EA on MAC Basketball

[Quickzips]

All of you complainers: go to Dan Peters and tell him:'Dan, we need to upgrade our schedule so I will take over those duties for you GRATIS', Then you will find out what it's like to try to schedule the power conference teams.Some of you must think the staff sits there with their thumbs up their nose [or other body orfice] all daycollecting their money.I'm SICK of you complainers!If you think it's so damn easy LEAD THE WAY!

I'm sorry, but I'm sick of you complainers too. You complainers that bemoan how difficult it is to schedule for the Zips. Who complain that no one wants to come and play us at the JAR. Who complain that a better schedule will never make us into a serious at-large contender. Who whine about how poor attendance is at games against teams like St. Francis and UNC Greensboro. Dan Peters and Keith Dambrot want to complain about how hard it is to schedule, tough. IT IS A PART OF YOUR JOB! Look, Can't State, Miami, Ohio, Buffalo, BG and every other stinking team in the MAC manages to put together a better OOC schedule than we do EVERY YEAR. You want to complain about teams not wanting to give us a return trip to the JAR, but you go out and schedule Texas A&M, who I am sure we will NEVER see in the JAR. Where is the consistency in that? Not that I am complaining about scheduling the Aggies. Far from it. I actually want to see another game or two like that on our schedule every year. Look, no one is asking our guys to get Duke to come play us in the JAR, and no one is asking for a Miami like guantlet of games where all we are is a sacrificial lamb. All we are asking for is to give us some kind of a schedule that we can get excited about. Stop acting like a bunch of sissies, ball up and schedule a few teams.

[ZippyTuba11]

I honestly think the conference needs to step in here. The big conferences do. I know the Big Ten and the ACC are required to play several preseason matchups annually. The MAC needs to get some conference deals with the A-10, Horizon, and/or Con USA, preferably all three.

[ZachTheZip]

I doubt that the MAC would be able to convince another conference to play a "challenge" schedule like the Big Ten/ACC thing because nobody wants to be matched up with a MAC West team. We need a more solid middle, instead of having four or five very good mid-majors and the rest being horrible teams every season.

[ZippyTuba11]

I doubt that the MAC would be able to convince another conference to play a "challenge" schedule like the Big Ten/ACC thing because nobody wants to be matched up with a MAC West team. We need a more solid middle, instead of having four or five very good mid-majors and the rest being horrible teams every season.

Who said they had to get matched against MAC West teams?

[ZachTheZip]

I doubt that the MAC would be able to convince another conference to play a "challenge" schedule like the Big Ten/ACC thing because nobody wants to be matched up with a MAC West team. We need a more solid middle, instead of having four or five very good mid-majors and the rest being horrible teams every season.

Who said they had to get matched against MAC West teams?

So you're proposing a challenge where only the MAC East teams are involved?If we're doing a conference challenge, then somebody from the other conference will get stuck playing the crappy teams and i don't see them agreeing to that.

[ZippyTuba11]

I doubt that the MAC would be able to convince another conference to play a "challenge" schedule like the Big Ten/ACC thing because nobody wants to be matched up with a MAC West team. We need a more solid middle, instead of having four or five very good mid-majors and the rest being horrible teams every season.

Who said they had to get matched against MAC West teams?

So you're proposing a challenge where only the MAC East teams are involved?If we're doing a conference challenge, then somebody from the other conference will get stuck playing the crappy teams and i don't see them agreeing to that.

Obviously the sarcasm got lost in the translation.

[skip-zip]

I'll restate what I said in another thread...If we can't get a return game with those teams we need those games anyway. Everyone else has the same problems getting return home games. If we want to grow, we can't pass up opportunities to gain revenue, get some good work for our players, increase exposure, increase our SOS, and possibly win a game agaisnt a ranked team. I don't want to see another Akron basketball team get heartbroken, like the 26 win team did in 2007. And if we keep doing what we're doing, it's going to happen again.

[BirdZip]

Someone complained about games against teams like Malone not doing anything for our attendance. I believe that the Malone game was the highest attendance for us thus far this season, by far. Many Malone fans, but the cash goes to the Zips.I think on the scheduling side, you can still take the scheduling up a notch and hold to Dambrot's philosphies. If the big schools won't schedule the way you want to, go with the solid mid-majors. To decide who, use the Mid-major rankings for the past 5 years. Find teams who are consistently in the top 20 over that span, and work deals with them. See if the new football coach can use his ties to get us a few games, and be happy about it.Finally, it seems to me a double standard how the folks who say that we shouldn't schedule teams like St. Francis and UNC-G are the same people that think that teams like WVA and Kentucky should bow down and play us at the JAR. What's good enough for the goose is good enough for the gander. Oh, and

[Dave in Green]

I'll take whatever works. Last year worked for the Zips, so I'll take that again. One year it didn't work for the Zips, and it was such a sensational story that it got the Zips a full page story in the New York Times. How many Midwest college basketball teams have gotten a full page of coverage in the New York Times?It was a classic man-bites-dog story that happens about as often as one person being struck twice by lightning. Anyone who spends the rest of their life in fear that a man is going to bite their dog or of being struck twice by lightning is going to lead a pretty dismal existence for no good reason.The Zips do need to improve their strength of schedule somewhat in order to rise to the next level. Part of that is just having better luck in having the stronger programs they do play be higher rated in the years they play the Zips instead of down years where the team is weaker than its 10- or 20-year average (see Valpo). I don't see any need for a drastic change. If you play a weaker schedule, focus on winning more games and not getting upset by teams you're supposed to beat. Just make the most of what you've got instead of always wishing for something else.

[GP1]

Bob did tell me that he might consider playing Akron at the Q if circumstances were favorable. Pleaseread that as 'Akron is a top 25 team'.

Why would I read it as we are a Top 25 team when I can pick up the paper and see when we are not?

[GP1]

I can tell about those coaches I have personally spoken to. I lobbied quite a bit two years ago at the LeBronSkills Academy. I spoke to several top tier coaches regarding them playing the Zps. Most were notinterested in the least.

Next year when you are handing out coffee at the LBJ skills camp, asks them if the lack of attendance at the JAR influences ther opinion.

[GP1]

I lobbied quite a bit two years ago at the LeBron Skills Academy.

I've worked as a high level sales manager for a couple of Fortune 100 companies. Did extremely well with promotions at both. Maybe your sales pitch needs some work. Tell me your selling points and I will help you improve your closing skills. Believe me, these gym teachers that coach college basketball are no match for me. We'll have one Top 25 team after another in the JAR next year.

[Spin]

(Spin @ Dec 29 2009, 07:13 PM) *Another idea, bring in teams from famous recognizable football schools, with not-so-famous basketball programs. Michigan, UCLA, Georgia, LSU. Boise State. Who would get you more attention, the Penn State Nittany Lions, or the St. Francis Terriers?

Although I agree in principle with the idea you presented here, Michigan has a national championship (and two other championship game appearances) and UCLA has perhaps the strongest pedigree of anyone wth 11 National championships. Now if you were to substitute say Virginia Tech and Florida State then I might agree with you.

Maybe I should rephrase that "famous recognizable football schools that have basketball programs we could compete with." If not now, in the future.BTW, VT and FSU are two good examples either way.

[Spin]

I'm sorry, but I'm sick of you complainers too. You complainers that bemoan how difficult it is to schedule for the Zips. Who complain that no one wants to come and play us at the JAR. Who complain that a better schedule will never make us into a serious at-large contender. Who whine about how poor attendance is at games against teams like St. Francis and UNC Greensboro. Dan Peters and Keith Dambrot want to complain about how hard it is to schedule, tough. IT IS A PART OF YOUR JOB! Look, Can't State, Miami, Ohio, Buffalo, BG and every other stinking team in the MAC manages to put together a better OOC schedule than we do EVERY YEAR. You want to complain about teams not wanting to give us a return trip to the JAR, but you go out and schedule Texas A&M, who I am sure we will NEVER see in the JAR. Where is the consistency in that? Not that I am complaining about scheduling the Aggies. Far from it. I actually want to see another game or two like that on our schedule every year. Look, no one is asking our guys to get Duke to come play us in the JAR, and no one is asking for a Miami like guantlet of games where all we are is a sacrificial lamb. All we are asking for is to give us some kind of a schedule that we can get excited about. Stop acting like a bunch of sissies, ball up and schedule a few teams.

+1This is what I've heard people outside the program saying for years.If you have a prayer of sniffing a selection bid, in the NCAA or the NIT, 26 wins against Arkansas Pine Bluff and UNC Greensboro is NOT what they're looking for. Been there, done that.So you might as well play tough, and get ready for the conference tourney. Scheduling tough non-con opponents only makes you BETTER. It gets you ready for the conference season and the conference tournament. Playing Binghamton is not going to get Zeke any "big game" exposure. If you play a major, even if you have to travel there (and play Malone at home for a nice payday), IT MAKES YOU BETTER. You go into a big time arena and play a big time team on their court, you learn. You're exposed to the crowd attaching all of your senses. It helps you at tournament time.Wyoming??? not so much...

[ZachTheZip]

Does anybody remember the Texas A&M pre-game story?http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/preview?gameId=293380245Their coach's friends (the coaching circle?) told him not to schedule us.

"There's a number in front of our name now," Turgeon said. "People will get pretty excited to play us now. So Akron was an NCAA tournament team that a lot of my friends told me not to schedule. Well I did. So we'll have to be really ready to play Friday night."

[Spin]

The same week Cleveland State traveled to 12th ranked Kansas State.Youngstown State played in Pittsburgh.They're just over half the size of Akron U. We could travel all over the state and compare schedules, but some will just come up with more excuses why we can't.

[Hilltopper]

Poor horse!

[ZachTheZip]

Our RPI jumped from 191 to 162 with last night's win.The RPI doesn't count what rank another team's RPI is when you play them. It just looks at their record (50% of the RPI) and their opponent's record (25% of the RPI). That means that the trick is to play teams with decent records, regardless of what their RPI is. If you beat an average team (.500 record) that plays an average schedule (.500 opponent's record), then when you combine it with your record against them (the final 25% of the RPI), you get a RPI number of .650 for that game. This is for a neutral court game. A home win counts for 0.80 and a road win counts for 1.20 in the calculation. The overall RPI is an average of this calculation for all D-I games that you have played. The problem with the schedules of the other MAC teams is that when we play them, they have losing records but their opponents have good records. Unfortunately, their record counts twice as much as their opponents record when factored into our RPI. That's 16 games against teams that hurt your RPI. If every MAC team scheduled a little weaker and won a few more games, it would raise our collective RPI by the end of the season, which is exactly what the MVC is doing. Look at records and their SOS. They win their games against weaker teams, which translates to more conference games against winning teams.

[zipboy]

Our RPI jumped from 191 to 162 with last night's win.The RPI doesn't count what rank another team's RPI is when you play them. It just looks at their record (50% of the RPI) and their opponent's record (25% of the RPI). That means that the trick is to play teams with decent records, regardless of what their RPI is. If you beat an average team (.500 record) that plays an average schedule (.500 opponent's record), then when you combine it with your record against them (the final 25% of the RPI), you get a RPI number of .650 for that game. This is for a neutral court game. A home win counts for 0.80 and a road win counts for 1.20 in the calculation. The overall RPI is an average of this calculation for all D-I games that you have played. The problem with the schedules of the other MAC teams is that when we play them, they have losing records but their opponents have good records. Unfortunately, their record counts twice as much as their opponents record when factored into our RPI. That's 16 games against teams that hurt your RPI. If every MAC team scheduled a little weaker and won a few more games, it would raise our collective RPI by the end of the season, which is exactly what the MVC is doing. Look at records and their SOS. They win their games against weaker teams, which translates to more conference games against winning teams.

Interesting point that I wasn't aware of. Elton had an article a few days ago about Akron's schedule and mentioned how weak the MVC schedule is but their collective RPI is very good which I questioned. When Rick Boyages was in charge of MAC basketball (now with the Big 10 I think), he recommended 3 things from what I remember, 1. At least 50% of OOC games at home, 2. Limit money games, 3. Limit Div 3 games. He wanted the OOC schedule waterd down. Akron schedules as close to what he suggested as anyone in the league. Let's say Akron beats RI, had beaten AP (the game we gave away), and had somehow managed to beat A&M (got lucky or whatever). At that point, the buzz would be a 1 loss team with a win over a top 25 team. Kind of like the MVC, beat the 1 top 25 team you play and have a gaudy record, what you see is so and so beat a top 25 team on Sportscenter and they are 12-1, they must be really good.Looking forward to RI on Tuesday. Over the last 4-5 years, the best games, athletic hard fought games that I remember at the JAR were Nevada, VCU, and the Can't games. Akron is fun to watch and when they play a good team, it really does make for exciting basketball.

[ZachTheZip]

Akron's RPI jumped again to 149 last night. Four of our opponents played and three won. The one that lost was NC Greensboro, and they played NC State so it evened out. UIC and Valpo both picked up solid Horizon League wins against Detroit and Milwaukee, respectively.There are no games of note being played today, but on saturday there are a few. Rhode Island plays Oklahoma State, and a win would help set up the "trap game" effect for us. Also Niagara hosts Iona, Howard plays at George Washington, St Francis hosts Hartford, UIC hosts Wright State, Valpo hosts Green Bay, Austin Peay plays at Morehead State, and Texas A&M hosts Northwestern State. All of those teams winning would be ideal. I see them going 5-3.Wyoming plays a D-II team so that won't affect our RPI.

[Dave in Green]

..... The RPI doesn't count what rank another team's RPI is when you play them. It just looks at their record (50% of the RPI) and their opponent's record (25% of the RPI). That means that the trick is to play teams with decent records, regardless of what their RPI is. If you beat an average team (.500 record) that plays an average schedule (.500 opponent's record), then when you combine it with your record against them (the final 25% of the RPI), you get a RPI number of .650 for that game. This is for a neutral court game. A home win counts for 0.80 and a road win counts for 1.20 in the calculation. The overall RPI is an average of this calculation for all D-I games that you have played. .....

Thanks. It's really good to know how RPI is calculated. That helps explain why William & Mary was ranked 7th in RPI after losing to Harvard while North Carolina and Michgan State were way down in 53rd and 56th.If anyone cares about RPI or any other rating system, it pays to know the rules of the system and how to play the rules to your advantage. It sounds like the best way to build RPI is to schedule a lot of road games against beatable teams that happen to have winning records.

[johnnyzip84]

Maybe I missed some earlier discussion, but it looks like Western Michigan is putting together a pretty decent start to their season. Their win over the College of Charleston on a neutral court looks much more impressive with CofC's win over UNC. They've played a pretty tough schedule and have managed to come away with a winning record. Mr. Kool (who seems like he's been there forever) may have something to say in Cleveland come tournament time.

[ksu sucks]

Maybe I missed some earlier discussion, but it looks like Western Michigan is putting together a pretty decent start to their season. Their win over the College of Charleston on a neutral court looks much more impressive with CofC's win over UNC. They've played a pretty tough schedule and have managed to come away with a winning record. Mr. Kool (who seems like he's been there forever) may have something to say in Cleveland come tournament time.

I've been waiting for someone to mention this. Judging from their schedule so far, WMU will be tough. I might mention that they beat VCU decisively. The same VCU squad that beat URI by 2.