NET

[tribecalledquest]

Darian has proven over and over he's unwilling to go on the road. If you want those games, your can find those games. You just have to be flexible in dates and not pick and and choose who you play.

You also have to do the hard work to figure out what mid-majors are going to be good and be willing to go on the road for the first one. The only series he's gotten like that is Richmond and I know that Richmond initiated that one because Jake got Darian to return Mooney's call.

It's really easy to buy Omaha or Kansas City or Mississippi Valley or SELA but you're scheduling yourself out of an at large before the you have your first practice.

It sucks that we're probably only going to have 3 non-conference home games next year but it's worth it if we can go win some of those games.

People can complain about the system - which gets you nowhere - or suck it up and schedule the games. They aren't going to be ideal. That's a part of it. But the games are there if coaches are willing to be flexible and go on the road or pay some money for a neutral site game.

[Bulldog4life24]

Darian has proven over and over he's unwilling to go on the road. If you want those games, your can find those games. You just have to be flexible in dates and not pick and and choose who you play.

You also have to do the hard work to figure out what mid-majors are going to be good and be willing to go on the road for the first one. The only series he's gotten like that is Richmond and I know that Richmond initiated that one because Jake got Darian to return Mooney's call.

It's really easy to buy Omaha or Kansas City or Mississippi Valley or SELA but you're scheduling yourself out of an at large before the you have your first practice.

It sucks that we're probably only going to have 3 non-conference home games next year but it's worth it if we can go win some of those games.

People can complain about the system - which gets you nowhere - or suck it up and schedule the games. They aren't going to be ideal. That's a part of it. But the games are there if coaches are willing to be flexible and go on the road or pay some money for a neutral site game.

Yep - all of this. As a program and fanbase, we (Drake) have to get out of this mindset of the "poor us" and start figuring out how to beat it. Thats the next step in becoming a solid mid major brand and we aren't there yet.

Drakey your example with ISU and Iowa are correct. They can go kick rocks. But we can find the games, we just have to be willing to take the chances. And we aren't doing it yet.

[ColonialBulldog]

My point is pretty simple. The power 5 conferences have developed a system where post season qualifications are based on how many teams in those 5 conferences you have played, and the teams from those conferences will not schedule good mid-major teams. Those teams play each other or very low major teams at home for guaranteed victories. I thought everybody who was a fan of any mid-major program realized this. Somebody made a comment that my assertion was nonsense and that Power 5 games are easy to schedule. Drake use to play Iowa, Iowa State yearly and also would play Big Ten and Big Twelve teams on a regular basis. Iowa and Iowa State made sure that ended. They didn't have room on their schedule as they had to schedule a couple more SWAC teams and South Carolina Upstate.

Then how does UNI get these games with power conference schools? How does SIU get these games with power conference schools? How does Liberty, St. Mary's, Oral Roberts, Utah State, San Diego State, San Francisco get these games with power conference schools? North Texas, UAB, UNLV, Florida Atlantic get them too. These are all top quality mid-majors and they are all getting power conference opponents and some of them multiple power conference opponents, along with other good mid-major opponents.

What am I missing?

Darian has proven over and over he's unwilling to go on the road. If you want those games, your can find those games. You just have to be flexible in dates and not pick and and choose who you play.

You also have to do the hard work to figure out what mid-majors are going to be good and be willing to go on the road for the first one. The only series he's gotten like that is Richmond and I know that Richmond initiated that one because Jake got Darian to return Mooney's call.

It's really easy to buy Omaha or Kansas City or Mississippi Valley or SELA but you're scheduling yourself out of an at large before the you have your first practice.

It sucks that we're probably only going to have 3 non-conference home games next year but it's worth it if we can go win some of those games.

So I have no way of knowing how true your statement is with respect to Darian not giving Mooney a call back or not wanting to go on the road. I'm going to take it with a grain of salt but I can't say that there's not some bit of truth to it. I certainly can't disprove it.

As far as "figuring out which mid-majors are going to be good", I think Darian has done a commendable job. No one goes into those Thanksgiving tournaments completely blind. In the preseason, Wyoming was a surefire, slamdunk, guaranteed Quad 1 game at a neutral site. A game at SLU? Again, another surefire, slamdunk, guaranteed Quad 1 game. Then they weren't.

As for the schools listed above (Liberty, St. Mary's, Oral Roberts, Utah State, San Diego State, San Francisco, North Texas, UAB, UNLV, Florida Atlantic) they fall into the category of either Mountain West/WCC or traditional one bid league teams. Western schools have to schedule western teams, because, as BC has mentioned in the past, teams are just further away from each other once you cross the Mississippi. Second, P5 conferences have no issue scheduling games against perceived one bid league teams. There's no bids to steal from those conferences by way of not playing them. If you're in the A10 or MVC, traditionally multi-bid leagues, P5 teams benefit greatly by locking them out because of the way NET is set up.

To illustrate, guess how many scheduled games the Big Ten had against teams from the A10, MVC, or Mountain West? (This doesn't include any MTEs). The entire Big Ten, all 14 teams spanning from Jersey to Lincoln, scheduled a whopping ZERO games against teams from those traditionally multi-bid conferences. You can't tell me that teams from those conferences just "needed to try harder". It's a concerted effort to steal bids from one of the last remaining sources, the upper echelon of mid-major conferences.

[Action10]

So I have no way of knowing how true your statement is with respect to Darian not giving Mooney a call back or not wanting to go on the road. I'm going to take it with a grain of salt but I can't say that there's not some bit of truth to it. I certainly can't disprove it.

As far as "figuring out which mid-majors are going to be good", I think Darian has done a commendable job. No one goes into those Thanksgiving tournaments completely blind. In the preseason, Wyoming was a surefire, slamdunk, guaranteed Quad 1 game at a neutral site. A game at SLU? Again, another surefire, slamdunk, guaranteed Quad 1 game. Then they weren't.

As for the schools listed above (Liberty, St. Mary's, Oral Roberts, Utah State, San Diego State, San Francisco, North Texas, UAB, UNLV, Florida Atlantic) they fall into the category of either Mountain West/WCC or traditional one bid league teams. Western schools have to schedule western teams, because, as BC has mentioned in the past, teams are just further away from each other once you cross the Mississippi. Second, P5 conferences have no issue scheduling games against perceived one bid league teams. There's no bids to steal from those conferences by way of not playing them. If you're in the A10 or MVC, traditionally multi-bid leagues, P5 teams benefit greatly by locking them out because of the way NET is set up.

To illustrate, guess how many scheduled games the Big Ten had against teams from the A10, MVC, or Mountain West? (This doesn't include any MTEs). The entire Big Ten, all 14 teams spanning from Jersey to Lincoln, scheduled a whopping ZERO games against teams from those traditionally multi-bid conferences. You can't tell me that teams from those conferences just "needed to try harder". It's a concerted effort to steal bids from one of the last remaining sources, the upper echelon of mid-major conferences.

Good point on scheduling by the Big Ten schools, that was something I hadn't considered. SLU and Wyoming both being down is a good point as well. Power conference schools and high level mid-major games are still out there to get, just have to be flexible and know where to look. Coach Jacobson at UNI is a perfect example of how scheduling should look for an MVC team.