The MVC Report - Northern Iowa Panthers preview

[WSUbballer]

nm

[MoValley John]

Hmmm..... Sometimes you can look at an opponent and know they are going to suck and sometimes you can look at another team and know that they are going to be great, most teams you can make a rough guess, but not always end up very accurate. And basing future schedule strength on last year's RPI, well... I guess it works a little, but not all that much.

We will have to wait and see where the schedule strength pans out.

[Khan4Cats]

Average RPI's from last year are about the only way to look at a schedule before the games actually begin unless you use some kind of Jay Bilas "Eye Test" (ie buy into BcS bias bulls**t).

My responses were to the poster who was challenging the original statements (made by MVC fans) that UNI had one of the best schedules and claimed that it defied logic to make that kind of statement, and that UNI's schedule wasn't even close to one of the best. I took an approach that looked at the entire schedule and not just one or two games. I never said UNI's was the absolute best, just showed that it could logically be looked at as one of the best.

I guess using his approach, then any team that has Duke on their non-conference schedule might as well schedule the entire SWAC for the rest of tehir games because that would still be an absolute "top-notch" schedule. He claimed teams had to challenge themselves rather than settle for medicority. So what does a schedule with one possible good game, a couple games of even strength, and several games of well-below challenging games equate to?

I'll say it again. There is not a single Valley schedule that is loaded for an at-large resume unless the team goes undefeated in it. Wichita State might have the sole out if they can beat Colorado and either Maryland or Alabama but lose to Purdue. A win over Purdue would be a big splash, but they have to win first to get there. That win over Virginia last year in Hawaii didn't get them any benefits, nor did the close loss to UConn, especially since they didn't win elsewehere. Creighton, for all the pre-season hype, didn't put anything on the schedule that will jump out come March unless they run the non-con. The other 'single game' stand-outs are pretty much that, single games. Bradley, Evansville, Indiana State all have chances for a single game "wow" but have to run the table in the rest of their schedules AND do well in Valley play to avoid having those looked at momentary blips.

edit-I guess I should give a tip to Missouri State who also could put an impressive non-con schedule of wins if they can knock off Okie State or West Virginia and avoid any embarrassing losses to the lower teams on their schedule. A one or two-loss non con from them should look pretty strong.

[BEARZ77]

Thankyou!! Been waiting for someone to recognize that Missouri State has the kind of noncon that could get an at large if we are reasonably successful with it. We have a pair of quality BCS teams[ OSU/W.Virg] and get them at home and neutral; we play a couple of tough upper level mids on the road[ New Mexico/Nevada] one neutral[ St. Mary's] and one at home [Tulsa], and we play a number of lower mid major conference teams on the road who all should be among the better teams in their conferences[ ORU, ASU, ULAR] so those 7 games given 5 are on the road will all be seen as quality wins and not crippling losses as long as there are only 1-2 of them. We have 3 other games plus a BB that hopefully is a quality home gam; thats 13 games with probably a margin of 2 possibly 3 losses as long as there are some decent scalps among the wins and no bad losses in those other 3 games.

That said, I think most MSU fans believe the schedule will have a few too many losses while getting a very deep and talented but pretty inexperienced team ready for a solid run in Valley play. It's pretty hard to play that many decent teams on their home courts early in the year with a new coach and 7 new players and be ready from the get go.

[panther-state]

Did that argument just happen.... How incredibly stupid

[WSUbballer]

Did that argument just happen.... How incredibly stupid

How so? In what way? Because we had a healthy discussion somewhat on topic on a discussion board?

Thanks for adding such detailed insight to the convo.

[panther-state]

Did that argument just happen.... How incredibly stupid

How so? In what way? Because we had a healthy discussion somewhat on topic on a discussion board?

Thanks for adding such detailed insight to the convo.

Because we speculated about speculation and argued just because someone got butt hurt that WSU wasn't picked as having the toughest schedule. I don't think there was much "healthy discussion" as there was one person ironically smearing logic by saying something defied logic and then continued to do so and rip MVCFans and others when presented with facts because it didn't prove his point. And his point I still don't understand
Geez some of you take everything so personal. Its like you have 2 fingers stuck up one orifice and 1 up another on anything that doesn't crown you #1

Thanks for adding to the convo by being a condescending arse

[valleychamp]

good god, please shut up...