Next years non-conference schedule

[just ducky]

I don't know if I agree with that either. I certainly think you have more wiggle room than the 2016-2017 team had and more than Loyola had last year. Compare your schedule this year with the 16-17 version:

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basket ... /year/2017

And here's Loyola's from last year:

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basket ... /_/id/2350

Now ask yourself do you think the MVC will be stronger or weaker than its 16-17 iteration:

http://realtimerpi.com/2016-2017/rpi_mvc_Men.html

Our schedule is better but we have to win in the non-conference this season unlike 2016-2017 and avoid bad losses like 2016-2017. Also, the Valley is better than 2016-2017. Add in that the committee might shy away from egregiously snubbing Illinois State for the second time in three years if ISU is in that position again and you can probably lower it to 28-6. Maybe 27-7 if they're lucky and the stars align.

In order to get my head straight I just reviewed the Warren Nolan 16-17 ISU numbers and compared them with the Valpo 15-16 equivalents. Both were left at the alter in the first four out.

The Redbirds had an ending RPI of 39, a non con RPI of 92, a SOS of 112 and a non con SOS of 126. Also worth remembering is that SIU was the 3'rd place MVC finisher for 16-17 at RPI 147 and from there it went downhill pretty fast.

VU in 15-16 ended with a 31 RPI, a non con RPI of 15, a SOS of 127, and a non con SOS of 22. Much of these differences can be explained by the deeper NIT run made by Valpo and the conference RPI numbers of the Horizon (18'th in 15-16) vs the MVC still being 12'th in 16-17.

So yes I totally agree that the Valley should be much improved from 16-17 and slightly improved from 17-18. Having said that I still see no room for error. The selection committee loves leaving quality mid majors on the sideline and I am not optimistic that this will change. Maybe if it comes down to a coin toss they will remember the 16-17 ISU situation (Tulsa comes to mind) but I wouldn't bet on the MVC being multi bid without some rock solid numbers being posted by ISU and Loyola. The Valley with 2 or more NIT bids seems just as easy to imagine.

[VUGrad1314]

I don't know if I agree with that either. I certainly think you have more wiggle room than the 2016-2017 team had and more than Loyola had last year. Compare your schedule this year with the 16-17 version:

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basket ... /year/2017

And here's Loyola's from last year:

http://www.espn.com/mens-college-basket ... /_/id/2350

Now ask yourself do you think the MVC will be stronger or weaker than its 16-17 iteration:

http://realtimerpi.com/2016-2017/rpi_mvc_Men.html

Our schedule is better but we have to win in the non-conference this season unlike 2016-2017 and avoid bad losses like 2016-2017. Also, the Valley is better than 2016-2017. Add in that the committee might shy away from egregiously snubbing Illinois State for the second time in three years if ISU is in that position again and you can probably lower it to 28-6. Maybe 27-7 if they're lucky and the stars align.

In order to get my head straight I just reviewed the Warren Nolan 16-17 ISU numbers and compared them with the Valpo 15-16 equivalents. Both were left at the alter in the first four out.

The Redbirds had an ending RPI of 39, a non con RPI of 92, a SOS of 112 and a non con SOS of 126. Also worth remembering is that SIU was the 3'rd place MVC finisher for 16-17 at RPI 147 and from there it went downhill pretty fast.

VU in 15-16 ended with a 31 RPI, a non con RPI of 15, a SOS of 127, and a non con SOS of 22. Much of these differences can be explained by the deeper NIT run made by Valpo and the conference RPI numbers of the Horizon (18'th in 15-16) vs the MVC still being 12'th in 16-17.

So yes I totally agree that the Valley should be much improved from 16-17 and slightly improved from 17-18. Having said that I still see no room for error. The selection committee loves leaving quality mid majors on the sideline and I am not optimistic that this will change. Maybe if it comes down to a coin toss they will remember the 16-17 ISU situation (Tulsa comes to mind) but I wouldn't bet on the MVC being multi bid without some rock solid numbers being posted by ISU and Loyola. The Valley with 2 or more NIT bids seems just as easy to imagine.

Consistently hosting NIT games isn't the worst fate in the world. Still the goal needs to be cracking the NCAA code.

Not that it matters but you have to wonder if Valpo had been in the MVC that year. could it have been a 2-3 bid league?

[BradleyFan71]

Also, Bradley only has 3 Seniors on it's roster for this year, DLO, Luuk Von Bree, and Luqman Lundy. The core of the team is Juniors this year, so if we get another horrendous schedule like this next year, then we can really gripe.

Yeah....I don't understand how this Bradley team can be considered to be "senior laden".

[Redhawk]

Also, Bradley only has 3 Seniors on it's roster for this year, DLO, Luuk Von Bree, and Luqman Lundy. The core of the team is Juniors this year, so if we get another horrendous schedule like this next year, then we can really gripe.

Yeah....I don't understand how this Bradley team can be considered to be "senior laden".

Sad excuse for a poor schedule. ISUr had ZERO Seniors last year and had the 11th toughest
Non Conference SOS in the Nation!

[BEARZ77]

Also, Bradley only has 3 Seniors on it's roster for this year, DLO, Luuk Von Bree, and Luqman Lundy. The core of the team is Juniors this year, so if we get another horrendous schedule like this next year, then we can really gripe.

Yeah....I don't understand how this Bradley team can be considered to be "senior laden".

Sad excuse for a poor schedule. ISUr had ZERO Seniors last year and had the 11th toughest
Non Conference SOS in the Nation!

Muller's done a great job upgrading his schedule the last two years, but i don't think you can crow too much given it was a weak schedule that kept a senior laden 17-1 MVC co-champion ISU out of the NCAA tourney 2 years ago. That said, with a team on the rise, Wardle needed to do better this year.

[BradleyFan71]

Also, Bradley only has 3 Seniors on it's roster for this year, DLO, Luuk Von Bree, and Luqman Lundy. The core of the team is Juniors this year, so if we get another horrendous schedule like this next year, then we can really gripe.

Yeah....I don't understand how this Bradley team can be considered to be "senior laden".

Sad excuse for a poor schedule. ISUr had ZERO Seniors last year and had the 11th toughest
Non Conference SOS in the Nation!

What exactly was the excuse? I must have missed it.

[Jsnhbe1Birds]

Excuse for a bad schedule during the junior laden season:

"The core of the team is Juniors this year, so if we get another horrendous schedule like this next year, then we can really gripe."

Reading. It's not hard.

[IWokeUpLikeThis]

Reading. It's not hard.

ISUb 9th.

I think Drake will be able to smart out a way to avoid the bottom 2.

Please elaborate on why isur is going to be 9th? That way I know you aren't just trolling. They have the best coach in the valley and good recruits. They can fart their way to better than 9th.

[VUGrad1314]

So instead Wichita State gets the H and H with VCU. This leads me to believe that the Rams backed out on the Redbirds at the last minute when a perceived better higher value opponent came available. Such is our lot I guess.

http://vcuathletics.com/sports/mbkb/201 ... 0801hx9m91

[Mikovio]

The confusion is Redhawk quoted the wrong post.

I personally don't care if our team is junior or senior laden. A bad schedule was forgivable in year 1 (and maybe 2) of the rebuild to build confidence but beyond that, you're not doing yourself any favors. The one excuse I buy is that these (Chicago St, SEMO, EIU, Little Rock) are the ends of contracts signed when we were in the rebuilding process. The only new contracts here are Southeastern Louisiana, which actually wasn't bad last year, and UIC, which was, though I expect them to jump to 150ish.