after swallowing the pain of the defeat, the knee-jerk reaction of wanting to change something (anything), and then calming down, I think we're right where we belong:
1) regarding competition, the non-conference slates of the past few years (a spattering of Pac-10, WAC, WCC teams) is fine in terms of providing credibility for the NCAA seeding committee. We just weren't very good early in the year, unfortunately, as we slowly defined our identify post-Qvale. It's all about winning more of the non-conf. games we play, not getting more. Next year I think we will.
2)There are no consistent powerhouse D1 teams in any sport in the 12 least populated states (which are, in order of least people WY, VT, ND, AK, SD, DE, MT, RI, NH, ME, HI, and SD). So I think we just have to live with that reality, no matter our conference. The Grizz do very well considering their geographical fate.
3)Regarding the all-important issue of recruitment, a lot of it (esp. for the type of players we want) will depend on our coach, the team's "family" dynamics, the atmosphere of Dahlberg, and the draw of UM itself as a great place to get an education. We may not have a big city nearby, but for the right player, we can provide everything they need to have a great experience. If we can set UM apart from other public universities, that would be a huge recruiting draw.
4) Recruitment is so important that I'll also add that our blue-chip recruits know there's no chance they'll get stuck on the bench behind someone even more talented (as they could at a bigger program), and if they're very talented, they'll also know that they have a great shot at the Big Dance every year via the Big Sky's autobid. Some very good programs (and players) in the loaded conferences have a lesser chance of a making the Tourney than a very good Big Sky team.
5) The Wisconsin result had more to do with a couple key Grizz having off nights and the Badgers shooting very well/the Grizz playing uncharacteristically poor D than any complicated machinations involving RPI's and conference difficulty. I don't know about anyone else, but I felt kinda lucky we won the Eastern WA semifinal--we hadn't played so well in that one, either.
There's my two cents--sorry if a lot of it rehashes what has already been said, but kinda like in music, it's all been played before, in some variation or another!
1) regarding competition, the non-conference slates of the past few years (a spattering of Pac-10, WAC, WCC teams) is fine in terms of providing credibility for the NCAA seeding committee. We just weren't very good early in the year, unfortunately, as we slowly defined our identify post-Qvale. It's all about winning more of the non-conf. games we play, not getting more. Next year I think we will.
2)There are no consistent powerhouse D1 teams in any sport in the 12 least populated states (which are, in order of least people WY, VT, ND, AK, SD, DE, MT, RI, NH, ME, HI, and SD). So I think we just have to live with that reality, no matter our conference. The Grizz do very well considering their geographical fate.
3)Regarding the all-important issue of recruitment, a lot of it (esp. for the type of players we want) will depend on our coach, the team's "family" dynamics, the atmosphere of Dahlberg, and the draw of UM itself as a great place to get an education. We may not have a big city nearby, but for the right player, we can provide everything they need to have a great experience. If we can set UM apart from other public universities, that would be a huge recruiting draw.
4) Recruitment is so important that I'll also add that our blue-chip recruits know there's no chance they'll get stuck on the bench behind someone even more talented (as they could at a bigger program), and if they're very talented, they'll also know that they have a great shot at the Big Dance every year via the Big Sky's autobid. Some very good programs (and players) in the loaded conferences have a lesser chance of a making the Tourney than a very good Big Sky team.
5) The Wisconsin result had more to do with a couple key Grizz having off nights and the Badgers shooting very well/the Grizz playing uncharacteristically poor D than any complicated machinations involving RPI's and conference difficulty. I don't know about anyone else, but I felt kinda lucky we won the Eastern WA semifinal--we hadn't played so well in that one, either.
There's my two cents--sorry if a lot of it rehashes what has already been said, but kinda like in music, it's all been played before, in some variation or another!
