One of the biggest issues of the Stans/Howland era

[615dawg]

was our approach to scheduling. It led to things like winning the West and making it to the SECT finals and being left out, hosting a bunch of NIT games, etc. I bitched about it every year.

Maybe a little more work to do, but we nailed it this year. We had a losing record in the SEC and a loss to a SWAC team and we not only made the tournament, we were safely in as an 8 seed. Lets examine what we did right.

First, the Barstool game. Playing a top mid major like Akron last year or a low Power 5 like ASU this year is leaps and bounds better than opening with a SWAC special.

Second, we played in a quality in-season tournament. Last year we got Utah and Marquette, this year we got Northwestern and Washington State.

The ACC/SEC challenge is good, and picking up a low P6 game against Rutgers gives us an opportunity to get at least five P6 opponents in the non-conference. There were Stans years where we played zero.

So we had 5 non-conference games against P6 teams. You can't play all of them against P6 though and this is where we were awesome. We had just ONE game against a sub-300 team. That has to be an all-time low. Our schedule was great this year and should be a model for future years.

 

[patdog]

It's not just a Stans/Howland issue. Pitiful OOC scheduling has been a Mississippi State tradition in all sports for at least 50 years.

 

[8dog]

was our approach to scheduling. It led to things like winning the West and making it to the SECT finals and being left out, hosting a bunch of NIT games, etc. I bitched about it every year.

Maybe a little more work to do, but we nailed it this year. We had a losing record in the SEC and a loss to a SWAC team and we not only made the tournament, we were safely in as an 8 seed. Lets examine what we did right.

First, the Barstool game. Playing a top mid major like Akron last year or a low Power 5 like ASU this year is leaps and bounds better than opening with a SWAC special.

Second, we played in a quality in-season tournament. Last year we got Utah and Marquette, this year we got Northwestern and Washington State.

The ACC/SEC challenge is good, and picking up a low P6 game against Rutgers gives us an opportunity to get at least five P6 opponents in the non-conference. There were Stans years where we played zero.

So we had 5 non-conference games against P6 teams. You can't play all of them against P6 though and this is where we were awesome. We had just ONE game against a sub-300 team. That has to be an all-time low. Our schedule was great this year and should be a model for future years.

Our OOC SOS was 118. The SEC is like 10 times better than it used to be under Stan’s and our sec slate was ridiculous this year. And the NET just liked us this year. Hard to know why without knowing the entire calculation.

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

Our OOC SOS was 118. The SEC is like 10 times better than it used to be under Stan’s and our sec slate was ridiculous this year. And the NET just liked us this year. Hard to know why without knowing the entire calculation.

During most of the Stansbury years the SEC sucked and would be at most a 3 or 4 bid league. Thats not the case anymore and it shows with State making the field with a losing record and a Quad 4 loss.

 

[Perd Hapley]

Our OOC SOS was 118. The SEC is like 10 times better than it used to be under Stan’s and our sec slate was ridiculous this year. And the NET just liked us this year. Hard to know why without knowing the entire calculation.

Exactly. This is 90% of it. There was at least one year that we won the West at 9-7. There was the year that UGA had one of the worst seasons in SEC history, and still won the SEC tournament while having to play 5 games in 4 days due to the tornado. SEC used to be very mediocre and that is no longer the case.

 

[8dog]

Exactly. This is 90% of it. There was at least one year that we won the West at 9-7. There was the year that UGA had one of the worst seasons in SEC history, and still won the SEC tournament while having to play 5 games in 4 days due to the tornado. SEC used to be very mediocre and that is no longer the case.

Even better. We won the west at 8-8 in 06-07.

 

[She Mate Me]

None of the non con scheduling means much if you don't win the games. We were good enough to beat tourney teams on neutral courts. A lot of years we're not.

 

[MSUDC11-2.0]

Preach. We didn’t even have a great nonconference schedule this year, it was largely unremarkable. It’s just that most years our scheduling is a disaster. The only exception I can think of is Howland’s one tourney team that was a 5 seed thanks to the fact that they played teams like Cincinnati, Clemson, Arizona State, Dayton, etc, and then we got a little lucky that we scheduled Wofford in the one year they were randomly a Top 30 team.

We played a lot of games away from Starkville and that’s how it should be regularly. We gain nothing from playing Alcorn in front of 50 people on December 22nd. Go play LA Tech in Biloxi or MTSU in Tupelo or something like that. Still teams you should beat but not the bottom of the barrel in Division I. It can make a big difference.

 

[MSUDC11-2.0]

Our OOC SOS was 118. The SEC is like 10 times better than it used to be under Stan’s and our sec slate was ridiculous this year. And the NET just liked us this year. Hard to know why without knowing the entire calculation.

118 was still our best nonconference SOS in a few years. We were 197 last year.

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

The key is not scheduling a bunch of really bad games like against SWAC teams etc. You can still schedule some cupcakes and be fine, just don’t go for the bottom of the barrel.

 

[57stratdawg]

I liked our non-con schedule, but we also returned like 80% of our minutes of the 2023 squad.

We should be in high quality preseason tournaments though. They’re the best way to get a sneaky Q1 or Q2 win. Those will be tough to pull off if we’re just camped in Starkville.

 

[8dog]

118 was still our best nonconference SOS in a few years. We were 197 last year.

Well Howlands last two years it was 124 and 108 so we didn’t do anything great this year.

But there is a ton of good fortune involved in scheduling. And we hit the jackpot with Wazzu. Looking at CBS, Wazzu was picked 11th in the Pac 12. The athletic had Wazzu last.

 

[aTotal360]

Thanks, Cohen?

 

[OG Goat Holder]

None of the non con scheduling means much if you don't win the games. We were good enough to beat tourney teams on neutral courts. A lot of years we're not.

Not sure why people don't understand this.

 

[BrunswickDawg]

During most of the Stansbury years the SEC sucked and would be at most a 3 or 4 bid league. Thats not the case anymore and it shows with State making the field with a losing record and a Quad 4 loss.

This would be true, well, except the fact that in 11 of the 14 seasons Stansbury was coach the SEC sent 5 or more teams to the tourney. The only years it didn't happen were at the end - '09, '10, & '12 (when Stans was floundering). The SEC West typically sucked though, and we won it at least 2 times and missed the tourney.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

Not sure why people don't understand this.

Cue the next Mississippi Brain Drain thread in 3… 2…

 

[57stratdawg]

Well Howlands last two years it was 124 and 108 so we didn’t do anything great this year.

But there is a ton of good fortune involved in scheduling. And we hit the jackpot with Wazzu. Looking at CBS, Wazzu was picked 11th in the Pac 12. The athletic had Wazzu last.

Which is why tournaments make sense. You’d like to think a team like Wazzu would play their way to the top rather than betting on a SEC-B12 or ACC matchup. It worked out last year with TCU, but GT wasn’t any good this year.

I also heard some discussion about “intent to schedule” yesterday. I think they just want Nov & Dec TV inventory. Let’s give them what they want.

 

[MSUDC11-2.0]

This would be true, well, except the fact that in 11 of the 14 seasons Stansbury was coach the SEC sent 5 or more teams to the tourney. The only years it didn't happen were at the end - '09, '10, & '12 (when Stans was floundering). The SEC West typically sucked though, and we won it at least 2 times and missed the tourney.

Early to mid 2000’s SEC was strong. It nosedived off a cliff in the late 2000’s and early 2010’s.

The worst year I recall was 2009 when we won the tournament. Only three teams got in and no one was better than an 8 seed. And it would’ve only been two teams had we not gotten the auto bid.

 

[BonzoGoesToCollege]

Howland ran a stale offense and his teams could never get stops on the defensive end of the court.

 

[DesotoCountyDawg]

Howland ran a stale offense and his teams could never get stops on the defensive end of the court.

He never changed defenses. Always man to man and zero pressure.

 

[johnson86-1]

The key is not scheduling a bunch of really bad games like against SWAC teams etc. You can still schedule some cupcakes and be fine, just don’t go for the bottom of the barrel.

Correct. I would argue that most of the problem with Stans was not that we had terrible OOC schedules, but that we just weren't that good most of those years.

But ignoring that, scheduling the bottom of the barrel games makes your job unnecessarily hard. You don't get a meaningfully easier game most of the time by having a quad 4 game versus a quad 3 game. You get zero credit for winning either, but you get penalized more for losing a quad 4 game. I know there is a financial aspect to it, but I'd rather agree to some home and home with lower league teams and give up some of the empty stadium games over the christmas break if that's what it takes.

 

[johnson86-1]

Well Howlands last two years it was 124 and 108 so we didn’t do anything great this year.

But there is a ton of good fortune involved in scheduling. And we hit the jackpot with Wazzu. Looking at CBS, Wazzu was picked 11th in the Pac 12. The athletic had Wazzu last.

Crazy how bad sports reporting is. Not only did I know Wazzu would be pretty good this year, I also am on record predicting that they won't finish lower than second in the Pac 12 next year.**

 

[RockyDog]

Said it before the season in response to last year and will say it again. NEVER play 3 SWAC schools. No problem playing one, just to throw JSU or Alcorn a bone. After that there are a ton of teams in the area to choose from for non P6 games. Northwestern State, McNeese, SELA, Louisiana, ULM, La Tech. We could dip into the Sun Belt, A-SUN, AAC, and CUSA for plenty of opponents within driving distance of ‘Vegas.