12-13 schedule

I side with TMH on this one.

Scheduling a D-II or D-III every now and then to either fill an open date or, as I imagine was in this case, to build good will and community interest (Muhlenberg is located in nearby Allentown), isn’t a sin. In fact, some basketball minds in the Valley might call it smart or praise-worth. What’s the big deal? The game stats- positive or negative – do not affect our RPI. And, we’ll probably play 13 or more D-I contests and, with a bit of luck in scheduling, continue the upward trend (see below) in our OOC RPI.

Season / OOC RPI
09-10 / 341
10-11 / 274
11-12 / 224
12-13 / ?

Some might say that LU scheduling a D-II or D-III game is like……..

#1 Kentucky scheduling and beating Radford (RPI 309)
or
#2 Ohio State scheduling and beating Jackson State (RPI 336)
or
#3 Michigan State scheduling and beating Nebraska-Omaha (RPI 327)
or
#4 Kansas scheduling and beating Howard (RPI 320)

Yes, it all happened last year. I guess the only real difference is that the results of those games were factored into the schools’ RPI and each of the losers made buckets of money.

Oh yeah, in case you didn’t know, six teams in the Nation’s Top 30 (Pomeroy) last year played a game against either a D-II or D-III school. So, Lehigh isn’t alone -or for that matter so isn’t Bucknell, Navy, or Army who each also played “down” against W. Alabama, Penn St. – Altoona, and Marywood, respectively. Back to the six in the Top 30, they were:

#9 Wichita State vs. Newman
#13 Georgetown vs. Chaminade
#14 St. Louis vs. Illinois – Springfield
#17 Baylor vs. Paul Quinn
#23 Belmont vs. Trevecca Vazarene
#29 Michigan vs. Ferris State

Let’s sit tight for awhile and see what happens.

Great question. I suppose we will have to wait until early February to see how the season plays out. Since the purpose of this series is to give exposure to mid-majors (check) who could possibly make some noise in the field of 68 (check), Lehigh will be given strong consideration. From a ratings perspective, if everything goes as planned, I would think a Lehigh-Murray St. matchup featuring McCollum vs Canaan would be a dream matchup in this format.

Sorry, I cannot advocate scheduling a Muhlenburg. Going to Stabler to see us hammer the Mules, is about as exciting as watching curling reruns. Don’t worry, I hear we have 5 for 1s in the hopper with Moravian and Cedar Crest.

The only thing more ridiculous than that game is the tweet from the Muhlenburg player. D’Orazio could drop 40 on that scrub. CJ will barely get out of his sweats for that game.

Another tidbit about the 12-13 schedule via twitter:

Andrew Chiappazzi ‏@achiappazzi
Looking more certain that Preseason NIT pod will be #Pitt hosting #Fordham, #Lehigh, & Robert Morris. Pitt/Fordham, RMU/Lehigh 1st games

You can add Quinnipiac (Northeast Conference) to the list of rivals in 2012-13. No date has been announced, but it appears that they’ll be hosting American, Colgate and us out of the Patriot League this year (see first link below). No real surprise here, the Bobcats have been perennial foes and it is after all “their turn” to host us this year up at the TD Bank Sports Center in Hamden, CT. Apparently, the school couldn’t be more proud of their recent success, giving head coach Tom Moore (93-65 record) and extension thru the 2016-17 season (see second link below). Last year the Bobcats finished 18-13 (10-8) and ranked 138th on the Ken Pomeroy scale. And, they did it all with just two seniors, Kevin Tarca and the team’s leading scorer, James Johnson (see third link below).

http://www.quinnipiacbobcats.com/sports/gen/2012-13/201213nonconference

http://www.quinnipiacbobcats.com/sports/mbkb/2012-13/releases/20120709qy468p

http://www.quinnipiacbobcats.com/sports/mbkb/2011-12/roster

http://www.northeastconference.org/index.aspx?path=mbball&tab=mensbasketball

Looks like this article from Andy Katz at ESPN will shed some light on the upcoming schedule:
http://m.espn.go.com/ncb/story?storyId=8157019

Add VCU to the list you already had. Interesting there are still 4 open dates left even in mid-July. It appears some high and mid majors don’t want a game with LU after the Duke win.

Don’t make plans to travel north to Ithaca anytime soon.  Cornell just released their schedule for 2012-13 and we’re not on it.  Instead, the Big Red will entertain Bucknell and Colgate this year.  Can only assume we had a two-game contract covering games in 201-11 and 2011-12.

Thoughts on the bracketbuster posts from last month:

1.   Lehigh, or almost anyone else in the PL could participate if they wanted to.    The bracketbuster is not selective at all and will take almost anyone.    Back in the days when Bucknell and Holy Cross participated, Colgate did also at one point.    All of them decided that the negatives outweighed the positives and dropped out.   I am sure Reed feels the same way.

2.   There are two possible positives:  (1)  IF you have a really good team, then there is a possibility of getting a game on some ESPN network;  and (2) if you are having a really hard time scheduling games, then continued bracketbuster participation locks in two games a year on the schedule (may also be a negative).

3.  The negatives:

– You may end up playing someone you have no desire to play – and you are locked into playing them home-and-home.

– You may be forced to take a long bus or plane ride late in the year which may affect your play in the more-important final league games.     For example, Bucknell had to travel to Northern Iowa one year and take a 7-hour bus ride (one way) to ODU another year.

–  By participating, you must give up your free Wednesday midway through the PL schedule.    That means a bus ride midweek and losing the week of rest and recovery time that everyone else gets.    Could affect a team in its next PL game.   Maybe more.