A10 scheduling ideas/thoughts

[steviep123]

I was toying with the idea of a 3 division league by geography:

Northeast:

Rhody
UMass
Fordham
St. Joes
LaSalle

Mid Atlantic
GW
GM
VCU
Richmond
Davidson

West
Dayton
Duquesne
SLU
SBU
Loyola

Play your own division twice and the other two once for an 18 game schedule. Sheer scheduling numbers work out as well as geography. Those are the pros.

The cons are the East is weak and Rhody would have less chances to play better teams in the conference. So their NET would suffer. If I thought some the A10 teams would up their game I’d think this would all even out over time but there’s not much hope for this so while the geography works, the leagues NET may suffer. So I doubt it will happen

We need a way to give opportunities for the stronger teams to play each other twice to help out the net and get them over the bubble hump/get more teams in, etc.

How do we do that? What might work is the top 5 from the prior season all play each other twice (8 games) then the other 10 once for an 18 schedule. Or even top 6 twice for a 19 game schedule.

It’s not perfect and if a top time from the prior year is down the next year that plan kind of backfires a bit. It may also disrupt some rivalries.

Other ideas are to try to anticipate who will be a top team. But that’s an in exact science.

What do you all think of how best to do this?

The A10 does need to schedule OOC better. Dayton and VCU do this well. Other teams need to step up.

Thoughts.

[theblueram]

I was toying with the idea of a 3 division league by geography:

Northeast:

Rhody
UMass
Fordham
St. Joes
LaSalle

Mid Atlantic
GW
GM
VCU
Richmond
Davidson

West
Dayton
Duquesne
SLU
SBU
Loyola

Play your own division twice and the other two once for an 18 game schedule. Sheer scheduling numbers work out as well as geography. Those are the pros.

The cons are the East is weak and Rhody would have less chances to play better teams in the conference. So their NET would suffer. If I thought some the A10 teams would up their game I’d think this would all even out over time but there’s not much hope for this so while the geography works, the leagues NET may suffer. So I doubt it will happen

We need a way to give opportunities for the stronger teams to play each other twice to help out the net and get them over the bubble hump/get more teams in, etc.

How do we do that? What might work is the top 5 from the prior season all play each other twice (8 games) then the other 10 once for an 18 schedule. Or even top 6 twice for a 19 game schedule.

It’s not perfect and if a top time from the prior year is down the next year that plan kind of backfires a bit. It may also disrupt some rivalries.

Other ideas are to try to anticipate who will be a top team. But that’s an in exact science.

What do you all think of how best to do this?

The A10 does need to schedule OOC better. Dayton and VCU do this well. Other teams need to step up.

Thoughts.

Dude, we might as well go independent if we are playing those teams twice a year.

[rjv]

Never Happen

[reef]

Don’t think we will do 3 divisions maybe 2 if we ever get a 16 th team ??

[Rhody15]

Awful, awful idea.

Do what CUSA does.

Have the top 4 teams play each other at the end of the regular season.

[Rhody Sody]

Close this thread

[ElbertC2020]

At that point we should just leave the A10. This was a bad year for us and we beat up on BC. Archie is buddies with Cooley and Hurley. While we are dreaming up a different schedule, we might as well dream up a schedule where we play ACC teams or BE every year. Think Big we Do. It's Miller time.

[URI_05]

I was toying with the idea of a 3 division league by geography:

Northeast:

Rhody
UMass
Fordham
St. Joes
LaSalle

Mid Atlantic
GW
GM
VCU
Richmond
Davidson

West
Dayton
Duquesne
SLU
SBU
Loyola

Play your own division twice and the other two once for an 18 game schedule. Sheer scheduling numbers work out as well as geography. Those are the pros.

The cons are the East is weak and Rhody would have less chances to play better teams in the conference. So their NET would suffer. If I thought some the A10 teams would up their game I’d think this would all even out over time but there’s not much hope for this so while the geography works, the leagues NET may suffer. So I doubt it will happen

We need a way to give opportunities for the stronger teams to play each other twice to help out the net and get them over the bubble hump/get more teams in, etc.

How do we do that? What might work is the top 5 from the prior season all play each other twice (8 games) then the other 10 once for an 18 schedule. Or even top 6 twice for a 19 game schedule.

It’s not perfect and if a top time from the prior year is down the next year that plan kind of backfires a bit. It may also disrupt some rivalries.

Other ideas are to try to anticipate who will be a top team. But that’s an in exact science.

What do you all think of how best to do this?

The A10 does need to schedule OOC better. Dayton and VCU do this well. Other teams need to step up.

Thoughts.

You should probably have looked up how NET rankings work and what the selection committee looks at before writing this. Your suggestion pretty much eliminates any chance of an at large bid for Rhody.

[steviep123]

Speaking of looking things up - I specifically wrote that while this works geographically, it puts Rhody with crappy teams in the league and would essentially kill their net. Those crapping on my post apparently didn’t read that part, just the divisions suggestion by geography.

Perhaps I buried the lead a bit there?

How do they decide now who each team plays twice? I assume we get UMass twice due to history and recently had home and homes with Dayton/VCU/Davidson who were in the top half at the time. But how does that decided?

[NYGFan_Section208]

Really looking forward to what the Arch will be able to get for an OOC sched. As noted before, may be able to get into MTEs that previously wouldn't give a look.

[reef]

Really looking forward to what the Arch will be able to get for an OOC sched. As noted before, may be able to get into MTEs that previously wouldn't give a look.

I bet scheduling is one of Arch strengths, I think he put some good ones together @ Dayton

[RF1]

The biggest part of the scheduling during Archie's time at Dayton was more due to the Flyer brand. Dayton has a very large and loyal fan base. They travel particularly well which results in getting into the better MTE's most years. Dayton also sells out nearly every game at its 13,000 seat venue. This provides a lot revenues which can then go back into many guarantee games being bought and staged at home.

URI does not at this time have the same advantages as with Dayton. Rhody fans do not generally travel in large numbers to away games. That is why you see our ticket office dropping A-10 Tournament package prices and marketing other fan bases to help minimize losses. Tournaments at nearby Mohegan Sun are an exception as URI games there are among the arena's best attended college basketball games. That is why you see URI continually going back there. The drawback is that I think a tournament may only invite a team every four years. That is why URI seems to basically be in the HOF Tourney in those general intervals. On the home front, URI draws less than half what Dayton does. It therefore does not generate the same ticket revenue which can be used toward many buy games. Furthermore, URI fans are not like UD fans who will buy ticket no matter who the opponent is. Rhody fans have generally not been enthused about going to see teams that are at the buy game level.

I do think Miller has a high profile and should have more contacts with other coaches that should instantly allow him to schedule better than David Cox. I however do not think that we should immediately expect to be see schedules similar to Dayton. It will take more time to build up the URI brand for that to occur. Winning games, going to the postseason, and increasing and energizing the fan base will be needed to schedule better.

[NYGFan_Section208]

I think we should (immediately) expect (significantly) better scheduling, from the jump. At this point, can't even think about caring what Dayton skeds were like. All I know is I expect a schedule worth watching - compared to what we've had - that is so much better, people will say...wow....this is waaaaay better already.