Did our non-conf. schedule prepare us for Big East play?

[PuertoRicanNightmare]

Discuss!

[4everwarriors]

Our non-conference schedule wouldn't have prepared us for the CYO league. Then again, MU's array of talent sure would look good at the YMCA on Saturday morning.

[MarquetteFan94]

Discuss!

Would you be happier if we were 6-9 or 7-8 going into tonight's game and lost by 6?  This team's problems are a little bigger than worrying about what could've been if we played Cal or Wake Forest at home in December instead of Morgan State or Savannah State.

The OOC schedule argument is dead and buried.

[Big Papi]

Maybe if we were blowing out the Morgan St and the Savannah St by 40,  I could understand a discussion about our OOC schedule.  The fact of the matter is that we have struggled much of the year.  Lack of outside shooting and a legit inside presence has been and will be a concern all year.  Add to the fact that it was a road game against a decent team and we didnt have our second best player and we had a lot of obstacles to overcome.  I was very disappointed in tonight's performance but I still have high hopes on the year.

[bean]

It's much too early to tell.

[MonsterWebWarrior]

Playing Texas Tech and Duke really prepared us for North Dakota St.

[dennycrane]

Which Big East teams schedule did get then ready for the conference? Pitt. Georgetown. Anyone else?

The bright side is that few of the conference teams with great records are anymore prepared than MU.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Last year the experts (Gery Woelfel and company) said our non-conference schedule didn't prepare us.

I think we finished 4th.

[IAmMarquette]

Did UConn's prepare them?

[ecompt]

Had we played Gonzaga's schedule we'd be 9-6 on our way to 17-14. It doesn't matter whom we played; we haven't progressed. The Marquette women shoot better than we do. 

[Marquette84]

I suppose the alternative would have been to play a schedule like DePaul--Bradley, Kansas, Cal, Kentucky, Purdue, Wake Forest.  Because we can see how that type of tough schedule helped the Blue Demons crush St. Johns in their Big East opener.

And we all know that WVU is having a real tough time to far based on their soft non-conference schedule.  With the 15th ranked schedule in the Big East, only one non-conference game against a top 100 opponent.  Yes, the Mounaineers are REEEEALLLLY struggling so far in conference because they simply didn't prepare.

Jeesh--every stinkin' year we get the arguments on how "our non-conference schedule doesn't prepare us"

And every year if we look at the ACTUAL RESULTS across the conference we see ZERO statistical link between a tough non-conference schecule and confernce success!

In fact, last year the opposite was true:  The teams with the tougher schedules generally performed WORSE in conference.  The teams with easier schedules generally performed BETTER.

Now, I'm not going to claim a causal relationship between weak schedules and conference success.  But likewise, the opposite (as so many here believe) is simply not true. 

If there was any truth, we would have seen DePaul (#3 toughest non-conference schedule) beat St. Johns (third-weakest non-conference), or see Villanova (#2) beat West Virginia (second-weakest).