2015-16 Schedule Discussion

Wayne · Unread post by **Wayne** » 9 years ago

Last night's tough loss already has be a little bummed out and looking forward to 2015-16.
Hoping we can make a nice run in the NIT, but just not overly excited about this.

Does anyone know if we have any indication yet who some of next year's OOC opponents might be?
So far, all I know are the two obvious ones--- vs PC and @Brown.
Do we have any home and home deals that we need to complete next year?
I always find myself feeling a bit underwhelmed every year when the schedule comes out...
I know it can be hard to schedule vs. power teams in power conferences,
but hoping this year's success can change that.

ace · Unread post by **ace** » 9 years ago

Dan has been very clear about scheduling and how, for next year, he feels they're ready for a tougher plan. This year's scheduling, despite the complaining, was appropriate.

Nebraska and the Cancun tournament are also known.

bigappleram · Unread post by **bigappleram** » 9 years ago

vs PC
@Brown
@Nebraska
@Cancun Tourney - 2 games - Maryland, TCU, Illinois State other participants.

theblueram · Unread post by **theblueram** » 9 years ago

I wish we would try and do a home and home with Uconn. or even West Virginia. or maybe Pitt. Some old foes we haven't played in awhile.

Wayne · Unread post by **Wayne** » 9 years ago

I wouldn't mind scheduling BUFFALO and billing it as the Hurley Bowl!
Should be feasible to schedule a solid mid-major like them.
I too would like a home and home with UConn.
It's the UMass-Lowells and Delaware States of the world that I'm hoping we can limit next year.

ace · Unread post by **ace** » 9 years ago

Wayne wrote:I wouldn't mind scheduling BUFFALO and billing it as the Hurley Bowl!

Nope. Not going to happen.

And Pitt usually tries very hard to schedule nobody. Jamie Dixon did Dan a scheduling favor once. Didn't work out so well for them.

RF1 · Unread post by **RF1** » 9 years ago

bigappleram wrote:vs PC
@Brown
@Nebraska
@Cancun Tourney - 2 games - Maryland, TCU, Illinois State other participants.

I think the Cancun tourney has two early round games at campus sites and two in Mexico. I would imagine that URI will therefore get two lesser name opponents at home before going to Cancun.

Unlike this past season, I would expect URI to hopefully schedule the full 31 games allowed with all being D1 competition. That amounts to 13 OOC games. Given we seem to have 7 games locked in, the staff needs to come up with six more games. Given the effects of scheduling this past season (not enough games and opponents poor performance), much more time and thought needs to go into putting together a schedule for next year. The staff needs to start working on this asap and use all its connections to get it done. We can't have another schedule like this past year given the NCAA selection implications. They get a pass this year as the NCAA Tournament was probably thought out of reach 12 months ago and several opponents had very sub-par records for their programs.

We had no Boston or CT opponents this year which was atypical. Given the seasons that Harvard, Northeastern, and Yale had, I think home and homes with any of them would be a good (SOS wise) and reasonable goal. These games are great as there is little travel and Rhody has large groups of alumni in the area that could take in the away games. Trying to get games with Power-5 teams will as usual be the difficult task. Perhaps our decent season this past year might make games a stronger possibility as we wouldn't hurt their SOS.

bressler3south · Unread post by **bressler3south** » 9 years ago

NEED to play the best/most challenging OOC games possible!!!!!!! Anywhere, anytime -- IF -- one can't get others to do home-and-home, etc., OOC killed Rhody this year. Period.
If it means travel, then travel.

seanmc94 · Unread post by **seanmc94** » 9 years ago

UCONN runs scared from any decent regional team. I wouldn't hold your breathe

Iggy1979 · Unread post by **Iggy1979** » 9 years ago

Heard they were trying to schedule another game on the Nebraska trip. Lots of good options out there

RF1 · Unread post by **RF1** » 9 years ago

theblueram wrote:I wish we would try and do a home and home with Uconn. or even West Virginia. or maybe Pitt. Some old foes we haven't played in awhile.

None of these schools, all former conference mates, unfortunately would probably be willing to do a home and home with URI at this time.

adam914 · Unread post by **adam914** » 9 years ago

ace wrote: And Pitt usually tries very hard to schedule nobody. Jamie Dixon did Dan a scheduling favor once. Didn't work out so well for them.

I remember when we played at Pitt as part of a preseason tournament a few years ago (pre-Hurley), I can't remember exactly when it was but I will always remember Dixon's halftime interview. The game was close, we may have even been winning, and he said "this is why nobody wants to play a team like Rhode Island" or something to that effect. I always remember it because it pretty much sums up scheduling for me in a nutshell.

RhowdyRam02 · Unread post by **RhowdyRam02** » 9 years ago

I don't see UConn ever coming back to Kingston. Frankly, I don't think what I'm proposing is likely either, but I'd like to see a yearly game against them at Mohegan Sun with each team getting half the tickets. Think of it like the Red River Rivalry with Texas and Oklahoma. Mohegan is roughly half way between both schools and perhaps Mohegan Sun can throw UConn some money to convince them to play the game.

I think we're at the point where we should be able to get straight up home and homes against BC. They'll probably be bad next season but should be a good series going forward. With the alumni base we have up there we should be looking to have a game in Boston every season, so starting a home and home series with Harvard or another of the Boston schools should be looked at as well. If we want to play in EC's backyard so friends and family can go we need to either do another home and home series with Detroit or enter discussions with Michigan or Michigan State to see if they're interested in a buy game type scenario. I've been in favor of a home and home series with Bryant that staggers with Brown, though I know I'm in the vast minority when it comes to that thought. Perhaps a home and home with Temple to rekindle the rivalry. Perhaps home and home with the likes of Wichita State, Northern Iowa, or even a Gonzaga, elite mid major programs.

McRam · Unread post by **McRam** » 9 years ago

When we play our most challenging competition could well be critical next year. Before second semester, our replacements for TJ and Biruta will be either freshman or Juco's. That still is almost 50 man minutes a game that will be totally new and unproven. Compare that with second semester, when the newbies have some Rhody experience and Iverson, we likely will be a different team.

Of course, most, if not all of the OOC schedule will be over by then.

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 9 years ago

Hopefully Iverson gets a waiver and can play from day one.

Seems like it could happen, but with the NCAA, who knows.

section(105) · Unread post by **section(105)** » 9 years ago

Not Bryant....

theblueram · Unread post by **theblueram** » 9 years ago

And if we are going further west than the Mississippi River, the team should be an NCAA Tournament caliber team. Waste of time, effort and dollars if not.

Rhode_Island_Red · Unread post by **Rhode_Island_Red** » 9 years ago

The Storrs Leg-humpers are happy to host us for a buy game when we're bad but won't play us when we're good because they don't want to be seen losing to a former Yankee Conference team UNLESS a television network throws in enough money to make it worth their while -- and even then they probably would refuse unless the game was played in Storrs.

CTRamfan · Unread post by **CTRamfan** » 9 years ago

We played UConn eight time during Calhoun's tenure........5 @ UConn, 3 @ URI... UConn 7 wins, URI 1.

The last time was 2000, the game was arranged by Blaney. Calhoun and Blaney were friends.
The game before was 1997. Al and Calhoun were friends.
The first of the eight was 1989. Dee Rowe [athletic director at that time] and Tom Penders were friends.

hrstrat57 · Unread post by **hrstrat57** » 9 years ago

No way Connecticut comes to the RC....

Zero chance, none.

Scared dogs they are.

Again one of my favorite rants, why are we scared of Bryant?

Rhody74 · Unread post by **Rhody74** » 9 years ago

A game against Creighton or Wichita State would be nice on the Nebraska trip. I don't see anything wrong with home and homes with either Northeastern or Harvard.

McRam · Unread post by **McRam** » 9 years ago

OK I get it UConn will not play us at the Ryan Center-- so I offer a compromise--------------

Let's play them at Keaney.

Now that would be fun- especially for us greybeards

Rhody74 · Unread post by **Rhody74** » 9 years ago

McRam wrote:OK I get it UConn will not play us at the Ryan Center-- so I offer a compromise--------------

Let's play them at Keaney.

Now that would be fun- especially for us greybeards

Only if it rains and we drill a few holes in the roof ....

eli#10 · Unread post by **eli#10** » 9 years ago

Pretty sure that game was against St Johns.

theblueram · Unread post by **theblueram** » 9 years ago

hrstrat57 wrote:No way Connecticut comes to the RC....

Zero chance, none.

Scared dogs they are.

Again one of my favorite rants, why are we scared of Bryant?

They ended with an RPI of 189 and are generally not worth the effort. Brown is enough for playing bad RI teams. Don't need two local dregs on the schedule.

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 9 years ago

Right about that.

What about Iona? Their RPI is better than ours, 49 I think.

If we can't get P5 schools, that's the next best thing.

theblueram · Unread post by **theblueram** » 9 years ago

Bone, I think we have Iona scheduled for tomorrow.....

CTRamfan · Unread post by **CTRamfan** » 9 years ago

Yale, Harvard, Northeastern, and Vermont have been consistent top 150 teams. They are all an upgrade over any other of the New England schools we've played
Most years you can add Quinnipiac and Holy Cross. If BC gets back on track, they would be the biggest name we can add.
.....Then shoot for some mid-tier ACC, SEC, Big 12 school for a home and home.

None of the above would be "buy games", and would hopefully help the OOC RPI situation.

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 9 years ago

I meant schedule Iona starting next season. They should be good most of the time.

theblueram · Unread post by **theblueram** » 9 years ago

We need top 50. a 150+ is just filler regardless of name. We also need to win the top 50 games as well.

RF1 · Unread post by **RF1** » 9 years ago

CTRamfan wrote:Yale, Harvard, Northeastern, and Vermont have been consistent top 150 teams. They are all an upgrade over any other of the New England schools we've played
Most years you can add Quinnipiac and Holy Cross. If BC gets back on track, they would be the biggest name we can add.
.....Then shoot for some mid-tier ACC, SEC, Big 12 school for a home and home.

None of the above would be "buy games", and would hopefully help the OOC RPI situation.

URI would not give Vermont a home and home based on recent history. The last few games vs Vermont at the Ryan Center were buy games. Rhody might do home and homes with Harvard and Northeastern as it typically likes to play in Boston for local alumni and possible recruits. Harvard has the added cachet of being Harvard. Playing at Vermont doesn't have any of those benefits.

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 9 years ago

Well, we have only 6 OOC games to fill.

Have to make every one of them count. No stiffs, please.

The 2 home games we get involving the Cancun tourney, will probably be against 100+ RPI teams. That won't help.

Blue Man · Unread post by **Blue Man** » 9 years ago

If Dunn stays, we will be hosting a high ranked PC. Our season, RPI, and who we're returning will make scheduling easier.

Now that we've shown we will be a top 50/75 team consistently, it will be easier for teams to schedule us, knowing that even if they lose, it won't be a black mark on their record.

Unread post by **TruePoint** » 9 years ago

rambone 78 wrote:Well, we have only 6 OOC games to fill.

Have to make every one of them count. No stiffs, please.

The 2 home games we get involving the Cancun tourney, will probably be against 100+ RPI teams. That won't help.

Need to have at least a couple of semi-stiffs, Rambone.

steviep123 · Unread post by **steviep123** » 9 years ago

CTRamfan wrote:We played UConn eight time during Calhoun's tenure........5 @ UConn, 3 @ URI... UConn 7 wins, URI 1.

The last time was 2000, the game was arranged by Blaney. Calhoun and Blaney were friends.
The game before was 1997. Al and Calhoun were friends.
The first of the eight was 1989. Dee Rowe [athletic director at that time] and Tom Penders were friends.

The game in 1997 was part of the preseason NIT

Billyboy78 · Unread post by **Billyboy78** » 9 years ago

I wouldn't mind opening with Bryant instead of Pace or a Pace type team. Better competition but still an easy win. Also would give a boost in attedance with the addition of the Bryant fans as compared to a crowd for a Pace for an opening game. So, there's your one cupcake to start and get a more ambitious schedule following that game.

Seawrightspostgame · Unread post by **Seawrightspostgame** » 9 years ago

Except Bryant is publicly hostile to that scenario.

rambone 78 · Unread post by **rambone 78** » 9 years ago

True, they are still better than Brown.

I don't see it though. We're not going to pay them 70K. And we're not going to do a home and home.

Not happening.

PeterRamTime · Unread post by **PeterRamTime** » 9 years ago

I'd rather us not play anymore D 2 teams. Anybody else in D1 would have been better to play than Pace. I thought playing Pace was an absolute waste of time. NJIT would be a good first game next year. Better than Pace.
The more difficult the schedule the better in the end for us I think. Don't need cupcakes to make us feel all warm and fuzzy inside, give us the juicy steaks!
So far
TCU
(Potentially) Maryland
@Nebraska
Providence.
Is a really solid four games to have. Win those four and we'd be undefeated in non-conference play. Our RPI would be great and those teams will be at least decent and we'd just have to kick ass in conference play like we did this year and we'll be dancing.

gorhody89 · Unread post by **gorhody89** » 9 years ago

Playing a D2 team does not effect the RPI while playing NJIT in first game would be a negative towards RPI

steviep123 · Unread post by **steviep123** » 9 years ago

Aren't we supposedly playing in some event at Mohegan Sun that also involves Duke, or is that the following year?

RhowdyRam02 · Unread post by **RhowdyRam02** » 9 years ago

That Mohegan event is the following year, 2016-17.

Iggy1979 · Unread post by **Iggy1979** » 9 years ago

Rhody74 wrote:A game against Creighton or Wichita State would be nice on the Nebraska trip. I don't see anything wrong with home and homes with either Northeastern or Harvard.

Northern Iowa coach says he'll play anyone, anywhere. We could play there next year and then they come to the RC.

RF1 · Unread post by **RF1** » 9 years ago

steviep123 wrote:
CTRamfan wrote:We played UConn eight time during Calhoun's tenure........5 @ UConn, 3 @ URI... UConn 7 wins, URI 1.

The last time was 2000, the game was arranged by Blaney. Calhoun and Blaney were friends.
The game before was 1997. Al and Calhoun were friends.
The first of the eight was 1989. Dee Rowe [athletic director at that time] and Tom Penders were friends.
The game in 1997 was part of the preseason NIT

Almost all of the more recent games we have played versus UConn were in the early years at the start of the Big East. Once Calhoun got established in Storrs and their program grew in stature, games with URI became extremely rare.

The last time UConn played URI in the state of RI was in December of 1985. While URI is still far and away the most played opponent for UConn (by some 30 games), the Huskies have only met Rhody ten games since they joined the Big East back in 1979. Six of the last seven games in the series were played in CT. UConn currently leads the series 77-68.

As a point of context, UConn has played URI 145 times while it has only played former Big East member Providence 70 times (UConn 42-28). The Huskies have only played fellow Yankee Conference team UMass 108 times (UConn 69-39).

http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/con ... lement.pdf

Billyboy78 · Unread post by **Billyboy78** » 9 years ago

Thanks again, Dave.

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 9 years ago

Maybe we get a game at Barclays vs ACC team with the A10/ACC challenge? A thread on the A10 board reminded me of this possibility.

Rhody83 · Unread post by **Rhody83** » 9 years ago

To me the biggest surprise with the NCAA selection process was that Richmond was the first team out. Rhody should look at Richmond's schedule and results to develop their scheduling strategy for next year.
Richmond:
SOS 31
Non-Conf SOS 31
Record vs top 25 2-2 (2-1 vs VCU)
Record vs top 50 3-6 (6 on the road) - 3 OOC
Record vs top 100 7-10 - 6 OOC
Record vs 150+ 9-2 - 5 OOC
They played 9 games vs top 50 and 17 games vs top 100

Rhody:
SOS 145
Non-Conf SOS 257
Record vs top 25 0-3 (Kansas, Prov, VCU)
Record vs top 50 0-6 (2 on the road/1 neutral) - 2 OOC
Record vs top 100 6-7 - 2 OOC
Record vs 150+ 14-2 - 8 OOC
They played 6 games vs top 50 and 13 games vs top 100 with only 2 of those OOC

Summary
Richmond had a tougher Conf Schedule with 6 games against VCU, Davidson & Dayton winning 3.
Richmond played 4 more games against top 100 with 4 more OOC.
Rhody played 5 more games against 150+ with 3 more OOC.

ace · Unread post by **ace** » 9 years ago

As a team expected to be good next year, Rhode Island is likely to get better teams to play twice in conference, aside from the geographical match-ups (like Fordham).

Unread post by **ATPTourFan** » 9 years ago

Richmond wasn't first team out. They were on first four out as fourth team I believe.

Rhody83 · Unread post by **Rhody83** » 9 years ago

ATPTourFan wrote:Richmond wasn't first team out. They were on first four out as fourth team I believe.

You could be right. I don't think the NCAA announced which team was the first out.
The point is that an A10 team was in the last 4 out with a 19-13 record, 12-6 in conf and lost in tournament quarter finals. Their overall SOS was 31 and their out of conf SOS was 31.

Rhody can do better than 19 wins next year against a tough schedule.
As Ace mentioned their Conf SOS should be stronger (should have more games against the top 5 conf teams).
Once that is set they can go after the appropriate # of Top 50 and Top 100 out of conference opponents. They should eliminate almost all 150+ OOCs.

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