If offered a one and done...

[GarH]

I voted yes for the one and done even though I didn't agree with the "very happy". It's a necessary evil to schedule top notch teams.

[LJay]

This mentality plus the advent of recruiting sites on the internet are IMO a major cause of the WIDENING gap between BcS schools and the rest of us. They have no freaking reason to play an MVC team on the road when an MVC team will go play in their gym without a return game - NO REASON! So enjoy your games against Duke or whoever and know that you'll never see them in your gym unless your team is lame and a No Carolina has a kid from your home town (Oh, by the way, this won't ever happen for CU because that team will play UNL because they suck and as a BcS team, an upset will soon be forgotten by all [including the selection committee]). For all of us, the best home game we get each year is a really crappy BcS who is politically forced to play us (UNL, Iowa, Iowa St.) or a UNLV/Dayton level team.

ALso, the kids today only want to be on TV and see their name on the internet so kids will go BcS even if the program is inferior (UNL comes to mind) because they will get on TV and play Kansas or Duke or whoever each year.

When I started watching college basketball everyone went everywhere because there wasn't the big money in the game that there is today. This is a lot like minor college sports today - you can see this in baseball and whatnot although that is also starting to get tougher.

I believe there is a real chance that there will someday be a Division 1 and 1-AA with the BcS doing their thing with their tournament while we get to play the CAA and WAC for a "national championship". I actually don't believe this will happen but for the first time I believe that it CAN happen.

[SubGod22]

Depends on the team and shouldn't be done every year. Taking advantage of certain situations is fine. I would be absolutely pissed if WSU ever took such a deal with KU or KSU. I'd consider a Duke type of team from time to time. A team with great history that gives you a chance at some good pub. But doing it too much is going to practically guarantee you won't see a good game at home ever.

Schools need to try and focus more on playing quality non BcS teams and stop playing so many 300+ RPI types.

[ISU BRMM Man]

I agree about the 300+ RPI issue, but as my fellow Redbirds and I know, getting even low BCS teams (Northwestern, DePaul, etc.) on your schedule is a tough feat to accomplish. In my opinion, the Valley schools need to focus more on high mid-majors like Gonzaga, Xavier, Dayton, etc., at least for now. Pulling off wins against teams of that caliber may not get you dancin' in March, but it will likely get the NCAA to take notice of a school's program. This, in turn, could give the team credibility in following seasons, potentially leading to better scheduling, eventually leading to more quality wins, and finally, leading to a tournament appearance.

With home games against UNLV and OhioU, I wouldn't say that ISURed's schedule is completely terrible ( ), since we could potentially win at least one of these games. However, scheduling has always been our Achilles' heel, and that's an entirely different discussion...

[jayball]

Statistics show (collegeRPI) that 1 and dones are the worst deal ever. RPI wise, it is shown that it is better to play and beat a crap team, then lose to a BCS on the road. Of course, that is what they say....then you look at us (ISU red) I would at the very least get a 2 for 1 and hope you could work out a 1 for 1 plus a neutral.

I would like to see these statistics. When I watch our RPI go down after beating a 300+ team at home, but see it go up when losing to a top 50 on the road, I call BS on Jerry "Hairy" Palm.

Besides, a team's RPI itself is irrelevant. It's strengh-of-schedule however, is about the only thing, RPI-wise, that matters.

A game at Syracuse, win or lose, says much more about a team than a win at home vs. Alcorn St. If you want consideration by the selection committee, you better have some quality OOC teams on your schedule, because short of going undefeated, they won't be impressed by conference games.

Royal,

I thought Palm's point was that midmajors would be better off playing the top 125 type teams in home and homes than playing a Duke at Duke, not about playing the 250+ RPIers rather than Duke? I'll have to go reread that one again.

In general I don't think these type of games are great deals and wouldn't want it to be a regular scheduling practice. Road teams lose something like 75% of the time in college bball. I don't think a loss at UNC or Duke is going to help anyone's resume for the tourney. I don't think any loss really helps. Sure it might raise your SoS a bit, but there have to be other significant wins to be in consideration.

So in theory you would have much better odds of becoming at large material by playing and beating, several solid teams over the season rather than taking a 1 and done at a top ten program. Beating an Xavier or Dayton would be a quality win most years and would more likely than beating a top 10 program at their house. Wouldn't a win over a team like that be better than a road loss to Duke? (Yes I know I'm discounting the posibility of a win, which would obviously be huge......but over the long run it would seem that the odds don't favor that a regular scheduling strategy)

As a fan it would be fun to see CU play some of those big names, but I would rather try to match up with those programs at a neutral site or in a tourney format (like WSU in Maui) and then focus on trying to get games with the best of the middle teir teams. I really enjoy watching teams like St Joes, Xavier, BYU, Western Kentucky, and Dayton in Omaha.

[Fred Jones]

I would be very on the edge. The mentality behind a one and done is ruining college basketball. The problem is, the major programs can get a new one and done every other year or so, some maybe even every year. I cant blame a 20 year old kid for taking a million dollar contract though, its the smartest decision they can do. Still not great for the game though.

[RoyalShock]

Royal,

I thought Palm's point was that midmajors would be better off playing the top 125 type teams in home and homes than playing a Duke at Duke, not about playing the 250+ RPIers rather than Duke? I'll have to go reread that one again.

In general I don't think these type of games are great deals and wouldn't want it to be a regular scheduling practice. Road teams lose something like 75% of the time in college bball. I don't think a loss at UNC or Duke is going to help anyone's resume for the tourney. I don't think any loss really helps. Sure it might raise your SoS a bit, but there have to be other significant wins to be in consideration.

So in theory you would have much better odds of becoming at large material by playing and beating, several solid teams over the season rather than taking a 1 and done at a top ten program. Beating an Xavier or Dayton would be a quality win most years and would more likely than beating a top 10 program at their house. Wouldn't a win over a team like that be better than a road loss to Duke? (Yes I know I'm discounting the posibility of a win, which would obviously be huge......but over the long run it would seem that the odds don't favor that a regular scheduling strategy)

As a fan it would be fun to see CU play some of those big names, but I would rather try to match up with those programs at a neutral site or in a tourney format (like WSU in Maui) and then focus on trying to get games with the best of the middle teir teams. I really enjoy watching teams like St Joes, Xavier, BYU, Western Kentucky, and Dayton in Omaha.

If that's the case (a top-150 RPI win vs. Duke loss) then I would agree. I had to go off of Birdman's "crap team" and assume 300+ RPI. Illinois St. has already shown that beating up on crap teams in the non-con does not help the NCAA resume, because to the committee the MVC schedule isn't strong enough to compensate.

[jayball]

Just went back and looked at Sullentrop's story. In that story Palm does use W. Illinois (280 in the RPI) as the example vs Duke . I thought he used Wright State (80 RPI). So he does claim that the bottom feeders are better than playing a onetimer at Duke. Mathmatically he might be right because it really only comes down to one game. It won' t matter which option you choose if the rest of your schedule is 250+ RPI teams.

IMO, if MVC teams could limit the true cupcake games to 2 and then schedule top 150 teams, hoping a few might slip into the top 100. Wright State might not be sexy but that could have been a top 100 win for someone last year. I don't know why these games would be hard to schedule but maybe there is something else in play here.

The other option is getting into tournaments...I don't know how the fields are choosen, but that is the big ticket. Maui this year is huge for WSU. The MVC and all schools need to find out how to get access to more of those opportunities. The old Guardians Classic helped CU a ton.....but that was back in the day when we used to be considered for post season play that didn't start with C.