I don't really agree that it's beyond our control. There r varied factors but scheduling is a core part of the job. Working out contracts goes on all the time. That's not a new thing. Every year there are games that almost happended. & most of us r in business. We all know when someone is wishy washy on not signing the deal. Ok it's not easy. and that's what we'll hear. But other similar teams r getting these games. We hear we are "one of the top basketball programs in the nation". should be easier. we hear it's only bottom 150 NET getting P5 road games. not true. We hear of other teams riding a scheduling high off good season. maybe we just f'd up badly this year. But stinks feeling like u have to almost run the table based on our schedule.
Idk if complaceny seeped into scheduling per se or not. I can admit it's possible we just did a poor job. But I do feel like there is a don't rock the boat mentality with Mooney. 1 NCAA going on 14 years I think it's well known. Frankly the 1 year he was truly under pressure he ultimately produced. Gilly went bonkers but whatever it counts. I think if u look at when he's gotten any extension the very next year we didn't do very well. So I don't dismiss complacency either. With all the job security he's had and how our traditional scheduling philosphy hasn't produced enough - I know I know JUST WIN MORE - well that doesn't work either, I think we'd go all out some year at least once. Tho it's been clear for a while it was not this season either.
What I was referencing was beyond our control, is other teams wanting to follow through on the contract. I am sure there is an etiquette to approaching these things but ultimately it takes two to tango and we can’t force others to schedule us if they don’t want to. I know your comment about us running out of fax paper was facetious, but do you think our scheduling staff was sitting around twiddling their thumbs all day the past few months? Unfortunately plans that we thought were set, fell through. Like sman says above, this schedule needs to be an aberration. Please tell me if you disagree, but our prior schedules have been pretty solid for our program. One bad schedule in the last 10-15 years is going to happen, especially now with NET and larger conferences scheduling more conference games. Let’s make sure this is the exception and not the norm. I don’t see how this poor schedule is related to the notion of complacency with our on court performance. Again, other than this year, I believe our OOC schedule has been pretty good regardless on whether we came off a good or not so good year.
To your last point “I know I know JUST WIN MORE - well that doesn't work either, I think we'd go all out some year at least once”.
What would you say about our schedule in 2019-2020 when we played Vanderbilt, Wisconsin, Auburn, Alabama, Boston College or 2009-2010 where we played Mississippi State, Missouri, South Carolina, Florida, Wake Forest or 2010-2011 where we played Purdue, Arizona State, Georgia Tech, Seton Hall, Wake Forest. I would definitely say those years we tried to go all out. Also on years we didn’t go all out we still tried to play against at least 2 power teams. Things didn’t go our way this year, but back to my original statement, which is our staff ought to get the benefit of the doubt this year given a decade plus long history of solid scheduling.
