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Post by scubasteve on Jun 30, 2015 1:46:40 GMT -5
It looks like OSU is playing Florida State twice. They are a great RPi booster. While Purdue did schedule a bit tougher, they still have some RPi teams that will drag them down even with a win. Got to stay from teams with low win totals.
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Post by LovePennState on Jun 30, 2015 7:49:06 GMT -5
Coaches don't have total control of who they play, right? If you owe Directional School U a return trip and they can't get two additional good RPI schools, sometimes you are just stuck.
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Post by rainbowbadger on Jun 30, 2015 7:57:12 GMT -5
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. My bad. You are correct. It was late. I added Oregon. Will you not be satisfied until I also remove Iowa State?
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Post by rainbowbadger on Jun 30, 2015 8:14:45 GMT -5
Coaches don't have total control of who they play, right? If you owe Directional School U a return trip and they can't get two additional good RPI schools, sometimes you are just stuck. Right. So in theory, you want to load up the rest of the schedule with schools to balance them out. The trick is not to get on the hook with too many Directional Us. Wasn't part of Purdue's problem last year that some of their opponents didn't do as well in 2014 as they did in 2013? So matches that should've helped, or at least been RPI-neutral, wound up hurting?
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Post by Wiswell on Jun 30, 2015 8:22:03 GMT -5
I'd put Arkansas as a decent opponent for the Badgers. Usually a top 30 team. I'm glad they don't actually have to play Georgetown. That would hurt the RPI.
Is the Big Ten/ACC challenge still in effect for this season?
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Post by rainbowbadger on Jun 30, 2015 8:34:54 GMT -5
I'd put Arkansas as a decent opponent for the Badgers. Usually a top 30 team. I'm glad they don't actually have to play Georgetown. That would hurt the RPI. Is the Big Ten/ACC challenge still in effect for this season? Adding Arkansas. Yes. The B1G/ACC challenge for Wisconsin & Minnesota will be in Louisville, v. Louisville & North Carolina. Notre Dame pulled out with the coaching change, and North Carolina stepped in. That will make the tournament better for everyone's RPI, and is probably why Sheff was comfortable scheduling a little more conservatively.
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Post by vbnerd on Jun 30, 2015 9:10:31 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. Looking at the roster it seems Rutgers is going to have 7 seniors on the roster, plus their freshman OH who was on the Big 10 europe tour. They might not be terrible, but to go from 223 or whatever to beat top 50 teams (like LBSU, Santa Clara and most of the Big 10) is a big ask. Harvard and Princeton were mid-100's. I have no point of reference for Illinois State's new lineup but I would hope Rutgers can beat Howard, Duquense, and it looks like UC Riverside might be the other opponent at the San Jose State tournament.
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Post by vbnerd on Jun 30, 2015 9:15:39 GMT -5
Here's an analysis of the teams that face >1 B1G team in the pre-conference. 4 OverlapsNorth Carolina - Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Wisconsin 3 OverlapsCreighton - Illinois, Nebraska, Wisconsin Louisville - Illinois, Minnesota, Wisconsin Stanford - Illinois, Minnesota, Penn State 2 OverlapsBowling 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 A bunch of teams can get one win over a Big 10 team, but can any of these teams get 2+ wins over the Big 10 to metaphorically finish in 13th or 14th in the Big 10? Va Tech? Kentucky? UNC? Stanford?
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Post by vbprisoner on Jun 30, 2015 10:33:35 GMT -5
IMO:
-Illinois has the toughest pre-conference schedule.
-Purdue did not improve their pre-conference schedule that much from last year (BYU is good, LSU without Holman is not tournament team and lower middle of SEC, Miami will not be factor in ACC).
-Indiana & Rutgers are playing a cupcake schedule but probably want wins because they will get few in conference.
-Minnesota first two tourneys are tough (4 top 25 teams) and 3rd & 4th are too easy.
-Penn State outside of Stanford has a very easy schedule, but they seem to not care about RPI scheduling (Simpson-less Colorado will be no match and Auburn is 3rd best team on pre-conference)
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Post by vbnerd on Jun 30, 2015 12:06:43 GMT -5
IMO: -Purdue did not improve their pre-conference schedule that much from last year (BYU is good, LSU without Holman is not tournament team and lower middle of SEC, Miami will not be factor in ACC). WRONG - Try Again. LSU has been in the tournament 8 of their last 10 years, they still hvae Leak, and Fears comes back after a medical redshirt. They only have Florida and Texas A&M once each. They should be around 4th or 5th - bottom middle would be 8-9th. Miami I don't know as much about but apparently they return 5 of 7 starters and they are bringing in 4 Europeans including the transfer from UCLA. Ohio, BYU, LSU and Miami really should speak for themselves. South Dakota had a pablo of 93. VCU was 101, St. Louis 116, Ball State 130 (and it is his brother), and Notre Dame was 164 but I think most of us expect them to be stronger, no? Austin Peay is the 11am match at the home opening tournament - that's where he can get the walk-ons some court time. Purdue's only real headscratcher is Pine Bluff.
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Post by sulo on Jun 30, 2015 12:30:39 GMT -5
Hey Boiler Up, don't sleep on UNC!!!!!
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Post by c4ndlelight on Jun 30, 2015 12:38:36 GMT -5
IMO: -Purdue did not improve their pre-conference schedule that much from last year (BYU is good, LSU without Holman is not tournament team and lower middle of SEC, Miami will not be factor in ACC). WRONG - Try Again. LSU has been in the tournament 8 of their last 10 years, they still hvae Leak, and Fears comes back after a medical redshirt. They only have Florida and Texas A&M once each. They should be around 4th or 5th - bottom middle would be 8-9th. Miami I don't know as much about but apparently they return 5 of 7 starters and they are bringing in 4 Europeans including the transfer from UCLA. Ohio, BYU, LSU and Miami really should speak for themselves. South Dakota had a pablo of 93. VCU was 101, St. Louis 116, Ball State 130 (and it is his brother), and Notre Dame was 164 but I think most of us expect them to be stronger, no? Austin Peay is the 11am match at the home opening tournament - that's where he can get the walk-ons some court time. Purdue's only real headscratcher is Pine Bluff. He's not that wrong. Those are a lot of good names but most of them lose a ton - in December you may say they performed worse than "expected" - but that's because expectations aren't set correctly. Leaf basically was the team for Miami and they also graduated the only player who arguably helped her. And the ACC is getting tougher. No way Miami matches last year's win total, especially with Beyond losing Holman, Who is even setting for LSU this season? Their pins aren't strong enough to carry them while they wait for Zwibble to graduate. Florida, A&M, Kentucky, Alabama all clearly above them in the SEC. They need to watch out for Mizzou/UGA/Auburn/Arky having good years. South Dakota loses 2 all-conference players (incl. their 5 KPS L1) plus their starting libero. VCU wasn't a great-for-RPI choice to begin with but they lost both of its first-team all-conference players and a couple other regular contributors. Notre Dame got a better coach but lost its top two attackers from last year and hasn't added anyone exceptional yet. St. Louis and Ball St. do not go into the tough pile (despite last year's upset). BYU and Ohio will still be pretty good though. Somewhat better than last year's, but Shondell still needs to give Pablo a call on how to schedule.
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Post by vbprisoner on Jun 30, 2015 12:58:13 GMT -5
IMO: -Purdue did not improve their pre-conference schedule that much from last year (BYU is good, LSU without Holman is not tournament team and lower middle of SEC, Miami will not be factor in ACC). WRONG - Try Again. LSU has been in the tournament 8 of their last 10 years, they still hvae Leak, and Fears comes back after a medical redshirt. They only have Florida and Texas A&M once each. They should be around 4th or 5th - bottom middle would be 8-9th. Miami I don't know as much about but apparently they return 5 of 7 starters and they are bringing in 4 Europeans including the transfer from UCLA. Ohio, BYU, LSU and Miami really should speak for themselves. South Dakota had a pablo of 93. VCU was 101, St. Louis 116, Ball State 130 (and it is his brother), and Notre Dame was 164 but I think most of us expect them to be stronger, no? Austin Peay is the 11am match at the home opening tournament - that's where he can get the walk-ons some court time. Purdue's only real headscratcher is Pine Bluff. C4ndle beat me to the response, but I still stand by my opinion.
LSU will not be anywhere as good as last year with the loss of Holman. I feel (opinion again) Miami will not be the same level as last year and the ACC should be better all around this year. BYU should still be at the top in their conference but the loss of Hamson may move them from top 10 team to 10-15 team.
It is better than last year, but with Purdue under-performing in the B1G last year the OOC RPI schedule hurt them for tournament consideration and I thought they might beef it up a bit more this year.
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Post by c4ndlelight on Jun 30, 2015 13:01:01 GMT -5
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. My bad. You are correct. It was late. I added Oregon. Will you not be satisfied until I also remove Iowa State? If you add Iowa St., you should probably include Creighton too. They have been on a similar level the past two years.
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bluepenquin
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Post by bluepenquin on Jun 30, 2015 14:11:51 GMT -5
WRONG - Try Again. LSU has been in the tournament 8 of their last 10 years, they still hvae Leak, and Fears comes back after a medical redshirt. They only have Florida and Texas A&M once each. They should be around 4th or 5th - bottom middle would be 8-9th. Miami I don't know as much about but apparently they return 5 of 7 starters and they are bringing in 4 Europeans including the transfer from UCLA. Ohio, BYU, LSU and Miami really should speak for themselves. South Dakota had a pablo of 93. VCU was 101, St. Louis 116, Ball State 130 (and it is his brother), and Notre Dame was 164 but I think most of us expect them to be stronger, no? Austin Peay is the 11am match at the home opening tournament - that's where he can get the walk-ons some court time. Purdue's only real headscratcher is Pine Bluff. C4ndle beat me to the response, but I still stand by my opinion.
LSU will not be anywhere as good as last year with the loss of Holman. I feel (opinion again) Miami will not be the same level as last year and the ACC should be better all around this year. BYU should still be at the top in their conference but the loss of Hamson may move them from top 10 team to 10-15 team.
It is better than last year, but with Purdue under-performing in the B1G last year the OOC RPI schedule hurt them for tournament consideration and I thought they might beef it up a bit more this year.
The loss of Hamson may mean the difference between winning and losing the match which is more important than the small difference in BYU's record. A real concern for Purdue will be what Rutgers does in the OOC. They went 7-6 last year. Of the 8 matches known for 2015 - they are probably the underdog in each. They did exceed their Pablo rating by 3 games last year, but w/o that this year they could be something like 1-12 or 2-11 OOC - and that could be a real problem.
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