2015 Non-conference Schedule

[Litehouse]

Scheduling more Belmonts and less Gramblings will sell maybe 100 more season tickets per year.  Winning 23 games instead of winning 13 will sell thousands more, even if 10 of them are against Gramblings.

But it kills our RPI and greatly hurts our chances of making the tournament.  There's a decent shot we're a bubble team this year, and having a RPI of 80 vs. 50 could make the difference of getting in or not.

[wadesworld]

But it kills our RPI and greatly hurts our chances of making the tournament.  There's a decent shot we're a bubble team this year, and having a RPI of 80 vs. 50 could make the difference of getting in or not.

Right.  I get the need for a better schedule for NCAA Tournament (bubble and seeding) purposes, but in regards to season ticket sales the fact that we aren't scheduling IUPUIs and Texas States and are scheduling Gramblings and Stetsons is going to have a very, very miniscule effect.  Wins will have a much, much larger effect.

[mu03eng]

Right.  I get the need for a better schedule for NCAA Tournament (bubble and seeding) purposes, but in regards to season ticket sales the fact that we aren't scheduling IUPUIs and Texas States and are scheduling Gramblings and Stetsons is going to have a very, very miniscule effect.  Wins will have a much, much larger effect.

Right up until we don't get a tourny bid because our SOS is too low.  Let's say we go 20-11 and miss out on an at-large bid....some STH are likely to jump.

[CAGASS24]

What's this terrible game day experience argument about?  What's the issue people have?  What are gameday experience suggestions people want to see?  Not that I would disagree I am just looking for clarification as to what the issue is.  I suppose I just don't get a feeling that it stinks?  I suppose it could be rough when you're in the BMO and there's 8 k people and not a ton of students there, but what are we talking about here?  the swag?  replays? intermission entertainment?  this kiss cam?

help me out

[wadesworld]

Right up until we don't get a tourny bid because our SOS is too low.  Let's say we go 20-11 and miss out on an at-large bid....some STH are likely to jump.

I guess it depends on how those season ticket holders view what we have coming back.  If we go 20-11 and miss the tourney but Hank comes back I think season tickets are likely to jump.  We went from a 13 win team to a 20 win team and return everything the next season.  Chances are we make another win total jump and are a tourney team the next season.

I don't think I'm alone in being excited for Madness and disappointed I couldn't be there in person, watching it on live stream on my computer, going to the WLC exhibition, and a few other early season games, and then not watching games like Nova.  Why?  If fans just want to see other big names then all eyeballs should be on the Nova game.  But I had no interest in watching.  Why?  Because I knew what was coming.  A loss.  Early in the year there was excitement no matter who we played (ourselves, Wisconsin Lutheran, etc.).  Later on there was no excitement no matter what.  Why?  We were losing far more than we were winning.

[drewm88]

Right.  I get the need for a better schedule for NCAA Tournament (bubble and seeding) purposes, but in regards to season ticket sales the fact that we aren't scheduling IUPUIs and Texas States and are scheduling Gramblings and Stetsons is going to have a very, very miniscule effect.  Wins will have a much, much larger effect.

Success and the publicity it brings sells tickets. If we're getting in the NCAA tournament, or at least being talked about as a bubble team, people are more invested in the team. Scheduling garbage 300+ teams holds us back from that. There are lots of tiers of middle ground between Duke and Northwest Garbage State Tech, and that includes teams that should be easily beatable without dragging our numbers to the ground.

[CAGASS24]

so you're an attentive fan when we win and inattentive when we don't...........dare I mumble the word

[JamilJaeJamailJrJuan]

I guess it depends on how those season ticket holders view what we have coming back.  If we go 20-11 and miss the tourney but Hank comes back I think season tickets are likely to jump.  We went from a 13 win team to a 20 win team and return everything the next season.  Chances are we make another win total jump and are a tourney team the next season.

I don't think I'm alone in being excited for Madness and disappointed I couldn't be there in person, watching it on live stream on my computer, going to the WLC exhibition, and a few other early season games, and then not watching games like Nova.  Why?  If fans just want to see other big names then all eyeballs should be on the Nova game.  But I had no interest in watching.  Why?  Because I knew what was coming.  A loss.  Early in the year there was excitement no matter who we played (ourselves, Wisconsin Lutheran, etc.).  Later on there was no excitement no matter what.  Why?  We were losing far more than we were winning.

I don't think anyone disagrees that winning cures all, but MU is better off beating slightly less horrible teams than the worst of the worst. It will matter in the end, win or don't win.

[GooooMarquette]

I don't think anyone disagrees that winning cures all, but MU is better off beating slightly less horrible teams than the worst of the worst. It will matter in the end, win or don't win.

And I'd bet WAY more people would show up to see a loss to Duke than a win over Grambling.

[drewm88]

Could this crappy schedule be related to the Italy trip?  Maybe they're spending a chunk of their annual budget on that trip, which leaves less for getting decent buy games?

Interesting theory. I wouldn't think so given how much revenue the program brings in, but with a new administration, and with layoffs less than 18 months ago? Might be on to something.

[ChitownSpaceForRent]

The more I think about the schedule the more pissed off I get. Time for a new scoop letter writing campaign?

[Spotcheck Billy]

  If we go 20-11 and miss the tourney but Hank comes back I think season tickets are likely to jump.  We went from a 13 win team to a 20 win team and return everything the next season.  Chances are we make another win total jump and are a tourney team the next season.

The master plan revealed: HE returns for unfinished bidness

[Golden Avalanche]

And I'd bet WAY more people would show up to see a loss to Duke than a win over Grambling.

But in April of 2016 you can't sell "hey, we may have lost 19 times but 12 of them were to the likes of Duke!" whereas you can reasonably sell "hey, we won 20 games last year with children so imagine winning more with them grown up!".

[GooooMarquette]

But in April of 2016 you can't sell "hey, we may have lost 19 times but 12 of them were to the likes of Duke!" whereas you can reasonably sell "hey, we won 20 games last year with children so imagine winning more with them grown up!".

I never said anything about scheduling 12 games with schools like Duke - we only have 8 games that weren't determined by the BE or a tournament.  But out of those 8 games, one or two interesting opponents would be nice....

[GoldenWarrior11]

Another important thing to remember, before everyone jumps off the bridge due to the non-conference schedule, the Big East had one of the top RPI's of any conference (I can't recall if it was 2nd or 5th).  We have 18 games against conference opponents, all of whom will be a tough challenge.

Get the wins while you can.  The schedule boost will arrive once conference play begins.

[mu03eng]

Another important thing to remember, before everyone jumps off the bridge due to the non-conference schedule, the Big East had one of the top RPI's of any conference (I can't recall if it was 2nd or 5th).  We have 18 games against conference opponents, all of whom will be a tough challenge.

Get the wins while you can.  The schedule boost will arrive once conference play begins.

Don't have evidence of this yet, but I think the Big East RPI will be lower as a conference this year....combination of less talent in the conference and weaker scheduling.  Also remember last year the Big East non-con results were hugely in the Big East favor, one could argue they were statistically improbable given the rest of the season.  The conference will likely regress to the mean this next season.  Combine that with a weak NCSOS and the margin if very thin for an at-large bid.  Can't lose more than 9 games with this schedule IMHO to get an at large bid.


As someone pointed out....MU only had control of 8 non-con games this season.  However, they choose to schedule an 300+ RPI team for every one of them.  That is intentional, whether it's cost or philosophy driven I don't know.

[We R Final Four]

Can someone explain where we are with Notre Dame scheduling in the near future? is Brey the hammer that's not allowing this to work? Has Wojo or Broeker commented on Notre Dame scheduling? As others have suggested--the off year of the UW game is a void that could be filled by this game.

[brewcity77]

This is absolutely ridiculous. Suffice to say, seeing 7 sub-300 RPI teams on the schedule is something I'm not happy with. Here's why:

NCAA Hopes

This will tank our RPI and SOS. Forget about scheduling high major teams like Ohio State or Vanderbilt, even scheduling decent mid and low major teams would make a difference. When I ran the numbers to replace 4 sub-300 teams with 4 185-215 RPI teams the other day, the difference was about 20 points in RPI and SOS. RPIWizard doesn't even let you replace 7 games, but looking at TCU (131 RPI/92 SOS), they played 5 teams that were sub-290 last year. Replacing those teams with teams ranked 200, 205, 210, 215, and 220, TCU would have finished with a RPI of 90 and SOS of 50. So for 5 replaced opponents, that's over FORTY points each of RPI and SOS. They play in a similarly strong league and went 18-15 last year. My estimation is that Marquette probably needs to win 22-23 games just to be on the NCAA bubble, and that's assuming they don't lose to one of these teams.

Big East

The entire league will suffer from this. Yes, they will get an RPI boost because we should have a good record, but opponent's opponents record is the second factor, and we have 8 opponents on our schedule that lost 20+ games a year ago. That means when Villanova, Georgetown, Xavier, Butler, and the rest of the league play us, their RPI is damaged because the schedule we play is so abysmal. If someone is on the bubble, two games against Marquette and our woeful SOS (especially if we're only around .500 ourselves) could keep the league from getting more NCAA credits.

Fan Support

When I ask friends if they want to go to see Ohio State or LSU or NC State, I never have a problem finding someone to come. Grambling, Presbyterian, and Stetson? Not so much. Attendance is already dropping and having games that people don't want to go see isn't going to help that. I would rather give up some home games to play tougher competition than have 20 home dates, 9 of which no one will be remotely interested in. If the diehard fans aren't excited by this schedule, what's the odds they'll have any luck selling it to the average fan? With Syracuse, Louisville, Notre Dame, and others already off the home slate, we need better opponents to bring fans in and drive ticket sales. There is a method to the madness of scheduling in this new Big East, and this isn't it. For the first time I can remember, I'm REALLY JEALOUS of DePaul because their non-con is WAY BETTER than ours is. That's freaking pathetic.

Preparing for Big East Play

How does playing this schedule get us ready for the Big East? Because we get "used to winning?" Please. Beating Grambling in December isn't going to get us ready to go into Philly in January to upset 'Nova. A good non-conference schedule should prepare you for what you will see. Play teams with different styles of play, play teams that can give you some challenge, and play teams that might still be standing in March (if you have any remote aspirations of still playing in that month). These home games (Belmont/Iowa excluded) offer none of that.

The "High-Major" Games

We play only 4 high-major teams in non-conference, and it's not like they're going to be the cream of the crop. Wisconsin will be way down. I'd be very surprised if Bo's top-4 streak didn't end this year. They look like a mid-tier Big Ten team and are the least experienced team he's ever coached. Iowa is still pretty good, but look more like a 6-8 seed than a top-4 seed. Personally, just the type of team I like to see in non-conference, as long as you see 7-8 teams like that. LSU and NC State are probably tourney teams, but they're unlikely to compete for conference crowns. And ASU probably won't be any better than last year, which was a below average high-major. So not only do we have a crappy slate of buy games, we have a crappy slate of buy games with 4 marginal high-majors to offset them. There is nothing not disappointing about the schedule.

Season Ticket Holders

Personally, I roughly tripled my expenditure on tickets this year to improve my seats. This isn't what I thought I was paying for. Had I known this a month ago, I wouldn't have spent what I did this year. We're already losing STH's and teams like this will only encourage more people to say "I would rather spend money on the 4-5 games I want than pay for 20 games, most of which I don't." I've talked to a few STH's today and I'm far from the only one disappointed with this. These are your primary donors and the people most invested in the program. Why alienate them by serving them veritable crap on a silver platter?

[bilsu]

Don't have evidence of this yet, but I think the Big East RPI will be lower as a conference this year....combination of less talent in the conference and weaker scheduling.  Also remember last year the Big East non-con results were hugely in the Big East favor, one could argue they were statistically improbable given the rest of the season.  The conference will likely regress to the mean this next season.  Combine that with a weak NCSOS and the margin if very thin for an at-large bid.  Can't lose more than 9 games with this schedule IMHO to get an at large bid.


As someone pointed out....MU only had control of 8 non-con games this season.  However, they choose to schedule an 300+ RPI team for every one of them.  That is intentional, whether it's cost or philosophy driven I don't know.

How can we have less talent, when there was only one Big East player drafted and that was in the second round?

[GoldenWarrior11]

Again, a full 18-game schedule against Big East opponents (who, in turn, via the B1G challenge and OOC games, play Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, and Nebraska, among others like Syracuse and UConn- thus raising conference RPI and our's when we play them), as well as the Legends Classic (who we could play NC State, LSU or ASU), as well as Iowa and Wisconsin in our OOC, a lot of these concerns are much ado about nothing.

Could we have scheduled harder OOC games with our 8-game slate?  Of course.  But with this team, considering the youth and inexperience, the priority should be development and chemistry.  You don't do that by scheduling numerous games you can't win.  Build their confidence up and develop the team with these games.

We also will get at minimum a Big East Tournament game, hopefully 4 , but to say our schedule will prevent us from reaching the tournament is a bit extreme.  Win games and we will be right there.

[bilsu]

I'd like to hear Wojo and Broeker's comments on this schedule. What is the motive? Does Broeker not understand how RPI works?

I do not know what their thoughts are on this schedule. However, I think it was Crean that said you schedule weak teams when you have a young team and go for a tougher schedule when you have a well seasoned team. Young players need to learn to win, before they take on the big boys. O'Neal started out with a tough schedule with a young team. His theory was, if you want to be the best you have to schedule the best. We looked really bad against Kansas and that changed O'Neal's mind on how to schedule. Getting the crap beat out of you does not help team confidence and it does not being in fans.

[Galway Eagle]

What's this terrible game day experience argument about?  What's the issue people have?  What are gameday experience suggestions people want to see?  Not that I would disagree I am just looking for clarification as to what the issue is.  I suppose I just don't get a feeling that it stinks?  I suppose it could be rough when you're in the BMO and there's 8 k people and not a ton of students there, but what are we talking about here?  the swag?  replays? intermission entertainment?  this kiss cam?

help me out

I agree. Obviously theres some things that could be included, but for the most part if you aren't having fun it's because you expect the fun to come to you instead of making it yourself. 

[MU gimp ONE]

I'm sure not all of you who are complaining about the schedule have sent in payment yet. If you haven't, then don't send it. If this schedule upsets you so much, put your tickets where your mouth (or typing fingers) is and back out of season tickets. I'm willing to bet no one does.

I wish the competition was better, but oh well. I'm excited for some Marquette basketball.

[mu03eng]

Could we have scheduled harder OOC games with our 8-game slate?  Of course.  But with this team, considering the youth and inexperience, the priority should be development and chemistry.  You don't do that by scheduling numerous games you can't win.  Build their confidence up and develop the team with these games.

Nobody is arguing for games "we can't win" how about just schedule 4 of these teams from last years 200-220 group per KenPom

Canisius
Marist
Murray St.
South Dakota St.
High Point
Louisiana Lafayette
Air Force
James Madison
Binghamton
Lafayette
South Dakota
UC Davis
Coppin St.
Elon
Western Carolina
Siena
Wofford
Tennessee Tech
Rider
Monmouth

We better be able to beat any one of those at home with the talent we supposedly have coming in.  Schedule 4 of those teams and eliminate 4 of the crapbag we have now improves our SOS by at least 20 points, probably prepares the team better for conference, is at least a more legitimate basketball experience for fans, AND still gives us a very good shot at winning.

The more I think about this the more I think this is really really stupid.

[Cooby Snacks]

Again, a full 18-game schedule against Big East opponents (who, in turn, via the B1G challenge and OOC games, play Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, and Nebraska, among others like Syracuse and UConn- thus raising conference RPI and our's when we play them), as well as the Legends Classic (who we could play NC State, LSU or ASU), as well as Iowa and Wisconsin in our OOC, a lot of these concerns are much ado about nothing.

Could we have scheduled harder OOC games with our 8-game slate?  Of course.  But with this team, considering the youth and inexperience, the priority should be development and chemistry.  You don't do that by scheduling numerous games you can't win.  Build their confidence up and develop the team with these games.

Again, no one's saying we have to be scheduling Duke and Kentucky or that we shouldn't schedule cupcakes. The problem is that there are 350 D1 teams and 7 of our games are against teams that were 315th or worse in RPI last season. If those teams are similarly awful this year, it knocks down our RPI by anywhere between 20-40 spots, as opposed to if we scheduled teams in the 150-250 range. That's a big difference if we're on the bubble come March.