankfully he was stopped in his mission to kill the Junction so he could put the monument to his ego there.
dickiedawg
04-05-2013, 07:34 AM
That model is fun to think about, but ultimately I think it leads to too much more missed class. Not to mention attendance would suck for Thursday and Monday games.
Quaoarsking
04-05-2013, 08:24 AM
Or we could just have 1 non conference and 13 SEC series instead of 4 and 10. Its not like anyone plays any good nonconf series anyway. This would be great for RPIs and much fairer.
engie
04-05-2013, 09:29 AM
That model is fun to think about, but ultimately I think it leads to too much more missed class. Not to mention attendance would suck for Thursday and Monday games.
Attendance and missed class are easy casualties for a network that will bring in at least $40 mil/month... Your talking what? $100k worth of ticket sales difference? MAYBE? You are actually probably talking $15-20k difference. You are talking about having one Thurs, Fri, Sat and one Sat, Sun, Mon series per week. That means each team has to do each exactly once per year.
If the powers that be @ the upcoming SEC network see fit to do it, it will be so... JUST like the 9-game conference schedule that's coming in football, which the SEC has LONG avoided...
It's funny that you mention a difference in attendance -- when SBW has been Thurs, Fri, Sat for a few years now -- and there has been NO marked difference in attendance between the Thursday start and the old Friday starts...
Will James
04-05-2013, 09:39 AM
Could they still stick with 10 weekend series' but have a set schedule model every year depending on the final standings. Something fair like every 1st weekend the previous year's 6 team plays at the previous year's 8 team. You may end up having to miss traditional rivals but I they could make an equitable schedule for all 14 slots nobody could complain about it and there wouldn't be a situation where you miss the 12-14 teams from the previous year.
ghostofjackie
04-05-2013, 10:43 AM
Why not make this a simple solution?
We play ten weekend series. This leaves us enough room for 9 midweek games in the conference season. That leaves three teams (9 games) we don't play. Spread these three series out over those 9 midweek games.
Maybe the SEC could even extend the conference calender to include 11 weekend series. This would only leave 6 midweek games. The SEC could treak the schedule to make these "midweek series" regionally close for travel times. Or, play them at a neutral location. If it's just two series a year then it won't matter that much for ticket sales.
dickiedawg
04-05-2013, 11:07 AM
Attendance and missed class are easy casualties for a network that will bring in at least $40 mil/month... Your talking what? $100k worth of ticket sales difference? MAYBE? You are actually probably talking $15-20k difference. You are talking about having one Thurs, Fri, Sat and one Sat, Sun, Mon series per week. That means each team has to do each exactly once per year.
If the powers that be @ the upcoming SEC network see fit to do it, it will be so... JUST like the 9-game conference schedule that's coming in football, which the SEC has LONG avoided...
It's funny that you mention a difference in attendance -- when SBW has been Thurs, Fri, Sat for a few years now -- and there has been NO marked difference in attendance between the Thursday start and the old Friday starts...
With only two series a year being the non-standard schedule, that makes a difference. I misunderstood your format. We already play two Thursday-Sat series, so that is pretty well moot.
engie
04-05-2013, 11:33 AM
With only two series a year being the non-standard schedule, that makes a difference. I misunderstood your format. We already play two Thursday-Sat series, so that is pretty well moot.
Exactly.
Essentially, you need one Thurs, Fri, Sat and one Sat, Sun, Mon series every week conference-wide for the 10 week season... You just need a single game to air on the network on Thursday and Monday basically...
maroonmania
04-05-2013, 03:35 PM
Or we could just have 1 non conference and 13 SEC series instead of 4 and 10. Its not like anyone plays any good nonconf series anyway. This would be great for RPIs and much fairer.
Would likely need to got 12 SEC series weekends. You would miss one team a year but it would be worth it to keep home and away series equal. I would much rather play 2 more SEC teams on weekends than our usual non-conference early season pansies anyway (you know the ones we started off 17-0 with). So with 36 conference games that would still leave 20 non-conference games available.
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