I know there is a ton of basketball fans in the Sun Belt that will hate this poll. It's the CBS 2013-2014 Preview. Huge aspect of it is that it does not include any of the G5 conferences except for the AAC.

Obviously winning is the thing that the Sun Belt will need to get onto the national stage, but has been talked about many times. What realistic ideas does anyone have for getting the conference going in the right direction and moving up?

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketba...redictions

(10-01-2013 04:53 AM)GoApps70 Wrote:  I know there is a ton of basketball fans in the Sun Belt that will hate this poll. It's the CBS 2013-2014 Preview. Huge aspect of it is that it does not include any of the G5 conferences except for the AAC.

Obviously winning is the thing that the Sun Belt will need to get onto the national stage, but has been talked about many times. What realistic ideas does anyone have for getting the conference going in the right direction and moving up?

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketba...redictions

Smart scheduling will help a lot. No non-D-1 games; try to schedule home games against top teams in bad conferences and road games against mediocre teams in good conferences. Don't play bottom feeders except possibly in the ACC or the Big East.

If every school in the SBC does this, the RPI of the league as a whole will go up, even if the record is not quite as good.

(10-01-2013 06:32 AM)Vobserver Wrote:  

(10-01-2013 04:53 AM)GoApps70 Wrote:  I know there is a ton of basketball fans in the Sun Belt that will hate this poll. It's the CBS 2013-2014 Preview. Huge aspect of it is that it does not include any of the G5 conferences except for the AAC.

Obviously winning is the thing that the Sun Belt will need to get onto the national stage, but has been talked about many times. What realistic ideas does anyone have for getting the conference going in the right direction and moving up?

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketba...redictions

Smart scheduling will help a lot. No non-D-1 games; try to schedule home games against top teams in bad conferences and road games against mediocre teams in good conferences. Don't play bottom feeders except possibly in the ACC or the Big East.

If every school in the SBC does this, the RPI of the league as a whole will go up, even if the record is not quite as good.

I would add that scheduling games against strong mid-majors (the MVC for example) will help.

A 20 conference game schedule doesn't help.

Last year, with 11 teams, the Sun Belt had uneven divisions.

(10-01-2013 08:40 AM)GaStPanthers Wrote:  

(10-01-2013 06:32 AM)Vobserver Wrote:  

(10-01-2013 04:53 AM)GoApps70 Wrote:  I know there is a ton of basketball fans in the Sun Belt that will hate this poll. It's the CBS 2013-2014 Preview. Huge aspect of it is that it does not include any of the G5 conferences except for the AAC.

Obviously winning is the thing that the Sun Belt will need to get onto the national stage, but has been talked about many times. What realistic ideas does anyone have for getting the conference going in the right direction and moving up?

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketba...redictions

Smart scheduling will help a lot. No non-D-1 games; try to schedule home games against top teams in bad conferences and road games against mediocre teams in good conferences. Don't play bottom feeders except possibly in the ACC or the Big East.

If every school in the SBC does this, the RPI of the league as a whole will go up, even if the record is not quite as good.

I would add that scheduling games against strong mid-majors (the MVC for example) will help.

A 20 conference game schedule doesn't help.

So you think the Sun Belt should cut down the number of conference games?
Don't you think that would help some schools, like Georgia State, but probably hurt other schools?

(10-01-2013 06:32 AM)Vobserver Wrote:  

(10-01-2013 04:53 AM)GoApps70 Wrote:  I know there is a ton of basketball fans in the Sun Belt that will hate this poll. It's the CBS 2013-2014 Preview. Huge aspect of it is that it does not include any of the G5 conferences except for the AAC.

Obviously winning is the thing that the Sun Belt will need to get onto the national stage, but has been talked about many times. What realistic ideas does anyone have for getting the conference going in the right direction and moving up?

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketba...redictions

Smart scheduling will help a lot. No non-D-1 games; try to schedule home games against top teams in bad conferences and road games against mediocre teams in good conferences. Don't play bottom feeders except possibly in the ACC or the Big East.

If every school in the SBC does this, the RPI of the league as a whole will go up, even if the record is not quite as good.

Non D-1 teams are better to play than the low end RPI schools like the SWAC.

Simple answer? We gotta win out of conference games.

Too many teams don't pull their weight out of conference. And of course some of that is because we are on the road a lot while teams in the bigger leagues enjoy pretty much all home games until conference play... That's the biggest obstacle.

I will be the first to admit that I speak for a school that has not been very good in basketball for a while now (Ga. Southern) but I support the 20 game sched. because it will at least give us 10 home games vs. teams that are worth watching. Our home sched this year is not good. Other than the 8 home SoCon games we are playing a mixture of NAIA-D2 type schools.

I probably speak for several SBC teams in saying that we want more quality home games.

Win win and win some more. Last year we started the season with a win over #25 FSU. Then fell apart. Gotta get those wins and keep winning.

(10-01-2013 09:20 AM)GoApps70 Wrote:  

(10-01-2013 08:40 AM)GaStPanthers Wrote:  

(10-01-2013 06:32 AM)Vobserver Wrote:  

(10-01-2013 04:53 AM)GoApps70 Wrote:  I know there is a ton of basketball fans in the Sun Belt that will hate this poll. It's the CBS 2013-2014 Preview. Huge aspect of it is that it does not include any of the G5 conferences except for the AAC.

Obviously winning is the thing that the Sun Belt will need to get onto the national stage, but has been talked about many times. What realistic ideas does anyone have for getting the conference going in the right direction and moving up?

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketba...redictions

Smart scheduling will help a lot. No non-D-1 games; try to schedule home games against top teams in bad conferences and road games against mediocre teams in good conferences. Don't play bottom feeders except possibly in the ACC or the Big East.

If every school in the SBC does this, the RPI of the league as a whole will go up, even if the record is not quite as good.

I would add that scheduling games against strong mid-majors (the MVC for example) will help.

A 20 conference game schedule doesn't help.

So you think the Sun Belt should cut down the number of conference games?
Don't you think that would help some schools, like Georgia State, but probably hurt other schools?

Less conference games mean less opportunities for us to beat up on each other and drag down our RPIs.

Also means more flexibility in the schedule to schedule better OoC opponents.

Caring about basketball is the first step...

Here are our lackluster HOME OCC basketball opponents this year:
Columbia International University (????)
Tocoaa Falls
Campbell
Brewton-Parker
Kennessaw State

This is pitiful, so it is obvious why I would prefer more home SBC home games to more of the above type teams.

(10-01-2013 09:22 AM)MissouriStateBears Wrote:  

(10-01-2013 06:32 AM)Vobserver Wrote:  

(10-01-2013 04:53 AM)GoApps70 Wrote:  I know there is a ton of basketball fans in the Sun Belt that will hate this poll. It's the CBS 2013-2014 Preview. Huge aspect of it is that it does not include any of the G5 conferences except for the AAC.

Obviously winning is the thing that the Sun Belt will need to get onto the national stage, but has been talked about many times. What realistic ideas does anyone have for getting the conference going in the right direction and moving up?

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketba...redictions

Smart scheduling will help a lot. No non-D-1 games; try to schedule home games against top teams in bad conferences and road games against mediocre teams in good conferences. Don't play bottom feeders except possibly in the ACC or the Big East.

If every school in the SBC does this, the RPI of the league as a whole will go up, even if the record is not quite as good.

Non D-1 teams are better to play than the low end RPI schools like the SWAC.

Going on last year's final rankings, playing Southern or Texas Southern wouldn't hurt too bad. [183 and 202, respectively], but I didn't really mean absolutely horrible conferences; more like the ASun or Ohio Valley.

(10-01-2013 09:22 AM)MissouriStateBears Wrote:  

(10-01-2013 06:32 AM)Vobserver Wrote:  

(10-01-2013 04:53 AM)GoApps70 Wrote:  I know there is a ton of basketball fans in the Sun Belt that will hate this poll. It's the CBS 2013-2014 Preview. Huge aspect of it is that it does not include any of the G5 conferences except for the AAC.

Obviously winning is the thing that the Sun Belt will need to get onto the national stage, but has been talked about many times. What realistic ideas does anyone have for getting the conference going in the right direction and moving up?

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketba...redictions

Smart scheduling will help a lot. No non-D-1 games; try to schedule home games against top teams in bad conferences and road games against mediocre teams in good conferences. Don't play bottom feeders except possibly in the ACC or the Big East.

If every school in the SBC does this, the RPI of the league as a whole will go up, even if the record is not quite as good.

Non D-1 teams are better to play than the low end RPI schools like the SWAC.

Don't schedule Non D-1 teams OR low end RPI schools (unless you are a school that is desperate for wins as shown below).

Neither really helps anything.

Its simple look at what the MVC, A-10, and CAA have done.

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketbal...me-the-rpi

http://weisnd.blogspot.com/2010/02/brack...gamed.html

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/wr...index.html

Quote:“In terms of the nonconference schedule, it meant for us to schedule smart,” Kissell said of the decision made during that meeting. “If you’re a team with clear N.C.A.A. prospects, you need to demonstrate that. You need to play tough and play on the road. If you’re a team that’s rebuilding, just get wins. That’s not only good for you, but it’s good for the league. It’s not a one-size-fits-all philosophy.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/09/sports....html?_r=0

What does the SBC do in baseball to get high RPIs? I would imagine it wouldn't be too different.

Or the SoCon

The original article is a dead link, but here is a snippet from a post on CAAZone: http://boards.caazone.com/showthread.php...Scheduling

Not sure what you mean by dead link. Works for me.
Is the following information what you are referring to in that CAA thread?

"The A-10 did a smart thing this year, setting up tiers for its conference schedule so that teams considered the top contenders - based on a coaches' vote - wouldn't be dragged down by too many games against teams projected to have bad RPIs. In other words, if you're playing St. Bonaventure twice this season, you're not supposed to have a shot at March Madness. (La Salle plays the Bonnies on Jan. 12 and Jan. 30). The A-10 also dictated that its top-tier teams would not schedule any nonconference games against teams below 200 in the RPI, and that no one would schedule "guarantee" games, road games designed to result in a profitable loss. The idea is to get home-and-home series established with better opponents or play in preseason tournaments. Of course, all that works fine when teams get quality out-of-conference wins, always the bottom line. "

I'd say JMU and MoSt would be a good start

(10-01-2013 08:40 AM)GaStPanthers Wrote:  

(10-01-2013 06:32 AM)Vobserver Wrote:  

(10-01-2013 04:53 AM)GoApps70 Wrote:  I know there is a ton of basketball fans in the Sun Belt that will hate this poll. It's the CBS 2013-2014 Preview. Huge aspect of it is that it does not include any of the G5 conferences except for the AAC.

Obviously winning is the thing that the Sun Belt will need to get onto the national stage, but has been talked about many times. What realistic ideas does anyone have for getting the conference going in the right direction and moving up?

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketba...redictions

Smart scheduling will help a lot. No non-D-1 games; try to schedule home games against top teams in bad conferences and road games against mediocre teams in good conferences. Don't play bottom feeders except possibly in the ACC or the Big East.

If every school in the SBC does this, the RPI of the league as a whole will go up, even if the record is not quite as good.

I would add that scheduling games against strong mid-majors (the MVC for example) will help.

A 20 conference game schedule doesn't help.

...at all

(10-01-2013 10:04 AM)GoApps70 Wrote:  Not sure what you mean by dead link. Works for me.
Is the following information what you are referring to in that CAA thread?

"The A-10 did a smart thing this year, setting up tiers for its conference schedule so that teams considered the top contenders - based on a coaches' vote - wouldn't be dragged down by too many games against teams projected to have bad RPIs. In other words, if you're playing St. Bonaventure twice this season, you're not supposed to have a shot at March Madness. (La Salle plays the Bonnies on Jan. 12 and Jan. 30). The A-10 also dictated that its top-tier teams would not schedule any nonconference games against teams below 200 in the RPI, and that no one would schedule "guarantee" games, road games designed to result in a profitable loss. The idea is to get home-and-home series established with better opponents or play in preseason tournaments. Of course, all that works fine when teams get quality out-of-conference wins, always the bottom line. "

I mean the article linked in the first post of that CAAZone thread (the Philly.com article).

But yeah...what you quoted from the CAA thread is mostly what I was talking about. However, the rest of the thread is good to as it evaluates the efficacy of the A-10s plan.