well, with the exception of 3 relatively insignificant games left, the college season is over. i am sure the coaches are working on our schedule for next year
even as we speak.i have a couple of thoughts on what i would like to see in a schedule for next year and would like to hear other raider fans ideas.
first, one caveat. it is difficult to know just how good any team will be next year. i have not and will not look at websites to see what each team has coming back and is losing. when i am suggesting teams for the raiders to play, it is based upon their performance this year. easiest way to do it.
second, our sos based upon sagarin was 134. had we gotten in to a bubble situation, that would have hurt us. we need to upgrade our schedule in the coming year using a new paradigm. a paradigm that says the raiders intend to be a serious competitor for an at large bid should we not win our post season tournament.within that paradigm the sos is hugely important so in addition to looking for more wins we want to improve that overall sos.
our non con schedule with the sagarin rating included: illinois state @ 58, bradley @ 80, miami @ 86, cs fullerton @ 90, belmont @ 127, marist @ 142, marshall @ 144, chattanooga @ 147, st. bonnie @ 240, Coastal Carolina @ 278 & Presbytyrian @ 306.
i think it is reasonable to shoot next year for a sos in double digits. that will not get us where we need to be, but it is a start. i am no math major but it would seem to me that if we replace the teams abouve 145 in sag with teams below 100, that our sos would be improved immensely. the one to drop are obvious, some good additions would be teams like western kentucky, george mason (i think they are coming to town for a game next year, so maybe a thurs/sat combi coming to the nutter would work for them), bradley, southern illinois, akron, rhode island, creighton, st joes, south alabama & umass. those are all solid teams that would greatly improve our sos.
as of now i think we have assured 3 home non con games, illinois state, miami & bracket buster.these should all be solid games for us. i think we need 6-7 more, probably 3 of them at home. i do not believe we should schedule any bcs teams unless it is with a return visit. under no circumstances should we schedule teams who consistently have sag/rpi below 200. almost never!! i know that scheduling is a challenge and that the coaches work hard at it. but with our improvement as a team and program comes the need to upgrade our schedule, always keeping in mind the potential affect playing a team might have (either positive or negative) on our post season opportunities.
first, one caveat. it is difficult to know just how good any team will be next year. i have not and will not look at websites to see what each team has coming back and is losing. when i am suggesting teams for the raiders to play, it is based upon their performance this year. easiest way to do it.
second, our sos based upon sagarin was 134. had we gotten in to a bubble situation, that would have hurt us. we need to upgrade our schedule in the coming year using a new paradigm. a paradigm that says the raiders intend to be a serious competitor for an at large bid should we not win our post season tournament.within that paradigm the sos is hugely important so in addition to looking for more wins we want to improve that overall sos.
our non con schedule with the sagarin rating included: illinois state @ 58, bradley @ 80, miami @ 86, cs fullerton @ 90, belmont @ 127, marist @ 142, marshall @ 144, chattanooga @ 147, st. bonnie @ 240, Coastal Carolina @ 278 & Presbytyrian @ 306.
i think it is reasonable to shoot next year for a sos in double digits. that will not get us where we need to be, but it is a start. i am no math major but it would seem to me that if we replace the teams abouve 145 in sag with teams below 100, that our sos would be improved immensely. the one to drop are obvious, some good additions would be teams like western kentucky, george mason (i think they are coming to town for a game next year, so maybe a thurs/sat combi coming to the nutter would work for them), bradley, southern illinois, akron, rhode island, creighton, st joes, south alabama & umass. those are all solid teams that would greatly improve our sos.
as of now i think we have assured 3 home non con games, illinois state, miami & bracket buster.these should all be solid games for us. i think we need 6-7 more, probably 3 of them at home. i do not believe we should schedule any bcs teams unless it is with a return visit. under no circumstances should we schedule teams who consistently have sag/rpi below 200. almost never!! i know that scheduling is a challenge and that the coaches work hard at it. but with our improvement as a team and program comes the need to upgrade our schedule, always keeping in mind the potential affect playing a team might have (either positive or negative) on our post season opportunities.
