non conference schedule...Elton's take...

[zippyman23]

The conference has had 4 at large bids in the last 30 years, maybe longer or ever.Scheduling for at-large consideration in the current conference is not going to guarantee anything. The schedule should prepare the team to do what it did last year: Win the MAC Tournament and move on to the NCAA. It should also help the team peak at the right time to compete at a high level once there.Last year Miami put a scare into UCLA @ Pawlie Pavilion & played 4 or 5 other top 30 teams. What did it get them exactly? I'm not sure, but I do remember seeing them get pounded in the second half of the MAC Quarters @ the Q and sent home by Your 2009 MAC Tournament Champion Akron Zips.In 2001-02 Ball State went out to Hawaii and played an incredible weekend, BEATING 2 top 10 (Kansas & UCLA) teams and playing close with a 3rd (Duke). The next week, they entered the rankings at 10 or 11 .. later on in March, were they in the NCAA tournament? By at-large? No. Automatic Birth, No. They went 7-9 in conference and ended up way under .500 for the year. They did get an NIT birth and add victories over St. Joes & LSU before getting waxed by South Carolina.My point? I think the schedule is ok. We get lots of home games, which means some $$$ for the program. We aren't going to take a complete pounding in multiple places without hope of a return game. We have some nice neutral court games against NCST & Drake, and a roadie to College Station. Projecting the RPI of these things now is a complete waste of time. A couple of years ago, Wyoming was supposed to compete in the MWC, came into the JAR, left with a 30+ point beatdown, and ended up in the cellar of the conference.KD needs to schedule to grow the program. The trend has been great so far. 5 seasons, 3 post-season births, a MAC Tourney Title, and 1 NCAA appearance. As a Zips Hoops fan above all other teams, I trust KD because I see the results. The Zips are defending MAC Champs, have all but one (albeit significant) player returning, and add a top-50 recruit & 7' center. I refuse to diminish how great March was by searching for something to complain about in July.Go Zips! B) B)

Obviously there are no guarantee's but our schedule isn't even giving us a chance (even if that chance is only 4 out of 30). It's not just about getting an at-large bid, it helps with getting into the NIT, and it also helps with seeding so that when you get in to the tournament you put yourself in a favorable position. Not to mention the increased exposure of program, and attendence to home games. All of which help in recruiting.The margin of error is so slim. In reality, if we didn't win the MAC tourney, we wouldn't have even made the NIT. Heck, a last second layup verse Toledo may be all that seperates us from the NCAA tournament and no postseason tourney at all.I guess things worked out last year, so we should all be happy should be happy with this years. But if we want to take the next step, we really need to schedule better.

[Zip Watcher]

So our scheduling method doesn't even get us in the NIT? Even when 2 of 3 years prior to the NCAA year of '09, the same scheduling method did put the Zips in the NIT .. and the 3rd year something odd happened and they were omitted?I disagree with your logic.

[Captain Kangaroo]

I like the way the Zips schedule. The Zips are in a perfect situation. They are about to become the best team in a bad conference. Winning lots of games, winning the conference and going to the NCAAs with a win every now and then spells a fantastic program and enjoyment for the fans. I don't know how getting smashed a couple of times a season will make the program better. In fact, it could prove the program is done growing and maybe not the stud many like to believe it is. It is a stud for a MAC program, but it ends about there. I think we worry to much about this scheduling issue. Just enjoy the winning.

I think there's a fair amount of truth in your angle.Say the Zips did schedule some really tough opponents to begin the season...and we got smoked..started the season 3-8. That would kill a lot of the momentum we got from our MAC Championship & NCAA tourney appearance. If we start the season 10 - 1, the momentum only grows, regardless of who we beat.We shall see...CSU scheduled tough...UA scheduled relatively vanilla. Both are NE Ohio mid-majors and 2009 NCAA tourney participants. You can't have a better comparison of which scheduling strategy is ultimately more effective.

[ZachTheZip]

Maybe we should just schedule CSU and be done with this debate. Oh wait...MAN UP, WATERS.

[zippyman23]

So our scheduling method doesn't even get us in the NIT? Even when 2 of 3 years prior to the NCAA year of '09, the same scheduling method did put the Zips in the NIT .. and the 3rd year something odd happened and they were omitted?I disagree with your logic.

I never said it wouldn't get us in the NIT, it just leaves a very slim margin. I said we wouldn't have made the NIT last year if we didn't win the MAC tourney. That's a fact.

[Zip Watcher]

I never said it wouldn't get us in the NIT, it just leaves a very slim margin. I said we wouldn't have made the NIT last year if we didn't win the MAC tourney. That's a fact.

Because you were on the committee? A fact? B) Go Zips!

[zippyman23]

I never said it wouldn't get us in the NIT, it just leaves a very slim margin. I said we wouldn't have made the NIT last year if we didn't win the MAC tourney. That's a fact.

Because you were on the committee? A fact? B) Go Zips!

Yes, a fact. Bowling Green was already in the NIT from the MAC. Add that to Buffalo, who finished tied for 1st in the regular season, who also had a better RPI and SOS than us, did not make NIT. We wouldn't have made the NIT, that's just reality.

[GP1]

Say the Zips did schedule some really tough opponents to begin the season...and we got smoked..started the season 3-8. That would kill a lot of the momentum we got from our MAC Championship & NCAA tourney appearance. If we start the season 10 - 1, the momentum only grows, regardless of who we beat.

The year after the football team won the MAC and went to a bowl, which is the same as winning the BB tournament and going to the NCAA, they were not impressive early the following season with the exception of beating a bad NC State team. When the CMU disaster happened the following week, interest was gone. Joe Akron picks up the paper after the first four football games and sees 1-3 and is not interested. The same thing could happen in basketball. The MAC isn't a very good product right now so illusions are important. Starting out the season, even if it is beating cupcakes like Malone, is important to public perception. It generates interesting discussions like Akron becoming the Gonzaga of the East, which is complete nonsense because we all know we only want to be the best UofA we can be and screw everything else.On the negative, I don't think this schedule results in any type of "growing" or proof that KD's "master plan" is working. The program is what it is and will only get slightly better than it is right now with Zeke and the higher levels of college basketball "growing" at a stronger clip. There is no Gonzaga of the East in our future. This whole idea of a master plan is like conspiracy theories. When evidence shows the conspiracy theory to be correct, the defenders are made to feel vindicated. When evidence shows the conspiracy theory is incorrect, the defenders feel vindicated because is shows just how broad reaching the conspiracy. KD's master plan is the same way. When we beat superior teams to win the MAC it shows the team is growing and the master plan is working. When we are the superior team, as we have been in years past, and we lose championship games it shows how great the master plan is and we should just be patient. The Zips should be hands down favorites to win the MAC next year (As bad as the MAC is, we could get 8 guys off of this board and come in second). If they don't, I'm sure we will still have the "growers" on this board just like Republicans now have the "birthers".

[Captain Kangaroo]

So our scheduling method doesn't even get us in the NIT? Even when 2 of 3 years prior to the NCAA year of '09, the same scheduling method did put the Zips in the NIT .. and the 3rd year something odd happened and they were omitted?I disagree with your logic.

I never said it wouldn't get us in the NIT, it just leaves a very slim margin. I said we wouldn't have made the NIT last year if we didn't win the MAC tourney. That's a fact.

I think it depends upon which game we lost. We lose game #1,#2 or 3 of the MAC tourney, no NIT. If we lost in the finals, we'd have had a marginal NIT shot. Not a sure thing by any stretch.BTW - No one cares about the NIT but the UA "hard-cores." You only need to look at our last 2 appearances. Attendance went down last season after our 2-deep NIT run. NCAA or bust, baby.

[psc2009]

Until MAC teams start consistently winning against the "name schoools" it doesn't really matter who Akron schedules. The MAC is going to be a one-team conference until it starts winning November games against Big Ten or Big East teams and has teams that can get out of the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Look at the MVC, they played the RPI and SOS game very well, but when it became crunch time, they failed. In just a couple of years, they've gone from being a possible 2-3 team conference to being another 1-team conference... unless they do something amazing.