Week 6 Dec 11 to Dec 17, 2023

[nwhoopfan]

Not much on tap today, but might as well start a new thread.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Poor Chicago St. It's like watching a train wreck. I keep hoping they can get 1 W. Today against Georgia Southern...they got routed 111-67. 0-16 on the year.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Princeton and Nova going at it currently.

 

[JellyBean]

I will be watching this epic Boise State/Rocky Mountain College rivalry in about an hour. I am not use to these early games during normal school days. Jeez. I saw that Maryland had an early game as well.

 

[BRS24]

Top 25 weekend games, starting tonight:

 

[LETTERL]

NC State's first true road test comes Saturday night against South Florida. These teams have enjoyed a nice series over the last few years, all NC State wins but a battle each time, including a meeting in the NCAAT. I was sort of disappointed to hear Sammie Puisis is out for the season because South Florida really needs her outside shooting. Jose always has a solid team but, like UCONN, injuries have hampered them this year. They'll be up for NC State, no doubt...and hoping to hang an L on the Wolfpack Women.

For NC State...I'm hoping Saniya Rivers is back; she didn't play Sunday against Liberty. If she cannot go, and so far nothing has says she'll have to sit out against South Florida, it will be an even sterner test, but a good adversity check early in the season.

 

[visitingcock]

I see a lot of Top 25 games.

But I only see two Top 25 “ matchups.”

 

[Vowelguy]

Hard to keep track of the week numbers, at least for me.
Might I suggest future thread titles in this series include dates?
Just a thought.

 

[Vowelguy]

The Buckeyes are playing Grand Valley St — a NON D1 team ?????

Unless there’s a really really really good reason ….
Disgraceful.

 

[BRS24]

I see a lot of Top 25 games.

But I only see two Top 25 “ matchups.”

Fixed it.

 

[nwhoopfan]

The Buckeyes are playing Grand Valley St — a NON D1 team ?????

Unless there’s a really really really good reason ….
Disgraceful.

Plenty of teams do it, but usually earlier in the season and not right before everybody gets into conference play.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Hard to keep track of the week numbers, at least for me.
Might I suggest future thread titles in this series include dates?
Just a thought.

That's a good idea. I've been starting the new week on Mondays rather than Sundays, so it doesn't split the weekend up.

 

[Plebe]

My casual and wholly unscientific observation is that games against non-D1 opponents are a growing trend. Part of a generalized "race to the bottom" in scheduling, which few teams are the exception to.

Especially among the so-called "power" conference teams, the ratio of creampuffs to interesting games is staggering.

 

[Vowelguy]

Plenty of teams do it,

Not major programs.

I don’t mind when below mid major teams do it. Sure, get a win, it’s fine. But no P5, especially a ranked one, should ever be scheduling out of D1.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Not major programs.

I don’t mind when below mid major teams do it. Sure, get a win, it’s fine. But no P5, especially a ranked one, should ever be scheduling out of D1.

Is there any real difference between the bottom feeders of D1 and non D1 programs? I'd think not. In fact I'd bet you could find quite a few D2 schools that could beat Chicago St. as an example. To be clear I'm not a fan of "buy" games. I don't think it benefits the P5 team at all beating up on a patsy by 50 or more points. You don't learn anything about your team and that kind of game doesn't help your team improve. But as long as the practice continues (and it is widespread), there's really no appreciable difference between scheduling a team that is 300 or lower in the NET and a non D1 school.

 

[Zarathustra]

Poor Chicago St. It's like watching a train wreck. I keep hoping they can get 1 W. Today against Georgia Southern...they got routed 111-67. 0-16 on the year.

But Chicago State did come close to winning once. They lost a Double or was it TRIPLE overtime ??? game earlier this year. OUCH!

 

[Plebe]

To be fair, Grand Valley State is one of the top teams in Division II, and therefore better than quite a few D-I teams.

 

[nwhoopfan]

In fact it's smarter to schedule a non D1 than a truly terrible D1 team. If they aren't in D1, the game can't be used in calculating NET or RPI or whatever, so you don't take the hit for playing a weak team.

 

[nwhoopfan]

But Chicago State did come close to winning once. They lost a Double or was it TRIPLE overtime ??? game earlier this year. OUCH!

Yeah that was a heartbreaker for them.

 

[Bjbod]

Cleveland State vs Iowa in Des Moines on Saturday. May seem like a head-scratcher at 1st glance, but Cleveland State won 30 games last year and made the tournament.

Interesting that this is a doubleheader with the Iowa men. What's more interesting is that the womens' game is being billed as the marquee matchup...men play at 3:30, women at 6PM.

Playing at Wells Fargo Arena in Caitlin's hometown. 14,000+ seat sellout in 90 minutes back in May.

 

[Vowelguy]

In fact it's smarter to schedule a non D1 than a truly terrible D1 team. If they aren't in D1, the game can't be used in calculating NET or RPI or whatever, so you don't take the hit for playing a weak team.

Interesting point.

Though since the NET is measuring things like offense/defense efficiency, you -in theory- might not take the rating hit that you would under the RPI, depending on how you play.

 

[visitingcock]

Not major programs.

I don’t mind when below mid major teams do it. Sure, get a win, it’s fine. But no P5, especially a ranked one, should ever be scheduling out of D1.

Agreed. In fact, pre-season Quad one teams should never schedule teams that are expected to be Quad Fours.

Of course, pre-conference scheduling can be tricky. SCar fans expected previous handshake deals to have us playing Stanford and UCLA this year . They both backed out perhaps for legit reasons. UCLA was early. Stanford was late. They were replaced with P-4s. Frown. But little else was available.

Also, we have political pressure to play at least one small in state school per year. Hence a Presbyterian College. Also, Dawn chooses to play a HBCU every year

Still, Quad 4s should be avoided where possible. Ute Quad 3. I have no problem with Quad 1 bs Quad 2 at all. Those quad rankings can reverse by year end.

100-45 scores are really, just not “sports.”

 

[jake0414]

Agreed. In fact, pre-season Quad one teams should never schedule teams that are expected to be Quad Fours.

Of course, pre-conference scheduling can be tricky. SCar fans expected previous handshake deals to have us playing Stanford and UCLA this year . They both backed out perhaps for legit reasons. UCLA was early. Stanford was late. They were replaced with P-4s. Frown. But little else was available.

Also, we have political pressure to play at least one small in state school per year. Hence a Presbyterian College. Also, Dawn chooses to play a HBCU every year

Still, Quad 4s should be avoided where possible. Ute Quad 3. I have no problem with Quad 1 bs Quad 2 at all. Those quad rankings can reverse by year end.

100-45 scores are really, just not “sports.”

Correction to your assertion. UCLA did not back out of a game with South Carolina this season. Dawn Staley asked Cori Close last year to postpone the SC @ UCLA game from the 23-24 season to next season so the Gamecocks can combine its road games with the Bruins and Stanford into a single trip. Close willingly agreed as a favor to Dawn.

I don’t know the circumstances around Stanford not playing the Gamecocks in Columbia this season. Unfortunate as it would have been a great game seeing Cardoso and Brink playing one another. I hope it doesn’t lead to SC not playing in Pauley next year. We Bruin fans look forward to seeing Dawn and the Gamecocks play in person.

 

[visitingcock]

Correction to your assertion. UCLA did not back out of a game with South Carolina this season. Dawn Staley asked Cori Close last year to postpone the SC @ UCLA game from the 23-24 season to next season so the Gamecocks can combine its road games with the Bruins and Stanford into a single trip. Close willingly agreed as a favor to Dawn.

I don’t know the circumstances around Stanford not playing the Gamecocks in Columbia this season. Unfortunate as it would have been a great game seeing Cardoso and Brink playing one another. I hope it doesn’t lead to SC not playing in Pauley next year. We Bruin fans look forward to seeing Dawn and the Gamecocks play in person.

Okay. Do you think we’ll play next year?

I think the Stanford vs SCar series has ended. They will be flying through ATLANTA/ CHARLOTTE a lot in the future. I don’t see them wanting any more games in this region.

I CAN see y’all wanting a bi-annual game in the SE region in the future. ESPN/ABC at our place. FOX /FSN at yours. No more PACN!

 

[Vowelguy]

Okay. Do you think we’ll play next year?

I think the Stanford vs SCar series has ended. They will be flying through ATLANTA/ CHARLOTTE a lot in the future. I don’t see them wanting any more games in this region.

I CAN see y’all wanting a bi-annual game in the SE region in the future. ESPN/ABC at our place. FOX /FSN at yours. No more PACN!

Yeah I don’t see Stanford playing many eastern non-conference games anymore, except doing a 2-fer when they play at TN.

And now they can get quality non-conference matchups against the former P12 teams.