Baylor vs Okie Lite

[HoopsFan21]

Why the steady drumbeat about how bad the strength of schedule is for Baylor?

There strength of schedule is ranked 10th in the country. That means only nine teams are better. Mississippi State is one of those teams that doesn't have a better strength of schedule yet the next time I see someone whining about Mississippi State strength the schedule will be the first.

Baylor still has a top 10 team left on it schedule not yet included in the strength of schedule. Mississippi State's best remaining opponent is Texas A&M ranked 22.

How many Mississippi State fans come here to make fun of our AAC opponents that we are forced to play?

 

[DallasBUFan]

UConn just played back to back home games for the first time in 3 months. And UConn won't play back to back games in Storrs at all this season. I'm waiting for Baylor to do something equally as challenging with their schedule other than staying in Waco and hiding from UConn.

BU doesn't just have to play UConn to do something challenging. Yes this year our Schedule hasn't turned out to be the best. BU may play the same top 10 team 3 times before the tourney Along with OKST being ranked both times and WVU & TCU keep bouncing from top 20-30. They play all these teams twice and maybe 3 times. Yall have to do difficult OOC schedules and schedule it throughout your conference as well. Your conference doesn't help you at all. You talk about ours schedule but who all has Miss State played in their OOC? Ohhh thats right the little OKST team yall are discrediting nearly beat them! They only beat them by 3 in Mississippi! Yet, BU beat that team at home by 13 and on the road by 40 plus, yet you still discredit the victory. They have played what were 5 ranked games in a row.

Don't worry BU will be playing UConn next year so you get your wish.

 

[Phil]

I know you’re not going to agree with me, but after Baylor & TX, the Big12 is not a very strong conference. The SEC, ACC & PAC12 will all send more teams to the NCAA tournament than the Big12, which may not even surpass the number of teams from the BIG.

First, it is silly to look at raw counts of teams going to the tournament. The Big12, despite its name, has only ten teams. The SEC has 14 and the ACC has 15 teams.

On a percentage basis, if Creme is right, then the other three conferences do have a larger percentage, but the margin baroows considerably.

Plus, it is well-known that the NCAA loves the SEC - they invariably get teams in that fall on their face, so I wouldn't assess the SEC strength on the basis of the NCAA love.

Creme only has four teams from the B12 going.

TCU, who has been getting votes in the top 25, isn't one of them. How many times are there teams getting multiple votes in the polls and don't make it to the tournament? And Oklahoma, has a higher rating than TCU.

I suggest that a better measure of conference strength is the number of teams in the top 50. A nice round number, and includes the NCAA field, plus a few bubble teams.

Six of ten B12 teams are in the top 50. That's 60%

The SEC has 7 but with 14 teams, that means they are well behind at 50%

The ACC is slightly better, with 8 of their team in the top 50. 8 out of 15 is 53%. Better than the SEC, but not in B12 territory.

The B10, which you didn't even mention, has 8 of their 14 teams in the top 50 for 57%. They aren't so well represented at the very top, but this metric has them better than the SEC or ACC.

The PAC 12 has 7 teams in the top 50, but with only 12 teams in the confernce, this works out to be a more respectable 58%

Which means based upon this plausible metric, the B12 is stronger than the B10, ACC, SEC or PAC12.

 

[Sluconn Husky]

TCU, which was recently ranked, is about to lose at home to 10-14 Iowa State.

 

[skilz]

Baylor OCC schedule will be much better next year. They have UConn at home and Stanford away. They will also have the Big 12/SEC challenge away, which could be a tough game.

 

[happymonsters]

Baylor OCC schedule will be much better next year. They have UConn at home and Stanford away. They will also have the Big 12/SEC challenge away, which could be a tough game.

Mulkey knows she has almost everyone coming back.

 

[easttexastrash]

Mulkey knows she has almost everyone coming back.

I don't care about the SOS at this point since all of the creampuffs have been consumed. Just bring on Texas on Monday and probably Texas again in the Big 12 tourney. Playing them twice should be very helpful in preparing for the Big Dance. There are some good middling teams in the Big 12 will have a lot to lay for and will give Baylor and Texas all they can handle. It won't be easy getting to the Big 12 final.

 

[bballnut90]

Chiming in late but a few thoughts/rants:


1. Anyone not named UCONN who has the mentality of "championship or bust" must be incredibly disappointed in their program's performance the past 15 years. For everyone else, Final Fours ABSOLUTELY are celebrated. If Baylor finishes the year 36-2 and loses in the semifinals, I bet every single Baylor player and coach will feel a huge amount of pride for their season's outcome. Just like how anyone who makes the Final Four should feel a lot of pride. Even UCONN fans last year and in 2012 and 2011 were by and large very proud of their team and its accomplishments despite not bringing home a natty.

2. This argument has been hashed out several times on the board regarding would you rather have Kim's resume of 2 titles but several early exits with Final Four/Championship caliber teams or Tara/Muffett's resume of no titles in the last 15 years but a slew of Final Four and title game appearances. All are great coaches and have had their successes and shortcomings well documented. Most Baylor fans understandably think Kim's resume is stronger, while myself and many others think Tara/Muffett have better resumes. It's a difference of opinion, but for someone to say one of those 3 shouldn't be in the "same breath" as the other two is laughable and reeks of extreme bias.

3. I don't follow the Massey/Sagarin ratings or any of that, I've always felt top 25 ranking and eye test is usually a best "feel" for where a team stands at the end of the regular season. Baylor will likely finish the regular season ranked in the top 4 and have a resume including wins over Stanford and 2 (or 3) wins against Texas. From the games I've seen, Baylor also passes the top 4 eye test. No bad losses, just the UCLA one without Cox or Mulkey. Is that enough for a #1 seed? I think it is. Especially when you consider Louisville or Notre Dame will have 3+ losses entering the tournament and that Baylor has looked dominant in all of their big wins this year. If the top 5 teams win out, I think top seeds should go to UCONN, Mississippi State, ND/Louisville winner, and Baylor. Baylor gets the loser of ND/Louisville as their 2 seed.

4. The Big 12 is not good this year outside of Texas and Baylor. Oklahoma State has had some good showings (competitive games against Texas, Mississippi State and Tennessee), but after that you have:
-Oklahoma who might not make the tournament (13-12 record)
-West Virginia who had 1 good out of conference win (@ Texas A&M) but is 7-7 in conference play and hasn't been competitive besides one game against Baylor
-TCU who has 1 win against Texas and a bunch of cream puff games besides playing Oklahoma, Ok St, and West Virginia.

Everyone else in the conference is 5-9 or worse.

The SEC/ACC/Pac all have 4-5 good teams in their conference while the Big 12 has just 2....maybe 3 if you stretch it. The Big Ten is quite bad this year. My point with this is, I don't really care if a team can do well against a conference schedule that has several teams in the 30-50 range, I want to see how they do against the big dogs, aka top 10-15 teams. In those games Baylor has done quite well. Use that as an argument rather than building up a weak Big 12 based off a random rating system.

5. Which brings me to my next argument/pet peeve. If your SOS isn't good, just own it. I don't think many UCONN fans here have really defended the AAC or argued the conference "isn't that bad." It's consistently a bad conference outside of maybe South Florida, and UCONN fans own it. Baylor's schedule this year is weak. Mississippi State's OOC schedule is also weak. Much of Tennessee's OOC schedule was weak this year. Having a weak schedule doesn't make your program worse, but it makes you look silly as a poster if you're defending it.

Rant over.

 

[HuskyNan]

Top Programs (IMO)
Going off memory, so if I am wrong sorry
NC's
Muffet- 1
Tara - 1
Brenda - 1
Dawn- 1
Geno- A lot
Kim - 2

All in all would I like to have been in FF more? Yes, however if we would have gone to last 3-4 in a row and lost I would feel the same way I feel about losing in elite eight.

You forgot Sylvia Hatchell who has 1 NCAA title, 1 NAIA title, and 1 AIAW title.

 

[easttexastrash]

Chiming in late but a few thoughts/rants:


1. Anyone not named UCONN who has the mentality of "championship or bust" must be incredibly disappointed in their program's performance the past 15 years. For everyone else, Final Fours ABSOLUTELY are celebrated. If Baylor finishes the year 36-2 and loses in the semifinals, I bet every single Baylor player and coach will feel a huge amount of pride for their season's outcome. Just like how anyone who makes the Final Four should feel a lot of pride. Even UCONN fans last year and in 2012 and 2011 were by and large very proud of their team and its accomplishments despite not bringing home a natty.

2. This argument has been hashed out several times on the board regarding would you rather have Kim's resume of 2 titles but several early exits with Final Four/Championship caliber teams or Tara/Muffett's resume of no titles in the last 15 years but a slew of Final Four and title game appearances. All are great coaches and have had their successes and shortcomings well documented. Most Baylor fans understandably think Kim's resume is stronger, while myself and many others think Tara/Muffett have better resumes. It's a difference of opinion, but for someone to say one of those 3 shouldn't be in the "same breath" as the other two is laughable and reeks of extreme bias.

3. I don't follow the Massey/Sagarin ratings or any of that, I've always felt top 25 ranking and eye test is usually a best "feel" for where a team stands at the end of the regular season. Baylor will likely finish the regular season ranked in the top 4 and have a resume including wins over Stanford and 2 (or 3) wins against Texas. From the games I've seen, Baylor also passes the top 4 eye test. No bad losses, just the UCLA one without Cox or Mulkey. Is that enough for a #1 seed? I think it is. Especially when you consider Louisville or Notre Dame will have 3+ losses entering the tournament and that Baylor has looked dominant in all of their big wins this year. If the top 5 teams win out, I think top seeds should go to UCONN, Mississippi State, ND/Louisville winner, and Baylor. Baylor gets the loser of ND/Louisville as their 2 seed.

4. The Big 12 is not good this year outside of Texas and Baylor. Oklahoma State has had some good showings (competitive games against Texas, Mississippi State and Tennessee), but after that you have:
-Oklahoma who might not make the tournament (13-12 record)
-West Virginia who had 1 good out of conference win (@ Texas A&M) but is 7-7 in conference play and hasn't been competitive besides one game against Baylor
-TCU who has 1 win against Texas and a bunch of cream puff games besides playing Oklahoma, Ok St, and West Virginia.

Everyone else in the conference is 5-9 or worse.

The SEC/ACC/Pac all have 4-5 good teams in their conference while the Big 12 has just 2....maybe 3 if you stretch it. The Big Ten is quite bad this year. My point with this is, I don't really care if a team can do well against a conference schedule that has several teams in the 30-50 range, I want to see how they do against the big dogs, aka top 10-15 teams. In those games Baylor has done quite well. Use that as an argument rather than building up a weak Big 12 based off a random rating system.

5. Which brings me to my next argument/pet peeve. If your SOS isn't good, just own it. I don't think many UCONN fans here have really defended the AAC or argued the conference "isn't that bad." It's consistently a bad conference outside of maybe South Florida, and UCONN fans own it. Baylor's schedule this year is weak. Mississippi State's OOC schedule is also weak. Much of Tennessee's OOC schedule was weak this year. Having a weak schedule doesn't make your program worse, but it makes you look silly as a poster if you're defending it.

Rant over.

I think you underestimate the desire of Baylor to win a championship. I guarantee you that there are two seniors on the Baylor squad who will not be elated just to make a FF and lose. They will be deeply disappointed that they did not win a championship. And Mulkey is not the type to lose and be content. She has won at every level and she burns for another title.

As for "owing" the weak OOC schedule, I have never not owned it. I realize what the OOC schedule was, but I also recognize that the OOC schedule is ancient history at this point now that conference play is almost over. I TRULY hope that Baylor gets a 2 seed. I want this team to go into the tourney with a chip on their should and pull off the feat that the 2005 team did, by beating 3 number 1 seeds.