I have heard a lot of talk on here about how bad our OOC schedule is and how Mooney is only trying to get wins and not worried about the NCAA. I have said that this schedule is not that different from past schedules and our conference games and how good our conference is will end up being the key anyway and are way more important than OOC games.
Let's compare this year's schedule to a few years ago when we ended up being the 1st team left out of the dance. This year will be in order on the left, and I will put the one from a few years ago beside it on the right. This one will be out of order so we can match up the games and see what the difference looks like:
11/9 - Longwood --- Radford
11/14 - St. Francis (NY) --- Howard
11/16 - IUPUI --- IUPUI
11/19 - Loyola Chicago* --- Northern Iowa
11/21 - Boston College/Wyoming* --- NC State
11/25 - Hampton --- Northeastern
11/28 - at Georgetown --- Pepperdine
12/1 - Wake Forest --- Wake
12/5 - Coppin State --- W&M
12/15 - Oral Roberts --- JMU
12/19 - Old Dominion --- ODU
12/22 - High point** --- High Point
12/29 - at South Alabama --- South Alabama
These schedules are very similar. We went 7-6 OOC and 12-6 in the A-10 with the schedule on the right and were the first team left out of the dance. Playing this type of schedule had nothing to do with us not dancing. We had good wins from our A-10 schedule which got us close, and we just needed another win or two. Even at 7-6 OOC with no good OOC wins, just winning our 1st A-10 tourney game might have been enough to get us in. So, the talk about how we need to go 11-2 OOC to even give us a chance for a bid is simply not accurate. We just need to win enough games OOC with this schedule (maybe at least 8?), and then do very well in the A-10, hope our conference has a good year, and get enough quality wins in conference to be in consideration.
Look at it this way: It is more important to go 8-5 OOC and 13-5 IC with a top 4 finish, than 11-2 OOC and 10-8 IC. 10-8 likely puts us behind too many other A-10 teams to even be considered, no matter what we do OOC.
Let's compare this year's schedule to a few years ago when we ended up being the 1st team left out of the dance. This year will be in order on the left, and I will put the one from a few years ago beside it on the right. This one will be out of order so we can match up the games and see what the difference looks like:
11/9 - Longwood --- Radford
11/14 - St. Francis (NY) --- Howard
11/16 - IUPUI --- IUPUI
11/19 - Loyola Chicago* --- Northern Iowa
11/21 - Boston College/Wyoming* --- NC State
11/25 - Hampton --- Northeastern
11/28 - at Georgetown --- Pepperdine
12/1 - Wake Forest --- Wake
12/5 - Coppin State --- W&M
12/15 - Oral Roberts --- JMU
12/19 - Old Dominion --- ODU
12/22 - High point** --- High Point
12/29 - at South Alabama --- South Alabama
These schedules are very similar. We went 7-6 OOC and 12-6 in the A-10 with the schedule on the right and were the first team left out of the dance. Playing this type of schedule had nothing to do with us not dancing. We had good wins from our A-10 schedule which got us close, and we just needed another win or two. Even at 7-6 OOC with no good OOC wins, just winning our 1st A-10 tourney game might have been enough to get us in. So, the talk about how we need to go 11-2 OOC to even give us a chance for a bid is simply not accurate. We just need to win enough games OOC with this schedule (maybe at least 8?), and then do very well in the A-10, hope our conference has a good year, and get enough quality wins in conference to be in consideration.
Look at it this way: It is more important to go 8-5 OOC and 13-5 IC with a top 4 finish, than 11-2 OOC and 10-8 IC. 10-8 likely puts us behind too many other A-10 teams to even be considered, no matter what we do OOC.
