Strength of schedule

[Zipmeister]

As of 12-19-07, Sagarin has the Zip's strength of schedule ranked at 322 of 341 Division I teams. I think this may be a little low (I'm thinking more like 337), but Jeff has been doing his thing for a long time so I'll go with him. I think this pretty much assures the fact that the Zips will not get into the Big Dance unless they win the MAC tourny. What do you think of our scheduling strategy? Can we get any of the local high schools on future schedules (not the better ones of course)?

[GoZips]

Strength of Schedule and the Relative Performance Index are both bogus at this time of year.Akron is not responsible for how other teams play. Dambrot and staff are charged with getting their team into the win column. Seems to me that they are doing just that.What matters is late February so far as SOS and RPI are concerned. South Carolina Upstate just jacked their RPI by getting their first ever Div.-I win at SMU. Now,how would you like to be SMU?Temple has an RPI far better than the Zips. Think they could beat Akron given a second chance? Naw.Take care of the business at hand. The team is developing nicely. If you go out and win everything falls into place. I am pleased with this edition of the Zips.In case you have never noticed; the bigs have routinely sharpened their claws on the fodder for many years. no one whines about thier SOS or RPI. So, give it a rest.

[zip37]

ZIPMEISTER--- CALL RICK Mc FADDEN, TELL HIM YOU WILL COME IN AND DO THE SCHEDULING, AND THEN HE CAN DEVOTE MORE TIME TO OTHER DUTIES, THEN WE WILL SEE A SCHEDULE THAT WILL GIVE US AN RPI RATING YOU CONSIDER HIGH ENOUGH. I AM ANXOUS TO SEE WHAT YOUR SCHEDULE WILL BRING:screwks:

[zen]

I think this pretty much assures the fact that the Zips will not get into the Big Dance unless they win the MAC tourny.

Maybe you are right, as we had 26 wins last year and got no nods, but I am doubting it. I think we get Diss'd no matter what we do. Screw it. We gotta win the MAC tourney. The rest is politics

[Zipmeister]

Zip37,I called Rick (he says to tell you Hi). Here is the schedule we worked out so far for next year.Keep Temple, Winthrop, Wyoming, and Austin Peaysubstitute the following (all within a bus ride) for patsies played to date this seasonMarshallValparaisoWestern KentuckyButlerOaklandWright Stateand you have a top 100 schedule so far.

[RowdyZip]

Zip37,I called Rick (he says to tell you Hi). Here is the schedule we worked out so far for next year.Keep Temple, Winthrop, Wyoming, and Austin Peaysubstitute the following (all within a bus ride) for patsies played to date this seasonMarshallValparaisoWestern KentuckyButlerOaklandWright Stateand you have a top 100 schedule so far.

Wow, you're an expert. This subject is like beating a dead horse. Maybe we should just join the horizon league? I'm putting my trust in coach D, he obviously knows what he's doing. I'd be concerned if we were swamping these "patises" all non-conf season and then going .500 or so in the MAC. But we're NOT. Let the man do his job, he loves this school and the schedule will come around. You cant build a "mid major" power by simply scheduling powerhouses on the road. Each year we've taken a step forward toward that elusive ncaa berth. Could this be the year? Quite possibly. But you know what? If not, I have faith that we'll compete again next year and probably be even better. That's all you can ask for at this point for this program. Constant growth and improvement. Rome wasn't built in a day.GO ZIPS!

[ZachTheZip]

For everyone who wants a tougher schedule with KD giving up his exclusive home-and-home policy, I ask you to find me an example of of what you want working for a comperable school. Hundreds of schools do that every year, playing two nonconference away games for every home game, and they all suck. Good teams are good because they get teams to play them at home, where they can win.

[Zip Watcher]

I'd like to see someone do some research on Gonzaga. Pull their schedules / results from 1995 through now, and also link it up to RPI results for each year if you can find them.- RPI & SOS for each season of Gonzaga since Dan Monson became coach, or 1995, whichever is earlier. I know that Mark Few is the coach now, but Monson was the initial architect.- Their schedule & results, as well as their post-season invites & resultsI think (wild ass guess here) that Gonzaga had no luck getting a favorable schedule until AFTER they broke through and became a known team with a few NCAA berths / wins. And by favorable schedule, I mean a schedule that isn't entirely on the road, with some quality opponents at home .. etc.It might be interesting to see Butler or (pick your own) during the same time period.Maybe a student can fit this in during break between cases of the Beast or Natty Light.If it's good info, there may be a pair of lower reserved seats for an upcoming Zips game for the best research into the topic.

[ZipAlumn]

I think this pretty much assures the fact that the Zips will not get into the Big Dance unless they win the MAC tourny.

Maybe you are right, as we had 26 wins last year and got no nods, but I am doubting it. I think we get Diss'd no matter what we do. Screw it. We gotta win the MAC tourney. The rest is politics

If I remember from last year our RPI and Strength of Schedule wasn't all that bad. With 26 wins and most of them in the MAC we still got screwed. I don't think our RPI or Strength of Schedule hurts us as much as being in the MAC - a conference that gets no respect in basketball, but does better in football. Go figure .........

[Let'sGoZips94]

Miami beats Illinois Valley Upstate 61-58 in overtime at Illinois Valley Upstate.WHOOPS! Correction ... that was AT Illinois as in Big Ten (Eleven) Illinois . Nice win for Miami and the MAC. Miami plays a VERY nice schedule. BORING basketball but a nice schedule.

[maggiemoo]

... and who cares what Miami's schedule is, or anyone else in the MAC for that matter. The MAC will get one team (ONE TEAM!) into the NCAA tournament. It will be the team that wins the MAC tournament. Period. End of story. Screw the OOC schedule. Screw the MAC schedule. Screw everything except winning the tournament. That's the only golden ticket into the NCAA.

[jeaglet1]

If I remember from last year our RPI and Strength of Schedule wasn't all that bad. With 26 wins and most of them in the MAC we still got screwed. I don't think our RPI or Strength of Schedule hurts us as much as being in the MAC - a conference that gets no respect in basketball, but does better in football. Go figure .........

Akrons RPI was 66, with a SOS of 177. 177 wasn't even in the top half last year. Nevada was the only team we played in the top 86, and they were a bracketbuster return game.

... and who cares what Miami's schedule is, or anyone else in the MAC for that matter. The MAC will get one team (ONE TEAM!) into the NCAA tournament. It will be the team that wins the MAC tournament. Period. End of story. Screw the OOC schedule. Screw the MAC schedule. Screw everything except winning the tournament. That's the only golden ticket into the NCAA.

Thats a defeatist attitude if I have ever heard one. "They won't come play us here and it wont matter anyway so let's not even try." Heck, this kind of OOC schedule is part of the reason the MAC only gets one bid. How is the overall perception (and RPI rank) of the conference supposed to improve if one of it's top teams are playing one of the worst schedules in D1? So now, when Akron beats Miami (RPI 40), or K.e.n.t (60), or Ohio (39), it drags their RPI (and the conference perception) down. Don't get me wrong, I dont think we need to schedule 5 top ten teams, but some mid level power conference teams would be nice. Even if it's one game (ONE GAME!) wouldn't you rather see how the zips stack up against an Illinois, or a Maryland instead of the Binghamtons of the world?That's just my two cents though...

[flipthezip]

I know everyone wants to play better competition so let's get after scheduling it using our connections. Call down to Cincinnati and Xavier where our former AD's are at and ask to for some help. They were here once facing the same problems with scheduling. And it's not as if these 2 schools are ducking tough OOC opponents.

[blueandgold]

I know everyone wants to play better competition so let's get after scheduling it using our connections. Call down to Cincinnati and Xavier where our former AD's are at and ask to for some help. They were here once facing the same problems with scheduling. And it's not as if these 2 schools are ducking tough OOC opponents.

And why not contact WV, maybe Huggins will play us. They can play us at the JAR and everyone from WV can see his nice banner.

[Zipmeister]

Zip37,I called Rick (he says to tell you Hi). Here is the schedule we worked out so far for next year.Keep Temple, Winthrop, Wyoming, and Austin Peaysubstitute the following (all within a bus ride) for patsies played to date this seasonMarshallValparaisoWestern KentuckyButlerOaklandWright Stateand you have a top 100 schedule so far.

Wow, you're an expert. This subject is like beating a dead horse. Maybe we should just join the horizon league? I'm putting my trust in coach D, he obviously knows what he's doing. I'd be concerned if we were swamping these "patises" all non-conf season and then going .500 or so in the MAC. But we're NOT. Let the man do his job, he loves this school and the schedule will come around. You cant build a "mid major" power by simply scheduling powerhouses on the road. Each year we've taken a step forward toward that elusive ncaa berth. Could this be the year? Quite possibly. But you know what? If not, I have faith that we'll compete again next year and probably be even better. That's all you can ask for at this point for this program. Constant growth and improvement. Rome wasn't built in a day.GO ZIPS!

I think I see where you are coming from now RowdyZip, but a jump to the Horizon League may not be the way to increase our odds of getting to the Big Dance. They have placed multiple teams in the tournament much more frequently than the MAC, but it has always been because a team with a high strength of schedule and RPI failed to win their conference tournament and their tournament winner gets the automatic bid. One advantage of a move to the Horizon League would be that we could drop football which is a huge money drain on our athletic department budget. Another is that the HL is much stronger in men’s soccer compared to the MAC, and comparable in most other sports. I think we should stick with the MAC and schedule better basketball opponents.

[Zipsrifle]

Though I'm not a huge BB fan, I think KD's approach is quite interesting. If we take the conventional approach (the approach every other Mid-Major is taking), then we hope to knock off a few good schools, to get quality recruits to elevate our program. Odds are that you are NOT going to be able to knock off enough of the big boys to get an at large, and you will have to win your confrence to get to the dance. If you play a stupid hard schedule and get killed, you ONLY chance of getting to the big dance is to win the MAC. Your record looks crappy and that probably hurts recruiting. As we saw last year, if we have a cake schedule, your record looks great, but you get snubbed (for more than one reason) and your only chance of getting to the big dance is to win the MAC. The up side, IMO, of this approach (KD's approach), is that you have an outstanding record that MAY bring in higher quality recruits. Eventually, this may elevate your talent to where you win your confrence consistently and then, you have a chance to take down the big boys. In the end, it all boils down to winning the confrence for us. I like KD's approach and I'd like to see where it takes us. Everyone else is taking the same old approach, KD is thinking outside of the box.

[GoZips]

Wow, ZIPMEISTER, you have much better connections than I do. In fact, you seem to know more about next year's schedule than Coach McFadden does. Truth be told, we know we have home games with Dayton and Winthrop next year. We begin a home-n-home series with Wyoming in the Fall of 2009. First game of that series is suppose to be in Laramie. Getting a series with Gonzaga is high on the to do list as is a series with Creighton. Western Kentucky might be a nice series, although I haven't heard them mentioned.There is a possibility of a home-n-home series with Xavier. It was talked about during the preseason scrimmage. That scrimmage was a one time deal engineered byXavier for their own purposes. Butler would be great. But, alas, the only likelihood of that would be to snag them first in the ESPN Bracket Buster. Wright State wont play us here. And, we are not giving them a freebie. As for Oakland, Marshall, Valpo and Austin Peay, the Zips have no interest in playing these opponents. There is no game with Temple unless the MAC has changed its schedule. The series with UIC concludes this year as did the Binghamton series. The other games were bought just like the Wyoming game was. It was nice to see in print in the ESPN column that the Wyoming game was a bought game. I think I reported that a couple of weeks ago. I believe there is an option to play another home-n-home with YSU. However, that is contingent on what other scheduling the Zips can do. Some one mentioned Cleveland State in a post. Not going to happen any time soon. Coach Waters burnt some bridges that are not likely easily repaired.I know that Lamar and a couple of other schools are interested. But, none of them are going to get any one excited about playing them.I doubt that Cincinnati has any interest in a home-n-home series with the likes of us given their current state of affairs.Bob Huggins told me, when I spoke with him to congratulate him on getting the WVa job, that he is smart enough to NEVER bring the Mountaineers into the JAR. TheGund is a possibility. But, he said it would have to be a two-for-one deal.I spoke with coach McFadden prior to last night's game against YSU. He has NOT spoken to any of you about scheduling. He told me last night that the scheduling process begins in earnest after the playing season concludes.

[GP1]

I find the strength of schedule topic .To me, this topic is interesting if one or two conditions exist. 1. You purchase tickets to the games. 2. You are a player.1. There is no way I would take money out of my own pocket, or more importantly, spend time going to see the ooc home schedule Akron offers. If you guys enjoy it, that's great! 2. If we have players on this team who want to truely compete, they would want a tougher ooc schedule. I hope there isn't a player on the Zips who wouldn't love to play a UNC or UCLA or Georgetown, etc. Part of playing college athletics is a young person finding out how good they really are at what sport they play. This schedule cheats the players out of that opportunity. If there is a player on the team who woudn't want to play a tougher ooc schedule, that kid should transfer out immediately to a school and a sport where backbones are not needed.

[ziptrumpet87]

GP1, I'm sorry you feel that way about the OOC schedule. I for one enjoy seeing the new kids and seeing the team develop before the conference games begin. Yes, many of the games this year are against lesser talent, but they are usually teams that are or have been at the top of their respective conferences. The Nevada game last year was a nice challenge and I have faith that KD will have more of those type of games in the future. Until then, we can support our team, cheer their improvement, and prepare for MAC play.

[RACER]

GP you said the home schedule offers.no one wants to come here and play the zips.who are they suposed to schedule then.the teams you mentioned will not come here.you have to go on the road to play these teams.you see what happens if footall when you do this.you lose and get 7k people a game.

[Zipmeister]

Wow, ZIPMEISTER, you have much better connections than I do. In fact, you seem to know more about next year's schedule than Coach McFadden does. Truth be told, we know we have home games with Dayton and Winthrop next year. We begin a home-n-home series with Wyoming in the Fall of 2009. First game of that series is suppose to be in Laramie. Getting a series with Gonzaga is high on the to do list as is a series with Creighton. Western Kentucky might be a nice series, although I haven't heard them mentioned.There is a possibility of a home-n-home series with Xavier. It was talked about during the preseason scrimmage. That scrimmage was a one time deal engineered byXavier for their own purposes. Butler would be great. But, alas, the only likelihood of that would be to snag them first in the ESPN Bracket Buster. Wright State wont play us here. And, we are not giving them a freebie. As for Oakland, Marshall, Valpo and Austin Peay, the Zips have no interest in playing these opponents. There is no game with Temple unless the MAC has changed its schedule. The series with UIC concludes this year as did the Binghamton series. The other games were bought just like the Wyoming game was. It was nice to see in print in the ESPN column that the Wyoming game was a bought game. I think I reported that a couple of weeks ago. I believe there is an option to play another home-n-home with YSU. However, that is contingent on what other scheduling the Zips can do. Some one mentioned Cleveland State in a post. Not going to happen any time soon. Coach Waters burnt some bridges that are not likely easily repaired.I know that Lamar and a couple of other schools are interested. But, none of them are going to get any one excited about playing them.I doubt that Cincinnati has any interest in a home-n-home series with the likes of us given their current state of affairs.Bob Huggins told me, when I spoke with him to congratulate him on getting the WVa job, that he is smart enough to NEVER bring the Mountaineers into the JAR. TheGund is a possibility. But, he said it would have to be a two-for-one deal.I spoke with coach McFadden prior to last night's game against YSU. He has NOT spoken to any of you about scheduling. He told me last night that the scheduling process begins in earnest after the playing season concludes.

This does not surprise me. When I was talking to Governor Strickland he told me that he instructed Coach to lie to you about our Zip Bball scheduling session, but I never thought he would actually do it.

[GP1]

GP you said the home schedule offers.no one wants to come here and play the zips.who are they suposed to schedule then.the teams you mentioned will not come here.you have to go on the road to play these teams.you see what happens if footall when you do this.you lose and get 7k people a game.

You guys tend to think too much in the extreme. I'm not saying load up the schedule with Top 20 teams, but for crying out loud, play one or two home/home at The Q. Let the players on the team see how good they really are. This is the one chance in their life they will get to do that.

[zip37]

GP-1-- Home and home @ the Q!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!???????????????? Let's see, we play home games in AKRON, and if my geography is correct, the Q is in CLEVELAND. How is that a home game? KD will play anyone home and HOME, no takers except for Winthrop & UD so far.

[GP1]

GP-1-- Home and home @ the Q!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!???????????????? Let's see, we play home games in AKRON, and if my geography is correct, the Q is in CLEVELAND. How is that a home game? KD will play anyone home and HOME, no takers except for Winthrop & UD so far.

Why would anyone come to the JAR and play in front of 3,000 people. Of course it isn't a home game, but that is the cost of being a low level mid major.If KD wants to continue to schedule the junk he is for home games, he shouldn't complain in post game interviews that nobody goes to the game.I'll say it again, let the players see how good they are. Play one or two bigger teams. The program isn't going to fall apart because of those games.

[GP1]

GP you said the home schedule offers.no one wants to come here and play the zips.who are they suposed to schedule then.the teams you mentioned will not come here.you have to go on the road to play these teams.you see what happens if footall when you do this.you lose and get 7k people a game.

I read this board, nobody is going to the bb games now. What makes the difference who they play? Let the kids see how good they really are.