Lest we forget. Nonconference record is key to our current NCAAT positioning...

[thekimmer]

Last year and the year before we finished 8-10 in the SEC and were out of the NCAAT discussion. This season we are 7-9 with two to play and still expected to dance even if we split these two. The difference is we took care of business pre-conference going 12-1. The previous two seasons 6-3 and 9-4 pre-conference doomed our chance to make the tourney. Refreshing change.

 

[MSUDC11-2.0]

It’s also who we beat in nonconference. The Marquette win on a neutral floor is maybe our best nonconference win in the last 20 years. They are about to win the Big East. TCU was a very strong win as well.

 

[OG Goat Holder]

It’s also who we beat in nonconference. The Marquette win on a neutral floor is maybe our best nonconference win in the last 20 years. They are about to win the Big East. TCU was a very strong win as well.

Exactly. I see no reason not to schedule as hard as possible, in both basketball and baseball. Give yourself chances to get good wins that cement your resume. And if you lose them, oh well, you weren't good enough anyway.

Of course, the flip side is that if the schedule is easier you'll get the wins.

I honestly don't think it matters that much at the end of the day. You are what you are. So I say this more in comparison to say, football, where we need to schedule as easy as possible.

 

[57stratdawg]

Last year and the year before we finished 8-10 in the SEC and were out of the NCAAT discussion. This season we are 7-9 with two to play and still expected to dance even if we split these two. The difference is we took care of business pre-conference going 12-1. The previous two seasons 6-3 and 9-4 pre-conference doomed our chance to make the tourney. Refreshing change.

I really like us participating in preseason tournaments in basketball. We got the Marquette and Utah wins in the Fort Meyers Tip Off. Georgia Tech was in there as well. They’re terrible, but that’s another P5 team that we could have faced if we dropped one of our earlier matchups. That makes more sense to me than just inviting down UT Martin to the Hump.

 

[615dawg]

If we are going to play 13 non-conference games, it should be broken down as so:

1 vs. ACC Challenge (It was Big 12 this year)
2 in a tournament with Power 6 teams (we got Marquette and Utah this year)
1 Home and Home with a Power 6 team (it was Minnesota this year)
1 Home and Home with a top mid major (We got Drake in a neutral site this year)
3 vs. Mid-Majors that have made the NCAA Tournament in the past three seasons (Corpus Christi, Akron)
3 vs. Tier 2 Mid-Majors (South Dakota, Omaha)
3 vs. Tier 3 Mid-Majors (3 SWAC and Nichols)

We did a decent job of scheduling to max out NET this year. We over scheduled really bad Mid-Majors. South Dakota and Omaha was much worse than anticipated so the under-scheduling of Tier 2s were basically Tier 3 teams.

Here are some teams that we need to call for scheduling:

Tier 2 mid-majors

Tulane and UCF (both top 100 NETs). Neither are going to be in the NCAA talk, but a top 100 NET is better than playing Omaha or Nichols.

Middle Tennessee and UAB. Upper end of Conference USA.

Louisiana Tech. Lower end of C-USA, 100 spots higher in NET than SWAC teams

Troy, Louisiana, Southern Miss from Sun Belt. All Top 150 teams.

Tier 3 mid-majors

Samford, Chattanooga. Both in top 200. Chattanooga is 12-16 but NET is 120 spots higher than SWAC teams

Alcorn instead of Jackson State is +70 in NET.

Grambling instead of Valley is +160 in NET.

 

[FlotownDawg]

We do not need to play SWAC teams. Maybe one if we want to lend a helping hand to a fellow Mississippi school with a guarantee game. But we should not play multiple SWAC teams. Their NET rankings are usually in the 300s.

 

[mstateglfr]

Yea, play 1 in state SWAC team and keep it at that. If a team has been in the 300s in NET in any of the prior 5 seasons, they should not be scheduled. Really simple.