2018-19 Current Season schedule discussion (top post is current)

[TruePoint]

Contract "spirits" get broken all the time. These folks care zippo about the spirit of anything.

Technically speaking, Colorado beat Missouri in 1990 with a famous 5th down play en route to a share of the national title. In the spirit of sportsmanship, should Colorado have said "we don't want the win due to the officials' mistake?" In big time college sports, people will do whatever they can do and take whatever they can to further their own best interest.

Same thing with scheduling. I'm not saying it's good or bad...it's just reality.

Not really. How often does this specific situation happen, where a team schedules a home and home and then buys their way out of the return game? I'd guess less than 1% of the time. So typically teams do live up to the spirit of these agreements. And I'm not really sure I get your point, anyways. The only real pressure on teams to live up to their end of the bargain is to face shame and ridicule for not doing so. Yes, technically Nevada can buy their way out of the deal, no argument from me there. But that doesn't mean they shouldn't have to pay a social cost for breaking their word; that is one of the ways that societies maintain order.

[Rhody83]

Contract "spirits" get broken all the time. These folks care zippo about the spirit of anything.

Technically speaking, Colorado beat Missouri in 1990 with a famous 5th down play en route to a share of the national title. In the spirit of sportsmanship, should Colorado have said "we don't want the win due to the officials' mistake?" In big time college sports, people will do whatever they can do and take whatever they can to further their own best interest.

Same thing with scheduling. I'm not saying it's good or bad...it's just reality.

Not really. How often does this specific situation happen, where a team schedules a home and home and then buys their way out of the return game? I'd guess less than 1% of the time. So typically teams do live up to the spirit of these agreements. And I'm not really sure I get your point, anyways. The only real pressure on teams to live up to their end of the bargain is to face shame and ridicule for not doing so. Yes, technically Nevada can buy their way out of the deal, no argument from me there. But that doesn't mean they shouldn't have to pay a social cost for breaking their word; that is one of the ways that societies maintain order.

And you hope other Mid-Majors in the future will be reluctant to schedule a home and home with Nevada where the first game is in Nevada. Black mark on Nevada. The D1 coaching fraternity is a close group. Many have worked with the other coaches coming up thru the Assistant ranks.

[Seawrightspostgame]

Muss' interview with Rothstein was telling. While being coy, I read between the lines that their assistant coach responsible for scheduling is forecasting URI to be a quad 2 or worse game for them next season. Just my take on it. With so much youth being injected, they see it is as hard to really be certain that URI will have a top 75 RPI this upcoming season.

This whole thing sucks. F*** Nevada. They cant beat our team on our floor in front of a legit Ryan Center crowd. Most teams cant.

[josephski]

Contract "spirits" get broken all the time. These folks care zippo about the spirit of anything.

Technically speaking, Colorado beat Missouri in 1990 with a famous 5th down play en route to a share of the national title. In the spirit of sportsmanship, should Colorado have said "we don't want the win due to the officials' mistake?" In big time college sports, people will do whatever they can do and take whatever they can to further their own best interest.

Same thing with scheduling. I'm not saying it's good or bad...it's just reality.

Yes, technically Nevada can buy their way out of the deal, no argument from me there. But that doesn't mean they shouldn't have to pay a social cost for breaking their word; that is one of the ways that societies maintain order.

And what's the social cost of breaking their word? No one cares if Nevada backs out except for URI fans (although many of our casual fans probably don't even realize we're supposed to play Nevada at home) and maybe a small group of fans from other teams. It's a nonstory.

It definitely sucks if we lose that game but us and many other mid majors aren't even in the position where we could deny playing Nevada in the future, assuming they're still good, given how tough scheduling is.

[Shaolin Swat]

Contract "spirits" get broken all the time. These folks care zippo about the spirit of anything.

Technically speaking, Colorado beat Missouri in 1990 with a famous 5th down play en route to a share of the national title. In the spirit of sportsmanship, should Colorado have said "we don't want the win due to the officials' mistake?" In big time college sports, people will do whatever they can do and take whatever they can to further their own best interest.

Same thing with scheduling. I'm not saying it's good or bad...it's just reality.

Yes, technically Nevada can buy their way out of the deal, no argument from me there. But that doesn't mean they shouldn't have to pay a social cost for breaking their word; that is one of the ways that societies maintain order.

And what's the social cost of breaking their word? No one cares if Nevada backs out except for URI fans (although many of our casual fans probably don't even realize we're supposed to play Nevada at home) and maybe a small group of fans from other teams. It's a nonstory.

It definitely sucks if we lose that game but us and many other mid majors aren't even in the position where we could deny playing Nevada in the future, assuming they're still good, given how tough scheduling is.

I think this could very well make it harder for Nevada to schedule other mid-major games in the future. Remember, this isn't some perennial power - so just because Nevada had a good season last year doesn't mean that they don't deal with the same scheduling difficulties as other mid-majors. If a team is counting on a return game from Nevada, I'd be willing to bet that they would be hesitant in scheduling a home-and-home where they travel to Nevada first - if they back out of this game.

[RF1]

If I am a coach of a team and Nevada with Musselman as coach approaches me for a series, my demand would be it has to start on my home court.

[theblueram]

So Nevada is expecting us to be an RPI 100+ team this year? That's pretty laughable.

[RF1]

Nevada fan board should piss URI people off even more, They are posting possible opponent suggestions to add to their OOC schedule, some of which are road games:

Link:
https://247sports.com/college/nevada/Bo ... 765?Page=3

[reckless jake]

Nevada fan board should piss URI people off even more, They are posting possible opponent suggestions to add to their OOC schedule, some of which are road games:

Link:
https://247sports.com/college/nevada/Bo ... 765?Page=3

I read a few pages of the thread, there were a couple of pretty interesting comments. Even one post stating displeasure that they weren't playing "Dsvidson or URI". Several posts complaining about their inability to get a game with Gonzaga.

They did recently schedule a neutral court game with Grand Canyon, to be played in Phoenix. According to Chris Murray of the Reno Journal Gazette, Nevada only has 3 more OOC games to complete their schedule.

Several posters commented about their program's budget restrictions over the past few seasons as it relates to scheduling. If the buyout was/is only $50K as someone previously reported on this thread a few posts back, could it be that the buyout is less money than say around 25 to 30 people flying from Reno to Kingston, and their food and lodging for about 3 days, to play one game?

In any event, in the updated 2018/19 Nevada schedule tweeted by Murray, we're still not on it.

[reef]

Ugh this whole thing stinks . Boo Nevada Reno can't wait to root against you

[CT Rhody]

I haven’t read anything that says this game is off, URI says its on so I don’t understand all the convo around this Neveda game just because some writer thinks it’s off? Am I missing something?

[TruePoint]

You’re probably missing something, but I don’t think anyone can say for sure. Nevada, thru their beat writer and by omission elsewhere, seems to be implying that they don’t intend to play the game. If they’ve communicated that to URI, URI hasn’t indicated that. But it’s safe to assume that the beat writer is not just arbitrarily deciding to act like the game is not going to be played based on nothing - obviously that is coming from the Nevada basketball program. It would be like if Bill Koch or Chris Disano were insisting that we were not playing in Charleston next year; if that happened, we would assume that the Charleston game was off and we would regard their fans as being somewhat foolish to ignore that just because their school had not confirmed it.

At this point, until URI confirms, I’ll hold out some hope that the game will be played, but I’d put it at less than 50% for sure.

[reef]

As usual on point TP !!!

[PlayMikeMotenMore]

Direct quote from Bill Self:

“The one thing about being in coaching a long time and coaching at different schools and different levels is the fact that you understand that coaches schedule what’s in the best interest of their program,” Self said. “Nowhere does it say that they are obligated to schedule in the best interest of somebody else’s program that wants to play them.”
Self said he ran into similar issues while coaching at Tulsa in the late 1990s. He wanted to play Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Arkansas and other bigger programs in the region. “And they wouldn’t play,” Self said. “But I didn’t blame them. And I didn’t make a big deal of it.”

[RF1]

I would imagine Bill Self at Tulsa never had contracts with those teams where he had already played at their venue and was owed a return. His words therefore have little relevance when it comes to URI's situation with Nevada.

[theblueram]

Direct quote from Bill Self:

“The one thing about being in coaching a long time and coaching at different schools and different levels is the fact that you understand that coaches schedule what’s in the best interest of their program,” Self said. “Nowhere does it say that they are obligated to schedule in the best interest of somebody else’s program that wants to play them.”
Self said he ran into similar issues while coaching at Tulsa in the late 1990s. He wanted to play Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, Arkansas and other bigger programs in the region. “And they wouldn’t play,” Self said. “But I didn’t blame them. And I didn’t make a big deal of it.”

Self is a dick and so is Nevada if they back out.

[PlayMikeMotenMore]

And this from last summer:
https://www.backingthepack.com/nc-state ... l-schedule

From last spring:
https://www.hoosiersportsreport.com/201 ... s-classic/

It happens. If you ever met Bill Self, you'd know he's a great guy. Easy to come on a board and call people names. Classy.

[theblueram]

PMM, don't give me that bs. Self is a dick.

[PlayMikeMotenMore]

PMM, don't give me that bs. Self is a dick.

You've met the guy? Talked to the guy? Right?

[TruePoint]

I don’t disagree with Self, really, but that quote from him has zero to do with this situation. The Indiana thing is similarly irrelevant. The only thing you posted that is remotely close to the same thing is NC State backing out of playing Loyola-Chicago, which is also easily distinguishable from our situation with Nevada because in that case they were blaming it on a coaching change by the team backing out (they were going to be in a rebuild and didn’t want to go to Chicago and get waxed). NC State:Loyola-Chicago is also not the same as Nevada:URI on many, many levels. And even that NC State piece acknowledged how rare it is and was written from a defensive posture as it tried to explain it away (it’s a NC State site). Not to mention, it being the only remotely comparable situation that you could find proves my point that this happens very infrequently and is not something that “happens all the time.”

[PlayMikeMotenMore]

1) It does happen all the time...meaning every year with a number of schools.
2) It is relevant because he's stating the coaches have to schedule based on their own interest and their team's interest in that particular season. The contracts are essentially worthless because of buyouts and escape clauses. Fans be damned, they'll put together a schedule with whatever teams they want.
3) I didn't say the Loyola-NC State is the same as Nevada-URI, did I? It was part of my larger point that scheduling bait and switch happens, regardless of the particulars of each individual situation. Obviously no two situations are exactly the same.
4) Bill Self is a really good guy and a really good coach.

[Rhody83]

1) It does happen all the time...meaning every year with a number of schools.
2) It is relevant because he's stating the coaches have to schedule based on their own interest and their team's interest in that particular season. The contracts are essentially worthless because of buyouts and escape clauses. Fans be damned, they'll put together a schedule with whatever teams they want.
3) I didn't say the Loyola-NC State is the same as Nevada-URI, did I? It was part of my larger point that scheduling bait and switch happens, regardless of the particulars of each individual situation. Obviously no two situations are exactly the same.
4) Bill Self is a really good guy and a really good coach.

Can you list 5-10 situations where a team broke its contract for the return game in the last two years? Should be easy since it “happens all the time”.

[TruePoint]

There are thousands of OOC games every year, a significant portion of them are contracted home and homes. If even 1% of those games end in broken contracts and the return team pays a buyout to get out of it, then we should be able to come up with dozens of examples over the past several years alone. This happening is exceedingly rare, even conceding that teams will schedule in their own best interest, and the reason why it is rare despite teams scheduling in their own interest is that it is a dirty pool thing to do. I’m also not really convinced by the argument that Nevada is so much better off bailing out of this game that it’s worth them setting 50k on fire, but ultimately that’s their call.

[reef]

I agree that coaches should schedule based on what's best for the program but I also agree that coaches should honor contracts with signed home and home

Jeez Nevada still don't understand why they woukd back out we are still going to be really good next year possible bubble team

[rhodyruckus]

I agree that coaches should schedule based on what's best for the program but I also agree that coaches should honor contracts with signed home and home

Jeez Nevada still don't understand why they woukd back out we are still going to be really good next year possible bubble team

That's where I'm at, stupid reasoning by Muss. Even from a devil's advocate viewpoint, he would say we lost our head coach and a large graduating class. Ok but our top assistant will slide in and maintain continuity, we lost only a single player from our incoming class which Hurley had overseen (yes Cox played a huge role, but just following the faulty reasoning of Muss), and I guess he missed the large roles Dowtin and Fatts stepped up to this past season. Plus did he not know how classes work and we would have a big turnover when he scheduled this series in the relatively near past?

But even IF all those things were different and the situation changed further from last year that's still a crappy back-out. I generally don't despise non-P5 teams with the exception of our close rivals, but man Nevada is trying to turn that around.

[rjsuperfly66]

I agree that coaches should schedule based on what's best for the program but I also agree that coaches should honor contracts with signed home and home

Jeez Nevada still don't understand why they woukd back out we are still going to be really good next year possible bubble team

That's where I'm at, stupid reasoning by Muss. Even from a devil's advocate viewpoint, he would say we lost our head coach and a large graduating class. Ok but our top assistant will slide in and maintain continuity, we lost only a single player from our incoming class which Hurley had overseen (yes Cox played a huge role, but just following the faulty reasoning of Muss), and I guess he missed the large roles Dowtin and Fatts stepped up to this past season. Plus did he not know how classes work and we would have a big turnover when he scheduled this series in the relatively near past?

But even IF all those things were different and the situation changed further from last year that's still a crappy back-out. I generally don't despise non-P5 teams with the exception of our close rivals, but man Nevada is trying to turn that around.

I think people are looking at it wrong ... While I'm sure a small part of it is roster construction, I'm sure the much bigger part of it is that Musselman doesn't want to waste a week traveling across the country for a potential Q2 game (or whatever they deemed it to be). You can just tell by the words coming out, that they think given their preseason stature that they will be able to land high-profile, "Top 25" type teams in NBA arenas. Fine, whatever, but Musselman better keep an eye on his own backyard ... I read an article this weekend done by ESPN discussing the names in the NBA draft, and how they think it's very possible that Nevada is going to lose two of their three big names given their scholarship situation (15 scholarship players at this time). So either they grossly mismanged or understood their scholarship situation, or they are going to take a big step back from their preseason Top 5-Top 10 expectations.

[Rhodyram]

I think this is all about the $ and travel. Nevada knew that we were graduating the 5 seniors and that we'd be taking a step back this coming season.
50k for a buyout(if true) is not much monetarily.
I asked earlier but did not get a response- are Muss and the Hurleys in any way connected? He scheduled ASU and URI but the return game seemed to be in limbo after the coaching change here

[bigappleram]

It's pretty easy with them....return everyone and they are stacked Top 10 caliber team and will have to fleece some people.
Return 1 of the Martin kids and they are probably similar to us last year, anywhere from 15-35.
Lose them both and they are bubble/NIT bound.

[theblueram]

Bet Nevada would take any one of our incoming class.

[Rhody83]

If Nevada is backing out, why are they waiting so long to notify URI? Notifying URI in June is unprofessional. You are putting another team and coach in a bad situation with a late cancellation - puts Cox in a tough spot to find a top 50 team for a home game. That is noticed in the coaching fraternity.

[reef]

I can't see Muss staying much longer at Nevada anyway. I be surprised if he is there after this year

[rhodyruckus]

I agree that coaches should schedule based on what's best for the program but I also agree that coaches should honor contracts with signed home and home

Jeez Nevada still don't understand why they woukd back out we are still going to be really good next year possible bubble team

That's where I'm at, stupid reasoning by Muss. Even from a devil's advocate viewpoint, he would say we lost our head coach and a large graduating class. Ok but our top assistant will slide in and maintain continuity, we lost only a single player from our incoming class which Hurley had overseen (yes Cox played a huge role, but just following the faulty reasoning of Muss), and I guess he missed the large roles Dowtin and Fatts stepped up to this past season. Plus did he not know how classes work and we would have a big turnover when he scheduled this series in the relatively near past?

But even IF all those things were different and the situation changed further from last year that's still a crappy back-out. I generally don't despise non-P5 teams with the exception of our close rivals, but man Nevada is trying to turn that around.

I think people are looking at it wrong ... While I'm sure a small part of it is roster construction, I'm sure the much bigger part of it is that Musselman doesn't want to waste a week traveling across the country for a potential Q2 game (or whatever they deemed it to be). You can just tell by the words coming out, that they think given their preseason stature that they will be able to land high-profile, "Top 25" type teams in NBA arenas. Fine, whatever, but Musselman better keep an eye on his own backyard ... I read an article this weekend done by ESPN discussing the names in the NBA draft, and how they think it's very possible that Nevada is going to lose two of their three big names given their scholarship situation (15 scholarship players at this time). So either they grossly mismanged or understood their scholarship situation, or they are going to take a big step back from their preseason Top 5-Top 10 expectations.

In a world where there is no loyalty by coaches and increasing students via transfer, I can understand having to back out and buyout a game. However, this is not like a return game 3 years after the first where things could not be foreseen. Any case is not a great look: either Muss knew going in he was going to welch on the return game, did not foresee the positions or either his or URI's program only a year plus out, or he overscheduled/over-committed.

[rhodylaw]

I don’t have an issue with Nevada’s thought process- they are looking for deep run and need a strong OOC schedule for seeeding and if they wanted to push a year it sucks but I get it I guess. I completely disagree however that this team is a Q2 team next year. No way with Dowtin, Fatts and Cyril that we aren’t a top 50ish program, bubble team. So f them for that. Go schedule some other school and watch that become a Q2 win, or better yet a loss!

[rjsuperfly66]

In a world where there is no loyalty by coaches and increasing students via transfer, I can understand having to back out and buyout a game. However, this is not like a return game 3 years after the first where things could not be foreseen. Any case is not a great look: either Muss knew going in he was going to welch on the return game, did not foresee the positions or either his or URI's program only a year plus out, or he overscheduled/over-committed.

I would think even Musselman would be surprised if you told him in August of 2017 that in May of 2018 people were projected his team had the potential to be a Top 5 or Top 10 team with potential national championship aspirations. I think at this point, he's thinking he can ride that status to minimum one-off games on neutral courts against other programs looking for potential Top 25 matchups. I don't think it's a matter of overscheduling (since they still have several open games), and I'm sure if Nevada were still a fringe Top 50 team, this isn't even a conversation since they probably are not as nearly an attractive neutral court opponent. At least he's not trying to bail on the game to beat up on some munchkins at home. But that can change depending on who he ultimately schedules. And I would hope that if he fails to schedule anything and he claws back to URI and says "Game is still on, right?" the admin tells him to go pound it. I doubt it happens for many obvious reasons, but it would be so awesome.

[RhowdyRam02]

That's not entirely true. We were supposed to play them November 17th. Instead they scheduled Arkansas Little Rock (RPI of 308 last year) on November 16th and Cal Baptist (Division 2) on November 19th.

With a little creative scheduling they could have made it two games on the east coast. They could have scheduled Syracuse at Madison Square Garden, Virginia at Capital One Arena, Duke or UNC in Charlotte, something like that. Instead it looks like they're breaking a contract and playing cupcakes. Soft program.

[RF1]

If Nevada wanted to put off its visit to URI by a year, I wonder whether URI would be willing to accept that. Rhody will already be playing Alabama and PC in 2019-2020 at the Ryan Center. This (2018-19) is the season it needs a quality OOC opponent on the home schedule. Its only known home OOC games right now are versus Byrant and Stony Brook. Not exactly an attractive slate to sell tickets.

[rjsuperfly66]

That's not entirely true. We were supposed to play them November 17th. Instead they scheduled Arkansas Little Rock (RPI of 308 last year) on November 16th and Cal Baptist (Division 2) on November 19th.

ALR and Cal-Baptist both appear to be guaranteed home games from their tournament in Vegas that takes place November 22nd and 23rd.

[RhowdyRam02]

My mistake, I didn't know they were part of a tournament.

[reef]

Since Nevada is supposed to be so good I am surprised decent P5 teams want to play them ?? I thought it was getting harder for decent mid majors to schedule??

[rjsuperfly66]

Since Nevada is supposed to be so good I am surprised decent P5 teams want to play them ?? I thought it was getting harder for decent mid majors to schedule??

Well, I think there are two things working in Nevada's favor.
One: If the core of their team stays in tact, they are returning all key pieces of a Sweet 16 team projected to be in the Top 10.
Two: The fact that Musselman has pushing away from prior commitments opens up availability to try to match dates for teams to meet on a neutral court.
Even then if I had to guess, some programs are probably still weary of committing to a game until they know the status of Caroline and the Martins.

[Rhody83]

Since Nevada is supposed to be so good I am surprised decent P5 teams want to play them ?? I thought it was getting harder for decent mid majors to schedule??

Well, I think there are two things working in Nevada's favor.
One: If the core of their team stays in tact, they are returning all key pieces of a Sweet 16 team projected to be in the Top 10.
Two: The fact that Musselman has pushing away from prior commitments opens up availability to try to match dates for teams to meet on a neutral court.
Even then if I had to guess, some programs are probably still weary of committing to a game until they know the status of Caroline and the Martins.

Projections are two of the three will go in the second round. All three may sign with an agent before the deadline and be done with college. Nevada will not be a top 5-10 team after the NBA Draft deadline.

[reef]

Good I hope they go pro

[Billyboy78]

[reef]

He gave us fits last year hopefully we get another crack at him ???

[PeterRamTime]

He gave us fits last year hopefully we get another crack at him ???

He's super good.
Great news for Nevada fans.
Bring him to the Ryan center!

[Rhody83]

Both Martins projected at second round picks in some mock drafts.

[woodennickel1]

I'm hoping the Nevada game doesn't fall through. That would put us 11 home games next year. With my season ticket cost of $375 per ticket, that puts the per game price at $34. For season tickets. I'll wait to see what the gate price is.

If the Nevada game falls thru, URI will add another game. There will be 13 games at the Ryan Center this year.

If Nevada is worried about URI’s RPI, they should just push the game one year. Btw, when they signed the agreement they knew URI was losing 5 Seniors. Nothing else changed except URI landing a top 30 recruiting class.

They also lost a high profile coach. But I agree pretty pathetic move by Nevada.

[rjsuperfly66]

Conference USA is getting radical and I love it ...

"I think our scheduling is going to change significantly this year," said Marshall head coach Danny D'Antoni. "We hired Mark Adams (former coach and ESPN analyst) to come up with something that would create interest and give us a better chance for a better seed (in the NCAA Tournament) out of our league tournament.

So, how is scheduling going to change that? The most radical difference will be that when the conference schedule is released, built in will be dates for games, but with opponents to be determined. Those dates will be filled with league opponents after the conference seeds the teams following the first 14 games.

"We're going to play 13 games and your travel partner twice, which would be Western Kentucky for us," said D'Antoni. "Then they are going to seed the schools. If you finish in the top five, No. 1 through No. 5 will play each other for the next four games to get 18 games.

"Like, if you're No. 1 you will play No. 4. And you'll play, I think, No. 4 and No. 3 at home and then travel to No. 2. ... There are four games in that five-team slot. No. 1 will play No. 5 and No. 4, I think. And No. 2 and No. 3 will come to No. 1.

"Then, if you're No. 2 you will play No. 4. It just reverses all the way down until you get everybody in that top group playing each other once. That will give you 18 games."

"Once you're in that top five, since you are playing the tougher teams," explained D'Antoni, "what they do is guarantee you that you will be one of the top five seeds. You can't fall out of the top five seeds in the conference tournament.

"And then No. 6 through No. 10 will do the same type of thing. They can't fall out of six through 10. And then No. 11 through 14 play and the same thing goes there. They can't get any higher than No. 11 and, obviously, no lower than No. 14."

"Yeah, that is kind of what it is," said D'Antoni. "You fall into a pod. Then what happens is if you're in the top five, your RPI is not going to be lowered by playing somebody at No. 230 and a chance of getting beaten - especially at their place. You eliminate that. And, again, you have a chance at playing schools with higher RPIs."

http://www.herald-dispatch.com/sports/m ... 8accd.html

[URI2006_Andy]

I posted a similar idea a year ago

With or without WSU, the AAC is going to be slightly better than the A-10. Temple, UConn, Cincy, SMU, Memphis all really good programs that may be better than anyone in the A-10. I would love to get WSU in the A-10 but I wouldn't mind them going to the AAC If it means Dayton and VCU aren't considered.I think the A-10 would get better by implementing a flex schedule:

1. Play each team once (13 games)
2. Leave 6 games tentative until the end of the non-conference schedule.
3. Then the top 7 rpi teams play each other for a second time (6 more games, totaling 19).
4. The bottom 7 rpi teams play each other for a second time.
5. Then,for the conference tournament,the 7 teams in the bottom division play for 1 spot in the quarterfinals with the top 7 A-10 teams.

[bigappleram]

Smart move. And this is something A10 is going to have to look at as well, to assure the top half of league plays as many games as possible against each other.