Reply To: Scheduling: 2013-14

Forum Forum Lehigh Sports Lehigh Men’s Basketball Scheduling: 2013-14 Reply To: Scheduling: 2013-14

#11362
StablerBum
StablerBum
Participant

Thanks LU65. No one is suggesting that this is easy and that we will all love the schedule every year. All I’m asking is to have a competitive OOC schedule along the lines of a typical Bucknell schedule or a Holy Cross schedule from the late Willard years. And while you cited examples of weak MM schedules, I can pull good ones as well.

Northeastern is playing: BU, @Stony Brook, CCSU, @VCU, Harvard, UAB, @Fairfield, UW Milwaukee (nuetral), @Tulane, Richmond, @Vandy, and the Puerto Rico Tip Off

Princeton: Florida A&M, @ Butler, Lafayette, @ Rice, George Mason, @ Bucknell, Farleigh Dickinson, @Rutgers, @Penn St, Pacific (nuet), Portland (nuet), Kent State, @ Liberty

Iona: @ Cleveland St, Wofford, @ Kansas, George Mason, @ FGCU, Marist, @ Fairfield, St. Bona, @ Dayton, @ Nevada, @ Northern Iowa

That was with 10 minutes of looking for good mid major schedules in our region. I certainly am not asking to play more BCS teams on the road. 3 of those games a year is a given and plenty for my liking. I’m talking about scheduling teams that have some history, some consistent success, and maybe even some fans that travel.

As you said, RPI #’s are far from the be all end all. You are a football guy right ’65? How about Hofstra or Udel? We KNOW Udel was looking for games as recently as this summer. A game like Fordham, even when they are horrible I will never call it a bad game. They are in a good conference, have some tradition, and are an opponent with some history.

I also understand that we sign long term contracts with some of these teams, but I don’t understand that as an excuse. When we signed on to play St. Francis (Pa) 4 years ago (or six? who knows), did we ever think that would be an attractive game? Has St. Francis (Pa) ever been a good team or an attractive game? On the other side, I really like the Quinnipiac series. They have good facilities, are an up and coming program, and have yet to be really bad since we started playing them. I would put Rider in that category as well.

As you said, we are headed in the right direction. With the success Lehigh has had in the past 5 years or so, our schedule should be sub 200 RPI every year. Going down to the 130-150 range when a good team is expected. This seems like the Bucknell model to me.