Add on to my post above:

What UD did last year was find the teams in those bigger conferences who had inflated NET rankings but weren't actually as good as their numbers - they had been bloated just by playing/losing to the better teams in their leagues - and most importantly, UD beat all those teams. LSU, St. John's, SMU, Cincinnati. They also got to the finals of their MTE and got to play #1 Houston - and we saw firsthand the rising tide effect it had for UD too. Their SOS was very high, they could afford 4 A10 road losses and never sweat a bid loss.

First you actually have to schedule all those OOC games though. And get in an MTE worth a damn. Baby steps.

UR Fan 2 said:

Didn't the Big 12 show last year that the way to a record number of NCAA tourney bids was to "blow out" Quad 4 teams in the Non Con and then be competitive in conference?

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this only works if you have something like three top 10 NET teams to lift the entire tide of teams for the conference season. yes, they all show up to conference play with 11-13 wins, so no loss is "bad" but it's those absolutely top tier quad 1A games that teams like Cincinnati, WVa or the like get in the B12 get 4-6 times in the conf. play that A10 teams do not. They get 4-6 chances at signature wins. If they go 2-4 against Kansas, Baylor and Houston (and now add Arizona to the mix!) they have big wins on their resume. A10 cannot match that. Plus their losses are all against top 100 teams, so the sting of them is diminished. Whereas in the A10 you lose at LaSalle and you're toast.

We got one great game in A10 play last year and it was at home, diminishing its impact. (also didn't help UR in that UD lost every top tier A10 road game.)

whether the weak OOC schedule works or not, we'll never know what would have happened with a better OOC. could result in a better season or worse.

most of this non-conference schedule is boring. best we can do is hold serve. we either win easily or we played down. it's not fun and as a fan I want to have fun cheering this team.

so I'll hope for the best and look forward to January when our real season starts. but I want UR hoops to hear our voice that we want more from our schedule.

Didn't the Big 12 show last year that the way to a record number of NCAA tourney bids was to "blow out" Quad 4 teams in the Non Con and then be competitive in conference?

I have been trying to compartmentalize this and not worry about this scheduling, but now that the season is upon us, this is a bit of drag on the excitement and possibilities for the team.

I get it, it is hard to schedule for mid majors. But we see VCU , SDSU, St. Mary's etc getting games.

This again leads me to believe either:
A) Some folks on our staff dropped the ball and did not do their due dilligence to get this done. Perfect example is that VCU is announcing high level MTE's for NEXT YEAR. WTF. We can't keep saying it is hard. We need to be looking a year ahead, and doing whatever we can to secure games.
B) Mooney is not doing enough. I hear Dutcher talk about talking to other head coaches at Gonzaga, etc. He is pulling strings and applying pressure to his coaching buddies to get this done. And yes, they are now thought of a valuable opponent, but he did this too when he missed the NCAA in his first year and there was a lot of doubt around the program. Mooney needs to do more.
C) The aw shucks we are doing the best we can attitude permeates. Run this damn thing like a major hoops program, and maybe you will be amazed at what happens.

Stepping back off the soap box.

thinking about it though ... while unlikely a low seed goes on a run, it's really not in a kid's best interest to potentially ask him to play 7 nights in a row. that's not healthy.

Spiders4ever said:

It's quite an accomplishment to get 2 D2 teams on the OOC schedule.

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one of which is our season opener! (two days after the rest of the country has already had their season opener)

Thanks for the prologue.

It's quite an accomplishment to get 2 D2 teams on the OOC schedule.

Visually dope as well.

urfan1 said:

not see such a video, if it exists is it fake

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Here is our leader of the Free World.

Richmond over Marquette 12-9
Richmond over Loyola 19-6

Great to see us do well on the face off. We went 21-28 against Loyola and 17-26 against Marquette

yeah, that's kinda crazy ... but kinda awesome. makes every conference game super important.

SFspidur said:

The host responsibilities are pretty minimal when you consider they only have to "share" them.

"There are no location restrictions associated with hosting an MTE. Therefore, the non-Division I school may host the MTE at their school or at another site (e.g., neutral site, another school’s facility). The non-Division I school that will be hosting the event must ensure the school is handling or sharing the responsibilities associated with hosting the event (e.g., contracts, game guarantees, setting up officials), liability and other operational duties."

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TY for the refresh. As Meatloaf told me 2 out of 3 ain’t bad.

So no on venue, yes on the rest.

Florida Tech just joined last minute. They r doing us a favor to even have a “tournament”. U think they r handling or sharing anything? I can assure u they are not.

Ncaa rules!!

There r no rules. We should try playing with 6 men like Mooney did that one vcu game. It might work.

Section9.RowD said:

Think he's been off the payroll since pre-Covid right?

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I guess I should have used /s

Which I learned from this board!

Re: Lunardi tho that’s speculation not fact

We made such a big deal out of hiring him so why did we fire him.

SFspidur said:

That's kind of insane...stretching the whole thing out over a week. But man, really tilts thing in favor of the top regular season teams. Need 7 wins in 7 days to take the championship if you're a bottom 4 seed.

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I like the value of the top seeds. The further down, the more games you ought to play, kudos to the Sunbelt!

That's kind of insane...stretching the whole thing out over a week. But man, really tilts thing in favor of the top regular season teams. Need 7 wins in 7 days to take the championship if you're a bottom 4 seed.

97spiderfan said:

Loser's make excuses for things not happening, winners just make it happen. VCU and Dayton are both playing in really nice MTE's because their coaching staff and athletic administration get it done.

And yes their should be some accountability at the RC for this debacle, but their won't be their never is, and so long as their never is accountability, we should expect and anticipate more things like this. Everyone involved with making our schedule should be embarrassed about this, I wonder if anyone is.

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yeah don't disagree - questioning my sanity a bit about already having bought Delta tickets to Ft Myers back in September ...

Section9.RowD said:

Best news of the day - really missed this part of the 2nd half experience last season.

BUFFALO WILD WINGS FOWL SHOTS
At men's basketball games, when the visiting team misses two consecutive free throws in the second half, the entire arena will win FREE 6 boneless wings!

What's Happening at the Robins Center This Season - University of Richmond Athletics

Spider Basketball returns to the Robins Center next week, and Richmond Athletics is excited to welcome fans back to one of the best college basketball arenas in

richmondspiders.com

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Solid. The wawa coupons last year were for the breakfast sandwiches that sit under the heat lamp only. You have to a brave and hungry soul to eat those.

Section9.RowD said:

Agree the schedule is big time disappointing ... but I do think based on hearing comments from Coach and seeing the problems many other A10 teams are having to schedule, it's just harder and harder to get quality games. Regardless, in future years, non conference schedules have to be better than this for sure.

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Loser's make excuses for things not happening, winners just make it happen. VCU and Dayton are both playing in really nice MTE's because their coaching staff and athletic administration get it done.

And yes their should be some accountability at the RC for this debacle, but their won't be their never is, and so long as their never is accountability, we should expect and anticipate more things like this. Everyone involved with making our schedule should be embarrassed about this, I wonder if anyone is.

Sunbelt new conference tourney format ..

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