Scheduling Reality

[Bigpetunia]

Like the rest of you, I really looked forward to the Baylor game. I knew we had the better team, and assumed we'd prevail, but just going into a hostile and highly-charged environment against a good team, one with which we've had an exciting recent history, certainly generated real excitement. Among other things, we knew it would be an interesting and sharpening experience for our players. So now that's over and done with...we've taken care of Duke, Stanford, Maryland, etc....that's all over and done with. Between now and March, what do we have left? Rutgers?? Louisville??? I'm not trying to be dismissive of any other teams, but the next six weeks shapes up to be an unending series of "laughers" for a team with such disproportionate talent. Like you, I'm going to watch every one of 'em. And, sure, anything can happen on any given day. But I certainly wish, for fan interest, that we had more Baylor-like experiences to look forward to, and I have to wonder about the degree to which the team risks losing its own edge going into the big tournament without being seriously tested more often. Thoughts?

 

[meyers7]

I was/am more looking forward to Louisville than Baylor. Still don't think Baylor is all that good (outside of Sims). More just a really poor showing by us (along with foul trouble) that made it a closer game.

 

[msf22b]

Agree with Meyers
Lousiville should be interesting
But please…
No more than 3 times, Mr and Ms NCAA

 

[cohenzone]

I think the way the women's game is, almost every other very good team will have a disproportionate number of laughers. The one edge this team doesn't lose is its D which is pretty constant.

 

[DobbsRover2]

SOS and perceptions of the schedules vary widely in different rating indices, and it is the time of year when most of the teams in major conferences see their SOS ratings soar (especially those teams in the ACC, B1G, B12, and SEC who had OOC SOS's rated in the 300s) and the top teams in the other conferences like Middle Tennessee and Dayton that played tough OOC schedules will see their SOS take a bit of a dive.

One top team in a major conference that frequently sees its SOS go downward in the second half of the year is Stanford, which will get hit especially hard this year in a weak PAC-12. In the Massey index, which has the SOS formula best suited to top teams, the Cards will have a much larger drop in SOS going forward than will UConn, though both teams are projected to finish off very well as UConn will just have their SOS drop from 1st to 2nd and Stanford from 3rd to 5th.

The fact is, though many UConn fans would like to see the kind of top-level grit in the remaining schedule that the ACC teams have, those ACC teams have not tested out particularly well against the Huskies this year. UConn will almost certainly face only three more teams rated above the 100th rank for the rest of this year pre-NCAAs, and you cannot find any other team that doesn't have some SOS black holes in their schedule. ND faces 7 games against ranked opponents but still has two turkey-lurkies in Pitt and Wake Forest on the schedule. The SEC teams will get stinkers against Alabama and Mississippi and the B12 teams get KS St. and Texas Tech. The B1G teams have only Illinois as a real drag on SOS, but they also have no teams rated in the top 25. The PAC-12 is just a pit.

So in playing two games against a top 10 team and 8 more of its final 13 regular season games against opponents rated in the 48-94 region of the Massey index, UConn's schedule is not that much of a buzz kill. And even if you hate that slate, remember that there are many other top 50 teams that are worse off, so there's company for the miserable.

 

[UcMiami]

Just as a reality check:
03-04-13 Notre Dame, Ind. (Purcell Pavilion) #2/2 Notre Dame 96, UConn 87 Box score
03-02-13 Sun Dome UConn 85, USF 51 Box score
02-26-13 XL Center (Hartford, Conn.) UConn 76, Pittsburgh 36 Box score
02-23-13 Gampel Pavilion (Storrs, Conn.) UConn 90, Seton Hall 30 Box score
02-18-13 XL Center (Hartford, Conn.) #1/1 Baylor 76, UConn 70 Box score
02-16-12 The RAC - Piscataway, N.J. UConn 65, Rutgers 45 Box score
02-12-13 Providence, R.I. (Alumni Hall) UConn 105, Providence 49 Box score
02-10-13 Gampel Pavilion (Storrs, Conn.) UConn 91, DePaul 44 Box score
02-05-13 Gampel Pavilion (Storrs, Conn.) UConn 94, Marquette 37 Box score
02-02-13 Queens, N.Y. (Carnesecca Arena) UConn 71, St. John's 65 Box score
01-29-13 XL Center (Hartford, Conn.) UConn 76, Villanova 43 Box score
01-26-13 Cincinnati, Ohio (Fifth Third Arena) UConn 67, Cincinnati 31 Box score
01-21-13 Gampel Pavilion (Storrs, Conn.) UConn 79, #4/4 Duke 49 Box score
01-19-13 XL Center (Hartford, Conn.) UConn 87, rv/23 Syracuse 62 Box score
01-15-13 XL Center (Hartford, Conn.) UConn 72, #15/13 Louisville 58 Box score
01-12-13 Al McGuire Center UConn 85, Marquette 51 Box score
01-09-13 Washington, D.C. (McDonough Arena) UConn 75, Georgetown 48 Box score

So with the exception of the timing for the ND game at the start of January vs. both Louisville games being after Feb 1 and with home and home with Rutgers instead of just a single game, and the Baylor game being in Feb instead of in beginning of Jnauary, I do not see a whole lot of difference this year vs. last. As of January tenth last year we had 1 Baylor, 1 ND, 1 Louisville, and 1 Rutgers game remaining. This year we have two Louisville and two Rutgers games remaining. Louisville appears to be better than last year, Rutgers is definitely better than last year. We don't play ND and they appear to be very strong this year, and ESPN put the Baylor game into the January window. I guess I should mention Duke and Syracuse but ... no one expected much from the Syracuse game and Duke sort of rolled over and played dead last year hoping we would forget there was a second half and jump on the bus early.

 

[Bigpetunia]

Thanks for your responses...interesting.
I have to admit that I'm having problems "seeing it" with Louisville. Granted, they are well-coached, and maybe improved over the team we demolished last year, but we are a better team also. I was so saddened to see us lose Kelly to graduation I never thought I'd be saying that, but the emergence of MoJeff's game has clearly made us better...but, frankly, I hope you're right. I think more competitive games helps the team a lot, and generates heightened fan interest as well. I know many people feel differently, but I'd much rather sacrifice an undefeated season on our way to NC#9, and have a more competitive schedule and more nail-biters than to breeze all the way through.

 

[pinotbear]

if you want to schedule reality, an internet sports message board is not the place to start.

At best, you'll be able to arrange a "home-and-home". But check the contract to be sure there's a sanity clause.

 

[Wonkster]

... check the contract to be sure there's a sanity clause.

Too late - Christmas was last month, and Sanity Clause has gone back to the North Pole.