Non-conference Schedule

[LHS81]

Indiana fans on their Rivals board are saying; SMU @ Indiana is an exempt tournament in Bloomington next year. . . It's a message board. So take it for what it's worth.

I am sorry, but what is an exempt tournament?

An exempt tournament is like the Corpus Christi Tournament. It's where 4 opponents count as 1 against the 28 game regular schedule. SMU played Ark-Pine Bluff and Sam Houston in Garland. SMU, then played Virginia and Texas A&M. Those 4 opponents count as 1 against SMU's 28 game regular schedule. Those 3 extra games are the reason SMU played 31 regular season games (23-8).

[ojaipony]

TCU and Aggy really [deleted] the bed this year and ruined our SoS. Here's to them fielding a real basketball team in future years and not being a liability...

They probably say that about our football...

What football team?

[MFFL02]

How are we not accepting the Wichita State challenge? Similarly, we should propose home-and-homes to mid-majors which would be beneficial to both us and them...teams such as Gonzaga, VCU, UMass, Saint Louis, Stephen F. Austin, Dayton, Harvard, Manhattan, etc. Why not fill up our out of conference schedule with games vs these kinds of opponents? It would substantially boost our schedule strength.

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketb ... uth-dakota

This seems appealing, but I don't really agree with it. I don't think Wichita State will be nearly as good next year. The other teams don't have the "brand" we need. I'd rather play "name" teams but that aren't all that great -- but only about 2-3 of them -- and then just schedule our bottom a little bit better (not a knock on our AD because aTm, Wyoming, and TCU were supposed to be better than they were and we had opportunities to beat Arky and UVA and we didn't).

And then, of course, you have to WIN. Doesn't matter who you play, you have to WIN!! This team cannot take a single night off. That's the "growth" LB talks about . . . overcoming adversity . . . you can be down 10 to a team like LSU. Don't panic, stick together, and BALL! And prove you can do it on the road especially. That, more than scheduling, is the critical part.

I don't think brand is relevant, but it's all about RPI and strength of schedule. The more tourney teams/bubble teams you can play, the better. Teams from big conferences are less likely to want to do a home-and-home with SMU, because their schedule strengths are good enough since they play in tough conferences. Thus, scheduling mid-majors is the way to go, imo.

[MFFL02]

Further, I think Memphis sees the writing on the wall. With Louisville leaving, they realize their strength of schedule and opportunity to win big games will be diminished. Consequently, they've scheduled a game vs a team that made the final four last year and was a number 1 seed in the NCAA this year. Come selection sunday next year, if they defeat Wichita St, that will count as a quality win on their resume.