Colorado @ Oregon (2) - 1/03/20

[TheFarmFan]

It's hard for a UConn fan to feel sympathy for PAC12 teams' travel issues. UConn plays 2 conference games in Texas and 2 in Fla. Then there's Tulane & E Carolina. They also play alternating home and home games against Okl & Baylor. The trip to N Dame every other year involves flying through Chicago and busing to S Bend.

UConn is also the premiere team in the nation and I'd bet a pretty penny that Geno's travel budget is at least fives times Kamie Ethridge's - at a minimum, his salary is five times what hers is.

And re: UConn, unless a team fears a blowout loss, there isn't a team in the country that wouldn't find traveling to play UConn at Gampel worth it in terms of publicity, hype, experience, etc. Trust me when I say no one is champing at the bit to get to travel to Pullman, WA.

Sympathy isn't the issue - straightforward time, resource, logistical, and travel constraints are. Unless you want all your high SOS games to be away games, you need to find teams willing to reciprocate and come to you.

 

[bennyskid]

A couple more games against top 40 teams would help them get a better seed and more trips to the S16/E8.

And yet they don't seem to even try. I suppose that that don't think it's a good strategy. Last year they were 28-4, #13 in the RPI and still were only a 5 seed. Maybe they feel that they would be better off being 30-2 even if the RPI isn't any better.

 

[Alydar]

UConn is also the premiere team in the nation and I'd bet a pretty penny that Geno's travel budget is at least fives times Kamie Ethridge's - at a minimum, his salary is five times what hers is.

And re: UConn, unless a team fears a blowout loss, there isn't a team in the country that wouldn't find traveling to play UConn at Gampel worth it in terms of publicity, hype, experience, etc. Trust me when I say no one is champing at the bit to get to travel to Pullman, WA.

Sympathy isn't the issue - straightforward time, resource, logistical, and travel constraints are. Unless you want all your high SOS games to be away games, you need to find teams willing to reciprocate and come to you.

You use Washington for your argument instead of Stanford? Tara used to alternate years playing at Knoxville and at Storrs. It certainly wasn't $$$ that forced her to drop UConn and keep Tenn. And all the reports I read said it was Tara that ended the UConn series. For a team at Cal's level the PAC12 is a brutal schedule but for the elite teams it's less of a challenge. Cal makes it east. Stanford doesn't.

 

[DefenseBB]

Hey @TheFarmFan doesnt Tara usually schedule 2/3 games a year against her former assistants who are now HC at West Coast schools? I am always willing to cut her slack on that as she does have a tremendous coaching tree, one of the best in WCBB. That said, no one is claiming that Tara ever schedules cupcakes, her fellow PAC12 brethren (doesn’t the #12 give a clue about the number of teams?) however, cough, cough, Scott, Adia, JR, certainly could and should put forth a better effort.

 

[Figurehead]

Rueck won't travel this year across the Mississippi river to face stiff competition for some reason. But maybe reciprocating visits is the issue? I believe on Pac-12 travel visiting teams stay in Eugene and bus to Corvallis with the nearest passenger airport in Eugene.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Rueck won't travel this year across the Mississippi river to face stiff competition for some reason. But maybe reciprocating visits is the issue? I believe on Pac-12 travel visiting teams stay in Eugene and bus to Corvallis with the nearest passenger airport in Eugene.

How did Oregon St. get to Miami without crossing the Mississippi River? That must've been quite a geographical feat.

 

[WestCoast]

Rueck won't travel this year across the Mississippi river to face stiff competition for some reason. But maybe reciprocating visits is the issue? I believe on Pac-12 travel visiting teams stay in Eugene and bus to Corvallis with the nearest passenger airport in Eugene.

Isn't Miami east of the Mississippi River? The Beavers played in Miami's two-day tourney in Coral Gables during Thanksgiving. Perhaps you are discounting Miami as quality competition.

 

[Figurehead]

How did Oregon St. get to Miami without crossing the Mississippi River? That must've been quite a geographical feat.

So Now Miami is equal to UCONN ? That is quite the ranking feat. Not to speak on behalf of all UCONN fans but some consider quality competition is anyone in the top 10. Miami is around 23

 

[DaBball]

So Now Miami is equal to UCONN ? That is quite the ranking feat. Not to speak on behalf of all UCONN fans but some consider quality competition is anyone in the top 10. Miami is around 23

Top-10 is typically considered elite competition. Top-25 or so is considered quality. There are far more than 10 quality teams in the country.

 

[Plebe]

So Now Miami is equal to UCONN ? That is quite the ranking feat. Not to speak on behalf of all UCONN fans but some consider quality competition is anyone in the top 10. Miami is around 23

I don't believe Miami is a top 25 team. They barely escaped NC A&T and Wake Forest. The best team they've beaten this year is Washington State.

 

[DaBball]

Didn't Oregon dodge UConn a few years ago when they went to Eugene?

 

[Figurehead]

Yeah they went down to a earlier commitment they had with Stanford instead. You would think Geno could have been kind enough to spent 7 days out on the west coast to play all three.

 

[DaBball]

Yeah they went down to a earlier commitment they had with Stanford instead. You would think Geno could have been kind enough to spent 7 days out on the west coast to play all three.

Or you would have thought Oregon would have scheduled the game against UConn instead of Oklahoma.

 

[Figurehead]

Or you would have thought in 2012 when UCONN was in Eugene OSU would have scheduled UCONN instead of some like Texas Tech. But it is all on Geno for not spending 7 days on the West Coast.

 

[DaBball]

Or you would have thought in 2012 when UCONN was in Eugene OSU would have scheduled UCONN instead of some like Texas Tech. But it is all on Geno for not spending 7 days on the West Coast.

I highly doubt Geno would have had much interest in playing at Oregon State in 2012, when Oregon State was a sub-200 team. UConn was already playing Stanford, so it wouldn't make a whole lot of sense for him to schedule a three-game road trip against two teams that were cupcakes.

I never said anything about Geno not wanting to spend 7 days on the West Coast. In 17-18, he played UCLA, Michigan State (at MKA), and Nevada (Gabby's homecoming game), so he did it then.

I was just curious If Graves ever stated why he chose to play Oklahoma over UConn.

 

[jonson]

I highly doubt Geno would have had much interest in playing at Oregon State in 2012, when Oregon State was a sub-200 team. UConn was already playing Stanford, so it wouldn't make a whole lot of sense for him to schedule a three-game road trip against two teams that were cupcakes.

I never said anything about Geno not wanting to spend 7 days on the West Coast. In 17-18, he played UCLA, Michigan State (at MKA), and Nevada (Gabby's homecoming game), so he did it then.

I was just curious If Graves ever stated why he chose to play Oklahoma over UConn.

I'm a bit confused here, since Graves didn't become the coach at Oregon until 2014. If I remember correctly, the UCONN visit to MKA in 2017 was part of a celebration in honor of Phil Knight (the men's games were in Portland), and I'm not sure how the scheduling worked in that case. And Oregon did have OOC games against Louisville, Mississippi State, and Texas A&M (twice) that season.

 

[DaBball]

I'm a bit confused here, since Graves didn't become the coach at Oregon until 2014. If I remember correctly, the UCONN visit to MKA in 2017 was part of a celebration in honor of Phil Knight (the men's games were in Portland), and I'm not sure how the scheduling worked in that case. And Oregon did have OOC games against Louisville, Mississippi State, and Texas A&M (twice) that season.

Oregon hosted it, so I would believe they dictated who played who (it was only a one day event). Mississippi State, Louisville, and TAMU (2x) is a very tough non-conference schedule for a Pac-12 team.

 

[WestCoast]

I don't believe Miami is a top 25 team. They barely escaped NC A&T and Wake Forest. The best team they've beaten this year is Washington State.

Miami was a Top 25 team when Oregon State beat them by 22 in November on the road. When you accept an invite to play a team and be on their schedule, you do so with some expectation of how strong a team you will be playing. Mompremier and company were ranked in the Top 20. Has Miami underperformed its original ranking this season? Yes. Credit Oregon State for scheduling the game with Miami based upon what was expected of Miami this season.

The two responses to the post about not crossing the Mississippi were factual corrections. There was no intent to imply that scheduling Miami in Coral Gables is equivalent to agreeing to play UConn anywhere.

 

[Plebe]

Miami was a Top 25 team when Oregon State beat them by 22 in November on the road. When you accept an invite to play a team and be on their schedule, you do so with some expectation of how strong a team you will be playing. Mompremier and company were ranked in the Top 20. Has Miami underperformed its original ranking this season? Yes. Credit Oregon State for scheduling the game with Miami based upon what was expected of Miami this season.

The two responses to the post about not crossing the Mississippi were factual corrections. There was no intent to imply that scheduling Miami in Coral Gables is equivalent to agreeing to playing UConn anywhere.

I was only responding to your statement "Miami is around 23." If you're merely stating where the AP poll has them ranked, not sure why you'd use the word "around." My only point was that their actual performance and resume does not support a ranking that high.

I'm sure everyone thought Miami would be better than they have been. But it's not like they were expected to be a top 10 team.

 

[WestCoast]

I was only responding to your statement "Miami is around 23." If you're merely stating where the AP poll has them ranked, not sure why you'd use the word "around." My only point was that their actual performance and resume does not support a ranking that high.

I'm sure everyone thought Miami would be better than they have been. But it's not like they were expected to be a top 10 team.

Plebe,
It was Figurehead who posted above that Miami was 23 or so. Not me... It was the same poster who wrote that Rueck's team wouldn't cross the Mississippi this season with its OOC schedule.

Rueck has been upgrading his program's OOC schedule over the past six seasons with road games against Notre Dame, Tennessee, Miami, and Duke being the more notable challenges. As pointed out previously, Oregon State has not until the latter half of the decade been an attractive destination for Top 10 teams looking to help their RPI. Oregon State is now, so one should expect more quality OOC games as long as Oregon State remains a Top 10 program.

As an Oregon State fan, I would like to see fewer 150+ RPI teams on its OOC schedule as early as next season. Beaver fans recognize that it is difficult to prepare your team for PAC-12 play if your squad's OOC SOS is 50+. This season's OOC schedule is an improvement for Oregon State. We hope that the trend continues.

 

[Figurehead]

I don't believe Miami is a top 25 team. They barely escaped NC A&T and Wake Forest. The best team they've beaten this year is Washington State.

Your are entirely correct. Point well made.

 

[nwhoopfan]

I was merely responding to the claim OSU hadn't crossed the Mississippi. I in no way even slightly compared Miami to UConn. That was a straw man if ever there was one.

 

[TheFarmFan]

I was merely responding to the claim OSU hadn't crossed the Mississippi. I in no way even slightly compared Miami to UConn. That was a straw man if ever there was one.

It’s alright - I think some folks around here are getting testy about the fact that they’re about to play a bunch of forgettable little sisters while the PAC-12 teams are just getting into the meat of their season. UConn has essentially three interesting games remaining until the tournament begins...