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Post by rainbowbadger on Jun 29, 2015 18:06:51 GMT -5
Most of the schedules are out, so I thought we could discuss the relative strengths/weaknesses of each school's schedule. We can start with the pre-conference, which I've assembled below. Note that Rutgers hasn't published its schedule yet; I was able to cobble together what I have from other schools' schedules. As for the conference schedules, they're the same as last year, with home and away switched. Thoughts/questions/observations to start the conversation: - There's a lot of overlap. At least 20 teams appear on two or more schedules. Playing North Carolina is especially fashionable this season. What will this do to conference RPI? Is this common? More overlap than usual? Risky?
- Northwestern doesn't seem to have scheduled very aggressively. Iowa, on the other hand, scheduled quite aggressively given where they wound up finishing in the conference last year. Who do we think is drinking from the firehose? Who's playing it safe?
- Purdue was bit last year by a combination of bad losses, playing both Rutgers & Maryland twice, and soft pre-conference scheduling. What do we think of their pre-conference schedule this year, given that their conference matchups are unchanged?
| School | Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | | Illinois | Louisville, Miami (Ohio), Creighton | Stanford, Colorado | Kentucky, South Dakota State, Wichita State | Texas Southern, UNLV, Arizona State | | Indiana | Bowling Green, Cleveland State, Middle Tennessee State | Lamar, UT San Antonio, Texas State | Virginia Tech, Bowling Green, Northern Arizona | Eastern Kentucky, Utah State, Northern Colorado | | Iowa | Pacific, South Dakota State, Northern Illinois | Hawaii, UCLA, American | Milwaukee, Texas A&M, Iowa State | Drake, Coastal Carolina x2, Gardner Webb | | Maryland | Morgan State, Duquesne, Hofstra, Kent State | Penn, Howard, Western Carolina, George Mason | Texas Tech, George Washington, Navy | Washington, Oklahoma, Southern Cal | | Michigan | George Washington, Oakland, West Virginia | Xavier, Louisiana State, Ohio | Western Michigan, South Carolina, Pittsburgh | Duke, North Carolina | | Michigan State | Kentucky, Arkansas-Little Rock, IUPUI | Butler, Virginia Tech, Miami (Ohio) | Boston College, New Hampshire, Delaware | North Carolina, Duke | | Minnesota | Texas A&M, Stanford | Louisville, North Carolina | UC Irvine, North Dakota State, Central Florida | Bryant, Sam Houston State, College of Charleston | | Nebraska | Tulsa, Grand Canyon, Pittsburgh | Texas, Oregon | UC Davis, South Florida, Georgia Tech | Creighton, Iowa State | | Northwestern | Wake Forest, New Hampshire, Loyola Chicago | Idaho State, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Boise State | Furman, Western Kentucky, Missouri State | Lipscomb, Milwaukee | | Ohio State | Wyoming, Butler, South Dakota | Northern Illinois, Florida State x2 | LIU Brooklyn, Arizona, Syracuse | Oakland, Western Michigan, Eastern Illinois | | Penn State | Buffalo, Stony Brook, Villanova | Colorado, Stanford | Eastern Kentucky, Mississippi State, Notre Dame | Auburn, St. John's, South Florida | | Purdue | VCU, Austin Peay, Ohio | Arkansas-Pine Bluff, BYU, Saint Louis | Louisiana State, Miami | South Dakota, Ball State, Notre Dame | | Rutgers | Sacramento State, Santa Clara, UC Riverside | Harvard, Long Beach State, Illinois State | Albany, Colgate, Yale | Howard, Duquesne, Princeton | | Wisconsin | Western Kentucky, Colgate, College of Charleston | Louisville, North Carolina | Georgia, Kent State | Kansas State, Creighton, Arkansas |
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Post by akbar on Jun 29, 2015 18:15:14 GMT -5
Thanks for doing this. It looks great.
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Post by rainbowbadger on Jun 29, 2015 18:19:40 GMT -5
Toughest pre-conference opponents*
Illinois: Stanford
Indiana: Utah State
Iowa: Hawaii, UCLA, Iowa State
Maryland: Washington, Southern Cal
Michigan: North Carolina, Duke
Michigan State: North Carolina, Duke
Minnesota: Stanford, North Carolina
Nebraska: Texas, Oregon
Northwestern: Western Kentucky, Milwaukee
Ohio State: Florida State, Arizona
Penn State: Stanford
Purdue: BYU, Miami
Rutgers: Long Beach State
Wisconsin: North Carolina, Creighton
*Just my initial thoughts. Please feel free to chime in.
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Post by BoilerUp! on Jun 29, 2015 20:27:20 GMT -5
North Carolina needs to do well in conference, looks like!
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Post by vbnerd on Jun 29, 2015 21:47:10 GMT -5
Rutgers toughest opponent is Long Beach? Long Beach is the strongest opponent but that's a 40 minute match. Santa Clara might take an hour. The toughest match, one that they'll actually break a sweat and might win would probably be Harvard or Princeton.
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Post by hawkfan on Jun 29, 2015 21:59:33 GMT -5
Thanks for putting this together, rainbowbadger!! Agree with your assessments here and this is really interesting to check out the different approaches. Iowa's is out now. Just one small change in Week 4's home tourney (play Coastal Carolina twice that weekend and not UI-Chicago). www.hawkeyesports.com/sports/w-volley/sched/iowa-w-volley-sched.html |
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Post by rainbowbadger on Jun 29, 2015 22:01:27 GMT -5
Here's an analysis of the teams that face >1 B1G team in the pre-conference.
4 Overlaps
North Carolina - Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Wisconsin
3 Overlaps
Creighton - Illinois, Nebraska, Wisconsin
Louisville - Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin
Stanford - Illinois, Minnesota, Penn State
2 Overlaps
Bowling Green - Indiana, Indiana (Not a typo. Indiana plays them twice.)
Coastal Carolina - Iowa, Iowa (Not a typo. Iowa plays them twice.)
College of Charleston - Minnesota, Wisconsin
Colorado - Illinois, Penn State
Duke - Michigan, Michigan State
Duquesne - Maryland, Rutgers
Eastern Kentucky - Indiana, Penn State
Florida State - Ohio State, Ohio State (Not a typo. tOSU plays them twice.)
George Washington - Maryland, Michigan
Howard - Maryland, Rutgers
Iowa State - Iowa, Nebraska
Kent State - Maryland, Wisconsin
Kentucky - Illinois, Michigan State
Louisiana State - Michigan, Purdue
Miami (Ohio) - Illinois, Michigan State
Milwaukee - Iowa, Northwestern
New Hampshire - Michigan State, Northwestern
Northern Illinois - Iowa, Ohio State
Notre Dame - Penn State, Purdue
Oakland - Michigan, Ohio State
Ohio - Michigan, Purdue
Pittsburgh - Michigan, Nebraska
South Dakota - Ohio State, Purdue
South Dakota State - Illinois, Iowa
South Florida - Nebraska, Penn State
Texas A&M - Iowa, Minnesota
Virginia Tech - Indiana, Michigan State
Western Kentucky - Northwestern, Wisconsin
Western Michigan - Michigan, Ohio State
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Post by rainbowbadger on Jun 29, 2015 22:03:35 GMT -5
Thanks for putting this together, rainbowbadger!! Agree with your assessments here and this is really interesting to check out the different approaches. Iowa's is out now. Just one small change in Week 4's home tourney (play Coastal Carolina twice that weekend and not UI-Chicago). www.hawkeyesports.com/sports/w-volley/sched/iowa-w-volley-sched.htmlAwesome. Thanks for that. I'm fixing it. Probably better for the RPI to play Coastal Carolina twice and UI-Chicago not at all. |
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Post by big10+4 fan on Jun 29, 2015 22:37:43 GMT -5
Toughest pre-conference opponents*Illinois: Stanford Indiana: Utah State Iowa: Hawaii, UCLA, Iowa State Maryland: Washington, Southern Cal Michigan: North Carolina, Duke Michigan State: North Carolina, Duke Minnesota: Stanford, North Carolina Nebraska: Texas, Iowa State Northwestern: Western Kentucky, Milwaukee Ohio State: Florida State, Arizona Penn State: Stanford Purdue: BYU, Miami Rutgers: Long Beach State Wisconsin: North Carolina, Creighton *Just my initial thoughts. Please feel free to chime in. Just curious, what in your opinion makes Iowa State a tougher opponent than Oregon for Nebraska (I mean NOTHING by asking this, just curious)? |
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Post by rainbowbadger on Jun 29, 2015 23:31:32 GMT -5
Rutgers toughest opponent is Long Beach? Long Beach is the strongest opponent but that's a 40 minute match. Santa Clara might take an hour. The toughest match, one that they'll actually break a sweat and might win would probably be Harvard or Princeton. That's a great point. I guess I was defining "toughest" as "most likely to take them to the woodshed." We don't have Rutgers' full schedule up here (tick tock, CJ), but looking at what we do know, are you thinking they might only be able to be Harvard and Princeton? What about Duquesne and Howard? For their first tournament, my money is on the Cali schools. And Illinois State won their conference and was scrappy as hell last year, but they also lost a gigantic senior class, so I'm not sure whether they'll be able to keep that momentum going into 2015. As for our other cellar dweller, I think Aird scheduled wisely. They should be able to come out of the first three weeks with at least one win from each tournament. Their final pre-conference tourney will be a huge how-do-you-do, but it'll be good preparation for B1G play. And really, if you're going to lose, USC, Washington, and Oklahoma aren't bad teams to lose to. |
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Post by badgerbreath on Jun 29, 2015 23:35:54 GMT -5
I see Penn State is too scared to take on Stony Brook at the dreaded Island Federal Credit Union Arena. Understandable.
Seriously though, I noticed you didn't give Colorado a shout out as a tough opponent for Illinois and PSU. I think they can be pretty tricky. They gave Washington, Stanford and Colorado State all they could handle last year. Granted they have lost Taylor Simpson, but most of the rest of the team returns.
We'll certainly know more about UNC by the end of the preconference season.
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Post by badgerbreath on Jun 29, 2015 23:40:25 GMT -5
How does this stack of to previous years OOC? Gestalt impression here, but it doesn't seem too hard when you look across the conference.
Also, it looks like Illinois has the toughest OOC schedule.
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Post by rainbowbadger on Jun 29, 2015 23:46:27 GMT -5
Toughest pre-conference opponents*Illinois: Stanford Indiana: Utah State Iowa: Hawaii, UCLA, Iowa State Maryland: Washington, Southern Cal Michigan: North Carolina, Duke Michigan State: North Carolina, Duke Minnesota: Stanford, North Carolina Nebraska: Texas, Iowa State Northwestern: Western Kentucky, Milwaukee Ohio State: Florida State, Arizona Penn State: Stanford Purdue: BYU, Miami Rutgers: Long Beach State Wisconsin: North Carolina, Creighton *Just my initial thoughts. Please feel free to chime in. Just curious, what in your opinion makes Iowa State a tougher opponent than Oregon for Nebraska (I mean NOTHING by asking this, just curious)? It was just kind of gut feel, actually. Now that I think about it, there's not a ton of good reason to have Iowa State in there but not Oregon. The teams are fairly evenly matched. Both made it to the sweet 16 last year, and both finished in the top third of their conferences (literally: Iowa State was 3/9 and Oregon was 4/12). I do think that Oregon lost more (Brenner) than Iowa State did, and Iowa State has only one freshman and an otherwise seasoned team, whereas Oregon's newcomers, while highly ranked, are still freshman. And there's the time change bit - don't know how big of a factor it is, but Oregon has a time change when they play Nebraska, and Iowa State doesn't. So there you have all those reasons, but none of them spectacular. I'm happy to add Oregon to the list. |
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Post by c4ndlelight on Jun 29, 2015 23:54:05 GMT -5
Just curious, what in your opinion makes Iowa State a tougher opponent than Oregon for Nebraska (I mean NOTHING by asking this, just curious)? It was just kind of gut feel, actually. Now that I think about it, there's not a ton of good reason to have Iowa State in there but not Oregon. The teams are fairly evenly matched. Both made it to the sweet 16 last year, and both finished in the top third of their conferences (literally: Iowa State was 3/9 and Oregon was 4/12). I do think that Oregon lost more (Brenner) than Iowa State did, and Iowa State has only one freshman and an otherwise seasoned team, whereas Oregon's newcomers, while highly ranked, are still freshman. And there's the time change bit - don't know how big of a factor it is, but Oregon has a time change when they play Nebraska, and Iowa State doesn't. So there you have all those reasons, but none of them spectacular. I'm happy to add Oregon to the list. The Sweet 16 made it to Iowa St., but Iowa St. wasn't playing in it. They finished in the 36 in Pablo - 3rd in the Big XII is not necessarily the achievement it sounds like either. Not sure why you're giving them so much credit. |
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Post by geddyleeridesagain on Jun 30, 2015 0:19:36 GMT -5
Just curious, what in your opinion makes Iowa State a tougher opponent than Oregon for Nebraska (I mean NOTHING by asking this, just curious)? It was just kind of gut feel, actually. Now that I think about it, there's not a ton of good reason to have Iowa State in there but not Oregon. The teams are fairly evenly matched. Both made it to the sweet 16 last year, and both finished in the top third of their conferences (literally: Iowa State was 3/9 and Oregon was 4/12). I do think that Oregon lost more (Brenner) than Iowa State did, and Iowa State has only one freshman and an otherwise seasoned team, whereas Oregon's newcomers, while highly ranked, are still freshman. And there's the time change bit - don't know how big of a factor it is, but Oregon has a time change when they play Nebraska, and Iowa State doesn't. So there you have all those reasons, but none of them spectacular. I'm happy to add Oregon to the list. Oh, now you've done it. Wait until C4ndlelight see's this. Edit: Too late. |
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