Strength of Schedule

[Kadeezy]

So, this year BSC school's followed the recommendations of Fullerton and scheduled some much tougher out of conference competition. But, where has it gotten us? We're still the 21st ranked conference in the country and our teams just get thrashed in the preseason.

SAC has the highest SOS in the conference (#8 in the country), but they've yet to get a DI win (two wins over NAIA schools with a combined 8-18 record)...

What is everyone's opinions on scheduling multiple top 25 teams in the preseason? Where do you draw the line.

I'd like to see SAC playing Utah Valley, Southern Utah, Boise State, Cal Poly, UCD, and some other middle of the pack DI competition rather than getting thrashed by Kansas State, Stanford, Oregon, and Marquette.

 

[GrizBBIsKing]

So, this year BSC school's followed the recommendations of Fullerton and scheduled some much tougher out of conference competition. But, where has it gotten us? We're still the 21st ranked conference in the country and our teams just get thrashed in the preseason.

SAC has the highest SOS in the conference (#8 in the country), but they've yet to get a DI win (two wins over NAIA schools with a combined 8-18 record)...

What is everyone's opinions on scheduling multiple top 25 teams in the preseason? Where do you draw the line.

I'd like to see SAC playing Utah Valley, Southern Utah, Boise State, Cal Poly, UCD, and some other middle of the pack DI competition rather than getting thrashed by Kansas State, Stanford, Oregon, and Marquette.

Maybe Sac St went a little overboard with strengthening their schedule. Although the site I just checked, www.kenpom.com, has Sac State's SOS ranked 77. Portland state SOS ranking is 51. Montana SOS rank is 132.

I am 100% in favor of having stronger schedules than what it has been in the past. I would say schedule 1 or 2 top 25, 4 or 5 top 100, and then a couple of easy teams. Of course, this strategy would be hard to do since your creating the schedule in advance. The teams you schedule may all be currently top 25, but when you actually play them they aren't nearly as good as they were when you scheduled them.

Anyway, the tougher the schedule, I would think it would help recruiting better players.

 

[Kadeezy]

So, this year BSC school's followed the recommendations of Fullerton and scheduled some much tougher out of conference competition. But, where has it gotten us? We're still the 21st ranked conference in the country and our teams just get thrashed in the preseason.

SAC has the highest SOS in the conference (#8 in the country), but they've yet to get a DI win (two wins over NAIA schools with a combined 8-18 record)...

What is everyone's opinions on scheduling multiple top 25 teams in the preseason? Where do you draw the line.

I'd like to see SAC playing Utah Valley, Southern Utah, Boise State, Cal Poly, UCD, and some other middle of the pack DI competition rather than getting thrashed by Kansas State, Stanford, Oregon, and Marquette.

Maybe Sac St went a little overboard with strengthening their schedule. Although the site I just checked, www.kenpom.com, has Sac State's SOS ranked 77. Portland state SOS ranking is 51. Montana SOS rank is 132.

I am 100% in favor of having stronger schedules than what it has been in the past. I would say schedule 1 or 2 top 25, 4 or 5 top 100, and then a couple of easy teams. Of course, this strategy would be hard to do since your creating the schedule in advance. The teams you schedule may all be currently top 25, but when you actually play them they aren't nearly as good as they were when you scheduled them.

Anyway, the tougher the schedule, I would think it would help recruiting better players.

I was going by the Sagarin Ratings...

 

[AllWeatherFan]

I agree the losses are a little demoralizing, but playing better competition generally pays dividends come conference time.

 

[EverettGriz]

I like the stronger schedules, but I agree there is a relatively fine line between scheduling better and getting humiliated. Maybe it's somewhere in the middle. I mean, it's not as if the BSC is playing all top teams. NAU played somebody I've literally never heard of tonight: Haskell. Apparently it's a Native American college that doesn't charge tuition. I don't expect to see them in the Big Dance anytime soon....