Well currently, it’s “You’ll get nothing and like it!”
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We are in no mans land as a team with a projected NET ranking around 100 or so. A good program doesn’t want to host us since we’d be a quadrant 3 home game. Therefore, you get no credit for beating us and get severely penalized for losing to us. No win situation. We could realistically only get bought by a top 10 team that knows they will beat us.
Our best chance at getting decent games is to schedule home and homes with mid majors in a similar situation to us. Missouri Valley, Summit, Horizon, etc.
We only need 7…at this point…to agree to play us. Yes, these are potentially a great shopping list but if the cost of some of these teams is beyond our means (money, opponent willingness) it really exacerbates and accentuates the mess of a rising mid-major.
Kind of like the college kid who only wants to “date” the hot chicks (fill in your own description here) and keeps getting turned down. Eventually, you lower your standards and call someone.
I think you can add Duquesne, St. Bonaventure, Western Kentucky and Marshall to this list as well.
Like I said, there are teams out there in pretty much the same boat. Most years, the bulk of these teams will be below 200-NET and quite likely 150-plus. Add in the two Sun Belt games, (and 2 high majors) and that’s a solid non-con slate for any MAC team.
“Nobody wants to play us” is just a bogus argument. Miami is good, but we are not NCAA Tournament good, yet. We are NIT good.
Overall, the key is to have a winning non-conference, which equates to 7-8 wins. Win 10-plus games in the MAC and that adds up to 17-20 wins or more. Then do damage in the MAC Tournament. Generally speaking, most years, that’s what Akron, Ohio, Kent and Toledo do. Last year, that’s what Miami did. Let’s do it again with a tougher schedule.
We played at St Bonaventure as a money game a few years ago (never understood that). So getting them to a home and home might be wishful thinking
You’re missing the point a bit. Being NIT good is WORSE than being NCAA good for finding games. We are in a major NET hole where a team gets little reward for beating us but big time punished for losing to us. Its the worst place to be.
Almost every coach in this strength has said it is very hard to get games as a team here. Why do you think you understand schedule making better than full time coaches who do this for a living?
You’ve mentioned Charlie and Herb many times which is crazy considering how long ago they coached. NET didn’t even exist when Charlie was alive for god’s sake.
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True, but at the end of a day, it’s a business.
An early season home-and-home against a Marshall, or DePaul, or Butler, or close by mid-major in the same NET boat as Miami, could draw fan interest more than a Bellarmine, Wilberforce or NKU while not costing a crazy amount of money in travel.
Not that anyone gives a flying you know what to what I think, but I have advocated for years the MAC and MVC teaming up to schedule multiple teams each year. I have also discussed this with Travis and David Sayler.
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No Big East team is playing a home and home with us… like ever.
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I love posters who seem to have a better grasp on the subject than the guys paid to do it.
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Did they give a flying you know what?
Georgia Tech and Kentucky “owe us.” But I doubt they give a Flying F.
Well, certainly not with **that ** attitude they won’t!
We have the sun belt challenge. I am guessing the mvc would not feel like the MAC is an equal league. Miami has had 1-1 with MVC teams and I agree those are good games
The NET was implemented in 2018 I believe. Any scheduling done previously (or in the year or two after as teams figured it out) is kind of moot to reference. The NET “game” is pretty solved at this point and playing a team in the 100-150 range is generally regarded as not desirable. They are losable games that don’t get a team credit if they win. Even others teams in that same range who are looking for games don’t want to play another peer team…for the same reason: its big risk/little reward.
Teams looking to make the NCAA want Q1 games (1-30 at home and up to 75 on the road) and Q2 games (31-75 at home and 76-135 on the road). Neutral site is usually the “loophole” where a team can play up to 50 for Q1 and 100 for Q2 at a “neutral” (like another city in their home state).
Q3 losses are to be minimized so they don’t want a dangerous Q3 team which is what bringing in teams 76-160 at home is. Miami should be in this bucket this year, but if we are 161+ (which would be disappointing but not out of the question), that’s a Q4 game if we are brought in. We are way too dangerous as a Q4 game.
If Miami could get up to flirting around 100, then we drop into the fake neutral site loophole and it opens up the game for us…but we need to prove we are there before we start to get those calls.
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The recent trend of mid-majors disappearing from the NCAA tournament is a direct result of this NET “game” (as well as the growing super conferences) I describe above and is exactly what the big boys wanted.
The old RPI was viewed as too friendly to smaller teams, so this very system was designed to basically lock in most the NCAA spots to the big conference teams. Basically, you can’t get in if they won’t play you, and they have no reason to play you as they don’t want to let you in.
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Well written
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YOU SAID … You’re missing the point a bit. Being NIT good is WORSE than being NCAA good for finding games. We are in a major NET hole where a team gets little reward for beating us but big time punished for losing to us. Its the worst place to be.
Almost every coach in this strength has said it is very hard to get games as a team here. Why do you think you understand schedule making better than full time coaches who do this for a living?
You’ve mentioned Charlie and Herb many times which is crazy considering how long ago they coached. NET didn’t even exist when Charlie was alive for god’s sake.
Which is all valid.
However … I continue to say there are Net teams 50-150 – 100 teams – in the same boat as Miami. We should play each other instead of saying, ‘nobody wants to play us.’
Yes, as noted the NET was designed because the RPI was more favorable/fair to mid-majors. Still, it’s the system we have to play in. As the member of a 1-bid league, the MAC Tournament is the only want into the NCAA Tournament. By using the NET to your advantage it opens the door for a NIT berth.
Kent didn’t expect to get in - and may not have deserved it - yet based on the rules laid out by the NIT, they met the NET criteria and were rewarded. That’s all I’m saying. If these are the rules, let’s play their rules. What does another season like last season prove if - fill in the blank MAC team - has a better NET but finishes behind Miami in the MAC standings. That team will go to the NIT and Miami won’t.
Wake up!!! The NIT was not selecting the best MAC team … they were selecting the best NET team. IMO that means a better schedule of games vs. 50-150 NET teams. A bunch of sub 200-NET teams does us no favors.
I think we are mostly in agreement that it would be ideal to be able to schedule a tougher schedule, and I think this year will be marginally better than last year, but it likely will be quite weak and it’s not because Travis doesn’t want to play people is my point.
If anyone 100-150 wanted a 1 for 1, he’d drive there himself to sign the papers. Those agreements aren’t out there like they were a decade ago.
The only way to improve the schedule is for the program to be better funded through donors and Miami. You gotta be able to pay enough to make it hard to say no and we don’t currently have that type of money.
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Yes, H&H is the optimal but not always doable. The way to improve the schedule is go play folks, on the road. Play in those mid-major tournaments with solid (NET 50-150) fields. Road/Neutral wins drive the NET!!! A home D3 game, two sub NET 200 games plus H&H with the likes of Valpo, Indiana State, Illinois State, Drake, Wright State, Marshall, Western Kentucky plus the 2 Sun Belt games does not seem that hard to put together.
Not sure how funding plays into that.