[NU Sports] Non-conference play

[Mark S. Ament]

The problem is we're not exactly scheduling non-conference powerhouses in
either sport.  Let's take a look at the non-conference schedule this year.
TCU is not going to a bowl game, ASU was a top 20 team and fits your one
good non-con opponent and Kansas is clearly a long-term bottom feeder for a
game that was probably scheduled years ago.  Should Kansas be replaced by a
Sun Belt team?  Probably so, and TCU should probably be replaced by Duke or
Army or Tulane.  I think the schedule should probably have one "guarantee"
home game against a low level D-I team, one game (home and away series)
against a peer institution, which we should usually win, and one game
against a legitimate opponent on a home and away basis.

Basketball is starting out with the same problem that kept us out of the
tournament last year - losing non-conference games that we should win.  The
non-conference schedule was not all that difficult to begin with and with
the losses piling up before Thompson gains eligibility, our RPI is really
going to suffer.  We can only hope that the end of the quarter comes
quickly.

I think long-term as Carmody's recruiting picks up and he has a full
complement of players, he will begin to ratchet up the non-conference
portion of the schedule.  He has renewed the series with DePaul this year
for example.  It will take a little longer in BBall as he needs to be a
little more careful in how he schedules.

Mark
Mark S. Ament
prplehaze at insightbb.com
 

-----Original Message-----
From: nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:nwu-sports-bounces at tssi.com] On
Behalf Of mlinhardt at netzero.com
Sent: Monday, November 29, 2004 12:10 PM
To: nwu-sports at tssi.com
Cc: maureen at foresitewireless.com
Subject: Fw: [NU Sports] Non-conference play


Stanford Stein writes...
>Is it possible that RW is tailoring his recruiting and/or coaching to
>the Big Ten style of play, and putting us at a disadvantage when
>we play outside the conference?  Any thoughts?

RW is the Anti-Mason.

I think the situation is the same in basketball.  How can we beat Illinois,
Wisconsin, Iowa, Indiana, Purdue and lose to Nowhere State?

I think we need only 1 challenging non-conference game in football and no
more than 2 in basketball.  In football we need the 2 or 3 wins vs. Joke U.
each year to have any hope at a bowl.  In basketball we need to be 9-2 or
better to have a tournament chance(NIT or NCAA).

I know that games vs. Nobdoy State do not draw fans, but playing ASU,
Kansas, Air Force, Stanford, Boston College, TCU, etc. do not draw fans
either.  The only non-cons that would draw fans are Notre Shame and maybe
some of the small Illinois schools(NIU, SIU, Ill. State, etc.).

I can stand a few bad-bad non-con losses to beat tOSU, Michigan, Wisconsin,
and Ill-noise.

As for the Hawaii game my wife is of the opinion that Dunbar should be
sacked for such a poor gameplan.  As emphasized on other posts -- RUN THE
BALL!!!!!!!!  We were really disappointed, but it is more from being teased
than being unhappy with the season.  These were magnificient conference
results(5-3) and the home games we saw were exciting with good results.

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