How to improve the MVC?

[BCPanther]

It won't. If you go on the road and beat big time teams, why on earth would they come to your building when they hold all the power and all the cards.

It's a minor freaking miracle that UNI got Xavier to come to Cedar Falls next year. Those games aren't happening and the best strategy is to make sure you play in a good MTE. Take a buy game on the road against a P6. Try to find as many home/homes with like minded mid-majors as you can and then be smart about the games you buy, make your cupcakes 175-225 and not 300+.

We don't need to throw the baby out with the bath water and to your attendance point, even if you take out Wichita, the Valley is 10th in attendance. We do just fine there.

[pafan]

Gotta schedule better, sure, but accumulating *smart* buy games is a big part of that. Regardless of what Chauncey AcesFan might argue, it's not that difficult to avoid scheduling the 300+ RPI grenades on a regular basis, which act as poison pills for the simple results-based metrics.

Right. It is beyond me why Marty doesn't schedule more regional teams.
If you draw a 250 mile radius circle around Evansville, there are a lot of D1 schools to pick from that aren't in the Valley, or in a power conference. Your Miami (OH), IPFW, Eastern Illinois, MTSU, Memphis, Western Kentucky, you name it. Any of these would be preferable to a SWAC team.

[TheAsianSensation]

The SWAC almost annually has one of the toughest non-con schedules in the country as a whole. Let's be more like them!

If there's a scheduling policy, it should be one that bans games against the SWAC, MEAC, and the bottom 5 or so conferences in the country. Southland, NEC, maybe the A-Sun and Big Sky should be in there too. And honestly, if we poach Belmont and Murray, we should maybe ban the OVC too.

Games against quality teams help. But if you study non-con SoS and at-large bids, the end result is that bad teams hurt more than good teams help. You can schedule 5 Top 25 teams...and still have your SoS undone by cupcakes. But if you avoid cupcakes, you will have a good SoS, with a chance at a great SoS with the Top 25 teams added in.

Games against D2 teams are necessities to avoid these cupcakes. It's pure RPI manipulation, but it has to be done. We're already going to have to absorb occasional cupcakes when we play MTTs, so if you have to play a D2, so be it.

It's also pretty important not to kill your own record. If you go 2-9 in the non-con, that's a direct hit everyone else in the conference takes to their own SoS during conference play. But if you need to schedule wins, find RPI 250 teams. Not RPI 350 teams. They're just about as easy to beat, but not nearly as harmful. There's not much difference in talent between RPI 225 and RPI 325, but the impact on the RPI and the math is significant.

And finally, incremental change is okay. We don't need drastic changes. If everyone erases one 250+ cupcakes with a RPI 150 team, that makes a bigger difference than you think.

[uniftw]

The SWAC almost annually has one of the toughest non-con schedules in the country as a whole. Let's be more like them!

If there's a scheduling policy, it should be one that bans games against the SWAC, MEAC, and the bottom 5 or so conferences in the country. Southland, NEC, maybe the A-Sun and Big Sky should be in there too. And honestly, if we poach Belmont and Murray, we should maybe ban the OVC too.

Games against quality teams help. But if you study non-con SoS and at-large bids, the end result is that bad teams hurt more than good teams help. You can schedule 5 Top 25 teams...and still have your SoS undone by cupcakes. But if you avoid cupcakes, you will have a good SoS, with a chance at a great SoS with the Top 25 teams added in.

Games against D2 teams are necessities to avoid these cupcakes. It's pure RPI manipulation, but it has to be done. We're already going to have to absorb occasional cupcakes when we play MTTs, so if you have to play a D2, so be it.

It's also pretty important not to kill your own record. If you go 2-9 in the non-con, that's a direct hit everyone else in the conference takes to their own SoS during conference play. But if you need to schedule wins, find RPI 250 teams. Not RPI 350 teams. They're just about as easy to beat, but not nearly as harmful. There's not much difference in talent between RPI 225 and RPI 325, but the impact on the RPI and the math is significant.

And finally, incremental change is okay. We don't need drastic changes. If everyone erases one 250+ cupcakes with a RPI 150 team, that makes a bigger difference than you think.

BINGO.

I've repetedly said that one of the biggest differences between 2007 and 2017 in MVC RPIs is that the scheduling mandate went away. This allowed the bottom teams to schedule like s***. This mean their RPIs were killed, which killed everyones RPIs. This league went from 9 teams in the top 200 to 5 teams worse than 240. It's not that the bottom teams are that much worse. It's that the league has allowed them to schedule in a way to crush RPI.

[ptownbraves]

Aside from scheduling which has already been discussed, negotiating a better TV deal that would give some national exposure to the conference and put more money in schools' pockets to reinvest in their programs. I'm sure easier said than done, but you see the TV revenue these bigger conferences are bringing in and it's a huge advantage.

[BirdsEyeView]

It's funny when someone provides a suggestion and asks for opinions. Then gets upset when his own opinion does not get support from others.


We do need to upgrade the conference and having a scheduling mandate is the best way to do that again. It has a proven track record and for who knows why, it got taken away.

Simply said, bring that mandate back.

[Jsnhbe1Birds]

Aside from scheduling which has already been discussed, negotiating a better TV deal that would give some national exposure to the conference and put more money in schools' pockets to reinvest in their programs. I'm sure easier said than done, but you see the TV revenue these bigger conferences are bringing in and it's a huge advantage.

100% correct. A TV would be huge for the MVC. But, why would anyone give a good TV deal to the MVC? You have to better the conference all the way around. How do you suppose we go about playing games people want to see? The conference has to do something o better itself first. We're at one and everyone wants to go directly to 10 (or stay at 1 in some cases). The MVC will have to take some uncomfortable steps up the ladder before they get to 10 and will have to make sacrifices.

[Jsnhbe1Birds]

It's funny when someone provides a suggestion and asks for opinions. Then gets upset when his own opinion does not get support from others.


We do need to upgrade the conference and having a scheduling mandate is the best way to do that again. It has a proven track record and for who knows why, it got taken away.

Simply said, bring that mandate back.

Isn't this what I suggested in the original post? Maybe the mandate would be different but a mandate nonetheless.

[BirdsEyeView]

It's funny when someone provides a suggestion and asks for opinions. Then gets upset when his own opinion does not get support from others.


We do need to upgrade the conference and having a scheduling mandate is the best way to do that again. It has a proven track record and for who knows why, it got taken away.

Simply said, bring that mandate back.

Isn't this what I suggested in the original post? Maybe the mandate would be different but a mandate nonetheless.

In a roundabout way. Telling teams to go play 8+ buy games is not feasible in this league. I understand your premise and your thought process (to enhance at large chances), but we just need to schedule zero cupcakes and do 1-2 buy games and play in those noncon tourneys with p5 schools.

[ptownbraves]

Aside from scheduling which has already been discussed, negotiating a better TV deal that would give some national exposure to the conference and put more money in schools' pockets to reinvest in their programs. I'm sure easier said than done, but you see the TV revenue these bigger conferences are bringing in and it's a huge advantage.

100% correct. A TV would be huge for the MVC. But, why would anyone give a good TV deal to the MVC? You have to better the conference all the way around. How do you suppose we go about playing games people want to see? The conference has to do something o better itself first. We're at one and everyone wants to go directly to 10 (or stay at 1 in some cases). The MVC will have to take some uncomfortable steps up the ladder before they get to 10 and will have to make sacrifices.

There's a big push eastward with the A10, AAC, Big East poaching the best mid-major schools from the Midwest. If MVC schools are serious about competing with these conferences in basketball they need to pony up the money to invest in their programs. I just don't see this happening to the extent it needs to anytime soon. When you're dealing with cash-strapped states and dwindling budgets, athletics can seem like a luxury. It's why Creighton left. It's why Wichita left. They stood to gain more from leaving because the MVC failed to make it worth their while by staying. If you replace Wichita with a school like Murray State, Valpo, Belmont, we're treading water as a conference in my opinion. We really need some structural changes if we're going to get better.