Schedule Released

[PK]

I don't know if BBall scheduling is similar to football scheduling which is usually several years out, but could this be a matter of Coach D being stuck with a schedule put together by the previous coach/admin? I would think if that is the case, it would be hard to make many changes at this point, because everyone else's schedule is set in a similar fashion...sort of a cascade effect. Just a thought.

[goponies1]

Not how it works. The bulk of this schedule was done by the current staff over the course of this year.

[Charleston Pony]

looks like a John Thompson theory schedule. Play patsies to give a lot of guys minutes, develop a 10 deep group and get ready for conference. I do expect a lot of this is economics as it cost more for quality visitors these days than SMU can afford to pay.

Can't win around here. If we get quality opponents to come to Moody, we have to charge the 1500 premium prices. This schedule will test the loyalty of the 1500, that's for sure.

Doherty can't work miracles. We all knew we'd be looking at 3-4 years before we'd see any real signs of improvement. Keep the faith

[EastStang]

At least Memphis is coming to Moody this year. That will give the fans at least one really high quality game to watch. And how can you not like Paul Quinn?

[jtstang]

And how can you not like Paul Quinn?

Exactly. What a nice guy.

[Stallion]

as long as we don't face Johnny Quinn again I'm happy.

[George S. Patton]

as long as we don't face Johnny Quinn again I'm happy.

Hadji was his friend. What was his dog's name?

Whoops. That's Johnny Quest.

[PhirePhilBennett]

we're hosting two tournaments and paul quinn college is in both of them. the non-conference slate has to be one of the worst in the country. i know we do it for the new guys to adjust, but our record last year indicates it really didnt help us

I think we could be 3-0 against Paul Quinn this year

[MustangIcon]

we're hosting two tournaments and paul quinn college is in both of them. the non-conference slate has to be one of the worst in the country. i know we do it for the new guys to adjust, but our record last year indicates it really didnt help us

I think we could be 3-0 against Paul Quinn this year

we do not play paul quinn in either tourney.

[Charleston Pony]

we're hosting two tournaments and paul quinn college is in both of them. the non-conference slate has to be one of the worst in the country. i know we do it for the new guys to adjust, but our record last year indicates it really didnt help us

I think we could be 3-0 against Paul Quinn this year

we do not play paul quinn in either tourney.

And that's a shame. I, too, believe we could have beaten them 3 times

[The XtC]

[quote="MustangIcon"]

- question? why in the world in the cusa tourney in memphis every year? shouldnt it be rotated out to other places like other conferences do? say we had it in dallas or houston this season maybe someone other than memphis wins the tourneyh and we all the sudden have two cusa teams in the ncaa tourney. thats just something thats been bugging me since we have been in cusa.

[/quote]

Sorry that it took awhile to get back to you, it's a valid question and I can only speculate on the answer.

My first assumption would be that it's because Memphis has far and away the largest facility. The Fedex Forum holds 18,400, more than twice the capacity of every other C-USA home gym, other than UTEP (12,000) and UCF (10,000). The host site for the tournament will hold 4 games in a day, twice. So, fans from 8 schools will need tickets on the first day, with 4 more, the teams that had first-round byes, arriving on the second day. All those teams also need practice time in the gym, locker room space, etc. The Forum may be the only gym in the league capable of handling the mens tournament. The women's tournament can be spread around to several other sites, including Moody two years ago, but the mens tournament needs a larger capacity. Moody is actually one of the bigger gyms in C-USA.

Second, Memphis has the largest fan base, and is able to guarantee the largest number of tickets sold. The conference needs the money.

Third, Memphis is centrally located. Almost dead center of the conference in fact. The Haskins center might have the capacity to host the tournament, but El Paso is the far western edge of the league, geographically. Central Florida is the far eastern edge. Memphis provides a location reasonably accessible to fans from all the member schools.

I think the capacity of the gym is probably the largest factor, while attendance and location are also points in Memphis's favor. Other schools might be able to host at some point, but it would have to be at off-campus locations, like AAC or Reunion Arena. The traffic and parking alone would be a nightmare if the games were at Moody.

To answer PK's question, Goponies is correct, this is Matt's schedule. The only real holdover is TCU, and I dont mind playing them. We should play the frogs in every sport every year, even if they are weak. However if you know that the TCU game is a weak one, you need to balance that with a game against Tech or Baylor. That's what I've been saying.


One last tidbit. Just for fun I ran through last year's Sagarin rankings and added up the final standings for all our OOC opponents. Or, rather, all that were in D1 last season. Dividing by 10 gave me an average ranking of 260 for our upcoming non-conference opponents. Dayton, as expected, was the strongest last year at 119. No surprise to find Prairie view at the bottom, #333. Five other teams were also under 300. The Colorado team that the good General thinks is such a noteworthy road game? They were number 207 last year. For those of you with good memories, that means Colorado was ranked BELOW last year's SMU team. Just thought I'd share that.

[MustangIcon]

Sorry that it took awhile to get back to you, it's a valid question and I can only speculate on the answer.

My first assumption would be that it's because Memphis has far and away the largest facility. The Fedex Forum holds 18,400, more than twice the capacity of every other C-USA home gym, other than UTEP (12,000) and UCF (10,000). The host site for the tournament will hold 4 games in a day, twice. So, fans from 8 schools will need tickets on the first day, with 4 more, the teams that had first-round byes, arriving on the second day. All those teams also need practice time in the gym, locker room space, etc. The Forum may be the only gym in the league capable of handling the mens tournament. The women's tournament can be spread around to several other sites, including Moody two years ago, but the mens tournament needs a larger capacity. Moody is actually one of the bigger gyms in C-USA.

Second, Memphis has the largest fan base, and is able to guarantee the largest number of tickets sold. The conference needs the money.

Third, Memphis is centrally located. Almost dead center of the conference in fact. The Haskins center might have the capacity to host the tournament, but El Paso is the far western edge of the league, geographically. Central Florida is the far eastern edge. Memphis provides a location reasonably accessible to fans from all the member schools.

I think the capacity of the gym is probably the largest factor, while attendance and location are also points in Memphis's favor. Other schools might be able to host at some point, but it would have to be at off-campus locations, like AAC or Reunion Arena. The traffic and parking alone would be a nightmare if the games were at Moody.

All good points and I have not done my research on attendance and ticket sales etc etc for the CUSA tourney but to me it seems there are strong cases to rotate the tourney also.

1. Being that Memphis plays off campus at FedEx Forum anyways, I don't think the conference loses anything by hosting at AAC or Toyota Center or any number of places in the city of the hosting team, as opposed to on the campus of the hosting team.

2. Not really sure how many fans Memphis alone brings in, but hosting in say Houston allows you to have 2 "home" teams which might offset the loss of the larger fan base.

3. Just from the standpoint of competitiveness and being fair you would think it would move around some. One team should not have the advantage of playing every single season's conference tourney in its own gym, especially when it is far and away the conference's dominant team. I think it especially makes sense for the conference in season's like last when if on the road, there might have been a reasonable chance for SOMEONE to upset Memphis and allow CUSA a second team into the NCAA field. Instead they played at home, rolled right on through the tourney, and the conference reveived only one postseason bid.

Then again, if I were the hosting team, I am sure I could come up with tons of reasons why it should stay right where it is. Oh well, maybe next year as they say.

[mrydel]

Play it in Little Rock at the Alltel Arena. Beautiful facility and in the center of C-USA. I think that would at least make me happy.

[PK]

I think that would at least make me happy.

That is no doubt an important consideration. We will advise the conference officials accordingly.

[mrydel]

That is no doubt an important consideration. We will advise the conference officials accordingly. [/quote]

And rightly so.