The idea of the schedule IMO is to increase fan support and test yourself against good competition so that you are ready for the conference season. It's also to position yourself should you do well in terms of rankings for post season berths and seeding.

This type of attitude that we are in a one bid league etc. is a loser's mentality and why I came out as strong as I did against Deane because that runs counter to what Coach Rowe said and what I think fans want from JMU and have responded so well to in other sports (example Women's softball). Challenge and play the best- you say we were killed against Ohio State or UVA or WVU- I say with lesser talent we played with Ohio State at times, and played with WVU on a neutral court. Last year CAA teams played and beat P5 teams on the road and neutral courts. W&M beat NC State and had Dayton beat at Dayton before giving away the game late. Hofstra beat FSU, Charleston beat Miami. With this years schedule we are relying on the fact that the teams on the schedule (who scored poorly last year and historically) will be improved and do well in the OOC rather than playing teams from bigger conferences who will go into the season with higher rankings.

If every CAA team adopted this type of OOC scheduling philosophy maybe the league would receive stronger consideration for multiple bids. Regardless of that and the league JMU affiliates with it's what the program should strive for. I know that there are things to balance- travel, home vs. away, what's available to them etc. but it would have been nice to see that tone set in year 1 is what I'm saying.