[Paint Touches] In depth Q&A with Mike Broeker on scheduling

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

http://painttouches.com/2015/07/23/in-depth-qa-with-mike-broeker-on-scheduling/

[mug644]

While Broeker danced around things a little bit, I felt like he was pretty open in his responses, and articulated a strategic approach to scheduling. And, though I had thought of it in the past, he did emphasize the reality of being in a shared arena. No doubt it limits availability of dates, which limits potential opponents.

I also found it interesting to hear him speak frankly of the negative impact that a 13-win season has on the marketability of the team to get on TV this season. I think its a reminder that success (especially in March) is necessarily to build/maintain/increase the national profile of the team.

Thanks for getting the interview and sharing the article.

[Frenns Liquor Depot]

Seems like they are purposely scheduling somewhat light because the team is so young and have some limitations that don't allow them to handpick their cupcakes.  Makes sense with this team and the fact Wojo needs to put some points up on the board....I do hope they take more risk once the roster is more stable and the stream of Wojo players are in the system.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

So there is still a chance for a home and home with ND.

[bradley center bat]

By Broeker  it sounds like FS1 and the Big East is making the smart move to start league play on Dec. 30,

[GGGG]

By Broeker  it sounds like FS1 and the Big East is making the smart move to start league play on Dec. 30,

Yes, with all the college football on Dec. 31 now, I am sure ratings were terrible last year.

[bradley center bat]

Yes, with all the college football on Dec. 31 now, I am sure ratings were terrible last year.

That and the semi's for the next two year's falls on NYE. This year it's the Cotton and Orange Bowls that host the playoff games.

[Herman Cain]

Good interview.  I think this years schedule achieves several objectives for the program. With four quality games ( Legends, Iowa and Wisconsin) on the non conference schedule and if we can get a win or two it would be very positive.  There is one game(Belmont) we are going to have to work hard but should be winnable. The cup cakes are obviously weak, but we really need the optics of the wins and the young kids need the playing time.

Every single game in the Big East will be a battle.  A good conference performance will be what makes the difference for us. We will likely go into conference 9-4.

I still think we could use more creativity in the cream puff games and get opponents with more curb appeal.  It seems like that is not high on the agenda though.  Seems more focused on date availability and relationship with other AD's. At the end of the day a schedule has to be made and this is Broekers way of doing it.

[jsglow]

Every single game in the Big East will be a battle.  A good conference performance will be what makes the difference for us. We will likely go into conference 9-4.

9-4 would not be very good.  I'd suggest we split the competitive games and make sure we're ready for Belmont.  We've got one of the top recruiting classes in the nation. Had better perform like that.  11-2.

[GoldenWarrior11]

Excellent interview.

I was pleasantly surprised about the talk of possibly renewing a series with Notre Dame.  Mike Brey, to my shock, sounds like he is open to it (albeit from an MU source), and Wojo is too.  I thought there was a moratorium placed on former Duke assistants (Collins, Dawkins, Capel, Wojo, Brey, Amaker, Hurley, Snyder) from player each other or Duke by Coach K. 

They could do a 1/1/1 series where each school gets a home game and the third is a neutral site game in Chicago at the United Center or something.  Both schools have huge Chicago alumni bases, and is 90 minutes from each campus.

[WI inferiority Complexes]

I thought there was a moratorium placed on former Duke assistants (Collins, Dawkins, Capel, Wojo, Brey, Amaker, Hurley, Snyder) from player each other or Duke by Coach K. 

ND hosted Collins' Northwestern last year, and is scheduled to play in Evanston in '18.

[Galway Eagle]

Excellent interview.

I was pleasantly surprised about the talk of possibly renewing a series with Notre Dame.  Mike Brey, to my shock, sounds like he is open to it (albeit from an MU source), and Wojo is too.  I thought there was a moratorium placed on former Duke assistants (Collins, Dawkins, Capel, Wojo, Brey, Amaker, Hurley, Snyder) from player each other or Duke by Coach K. 

They could do a 1/1/1 series where each school gets a home game and the third is a neutral site game in Chicago at the United Center or something.  Both schools have huge Chicago alumni bases, and is 90 minutes from each campus.

Uhoh this united center argument again. Last time it was brought up everybody started arguing if the United Center would be 80% full of ND fans. But I like where your head's at, and I think that type of neutral court game in such an arena would build the national reputation of the rivalry. 

[naginiF]

http://painttouches.com/2015/07/23/in-depth-qa-with-mike-broeker-on-scheduling/

Thanks for publishing and really good job of posing the questions in a way he could answer honestly (or as honest as possible without trashing this years buy opponents).

His answers and approach make me feel a lot better about the schedule......get the team in a position to be successful with a tougher schedule and the schedule will get tougher.  Seems like another piece in the Wojo 5 year plan.

If this is an unfair question to ask you in a public forum don't answer ..... does this interview make you feel better about the schedule (both this year and possibilities for next) than you did when you wrote your earlier pieces when the schedule first came out?

[frozena pizza]

Uhoh this united center argument again. Last time it was brought up everybody started arguing if the United Center would be 80% full of ND fans. But I like where your head's at, and I think that type of neutral court game in such an arena would build the national reputation of the rivalry.

I would love to see us play ND in Chicago every year and definitely consider making the trip for it.

[Galway Eagle]

I would love to see us play ND in Chicago every year and definitely consider making the trip for it.

It'd be extremely hard to do though considering the Hawks, Bulls, and your run of the mill concerts that happen there all winter.  Plus I wonder how they'd do student sections, or if they'd just run it like an nba arena and not have student sections. Which might by kind of interesting. 

[Dr. Blackheart]

Broeker has always done a great job on the schedule--he didn't just become dumb.  One senior who is a walk on. A season of transfers out.  Four returnees with minutes.  Only two players in the Spring who were healthy enough to participate in individual work outs.  An unheralded freshman PG who himself had a serious knee injury. Wojo finally able to implement the offensive schemes he prefers. 

Wojo is big on bonding and good habits.  Focus on Italy to do that.  No playground bad habits with ProAm. Shelter the group as part of orientation to focus on fundamentals and team alone. Schedule the cupcakes.  It is pretty obvious they feel their hope for the post season is solely getting ready for the Big East.

As a fan it sucks to suffer through.  But that is the bet.  BE or bust.

[swoopem]

Excellent interview.

I was pleasantly surprised about the talk of possibly renewing a series with Notre Dame.  Mike Brey, to my shock, sounds like he is open to it (albeit from an MU source), and Wojo is too.  I thought there was a moratorium placed on former Duke assistants (Collins, Dawkins, Capel, Wojo, Brey, Amaker, Hurley, Snyder) from player each other or Duke by Coach K. 

They could do a 1/1/1 series where each school gets a home game and the third is a neutral site game in Chicago at the United Center or something.  Both schools have huge Chicago alumni bases, and is 90 minutes from each campus.

I think I've mentioned this here before, but my brother took Sports Marketing last semester and anyone who's ever taken that class knows that it's nothing but guest speakers. One of the speakers was Bill Scholl and he told the class that he thinks ND will be back on the schedule within the next 5 years. Clearly Wojo and Brey's relationship helps, but so does Scholl and ND's.

Before we know it we'll be beating the piss outta the domers once again.

[Skatastrophy]

Now we need someone to talk to Diener to get a run-down of the teams we're playing in Europe. He should be familiar enough with the area, leagues and teams that it'd be a compelling article.

[GoldenWarrior11]

I think I've mentioned this here before, but my brother took Sports Marketing last semester and anyone who's ever taken that class knows that it's nothing but guest speakers. One of the speakers was Bill Scholl and he told the class that he thinks ND will be back on the schedule within the next 5 years. Clearly Wojo and Brey's relationship helps, but so does Scholl and ND's.

Before we know it we'll be beating the piss outta the domers once again.

Good to hear.

[Dawson Rental]

Good interview.  I think this years schedule achieves several objectives for the program. With four quality games ( Legends, Iowa and Wisconsin) on the non conference schedule and if we can get a win or two it would be very positive.  There is one game(Belmont) we are going to have to work hard but should be winnable. The cup cakes are obviously weak, but we really need the optics of the wins and the young kids need the playing time.

Every single game in the Big East will be a battle.  A good conference performance will be what makes the difference for us. We will likely go into conference 9-4.

I still think we could use more creativity in the cream puff games and get opponents with more curb appeal.  It seems like that is not high on the agenda though.  Seems more focused on date availability and relationship with other AD's. At the end of the day a schedule has to be made and this is Broeker's way of doing it.

I didn't get the same take at all.  Of course, date availability has to be the top priority, you can't schedule a great buy game on a date that the Bucks already have, right?  Date availability is a constraint that must be met prior to MU using creativity.  It seemed to me that the AD relationship talk was centered more on the quality noncon games, not the buy ones.

[Litehouse]

The one comment I liked was that he's familiar with some of these teams and thinks they'll improve from last year.  If a few of them can get out of the 300 RPI range this year and move into the mid-200's it would definitely help.

[PaintTouches]

If this is an unfair question to ask you in a public forum don't answer ..... does this interview make you feel better about the schedule (both this year and possibilities for next) than you did when you wrote your earlier pieces when the schedule first came out?

Thanks for reading it and providing feedback. Mike was candid and very knowledgeable, which wasn't a surprise, as he's always been great with us at Paint Touches, but it's always impressive to see them respond to negative attention head on, instead of brushing it away.

As for the schedule, I am divided. If you looked at the other articles I wrote last week, you'll see that Broeker and his staff are really good at crafting schedules depending on team need. That plus the fact he openly admitted it's a re-build, a bit of a taboo word, tells me they need wins of any sort, to balance out a pretty brutal opening slate and a tough conference. However, there are still a few too may sub-300 teams for my liking. If you accept that Maine, Stetson and SJSU will improve enough to get into the 200s, that still leaves 4 sub-300 teams. (I'm working on another post that will look at, historically, what the average was for bubble teams making it in the Tourney.) If you take away just one of the SWAC teams (Grambling should never be on the schedule) and replace them with a D2 team, you get the same satisfaction of total rout without the RPI hit. Yes, the committee is frowning upon D2 games, but until they alter the RPI formula, you take advantage of it.

It's a long season and there are so many unknowns that quibbling about a 3 or 4 spot bump in hypothetical RPI isn't very productive, though. I have tempered expectations for this year a bit, though, and look forward to seeing what the schedules look like moving forward.     

[TAMU, Knower of Ball]

The one comment I liked was that he's familiar with some of these teams and thinks they'll improve from last year.  If a few of them can get out of the 300 RPI range this year and move into the mid-200's it would definitely help.

Some of them will escape but most will still be in the 300s. Jackson State and Maine should end up in the 200s (though sub 250) but the rest of them will still be the bottom of the barrel. I think Presbyterian and Chicago State will actually be worse than last year. San Jose State and Grambling will be better only because they can't possibly get any worse.

[jficke13]

Is the difficulty of notching a victory vs a team w/ a RPI of 225 *that* much harder than  notching a victory vs a team w/ a RPI of 300+? If it is, then we've got bigger problems to worry about than our SOS at the end of the year.

[Jay Bee]

Is the difficulty of notching a victory vs a team w/ a RPI of 225 *that* much harder than  notching a victory vs a team w/ a RPI of 300+? If it is, then we've got bigger problems to worry about than our SOS at the end of the year.

No; and what's more important is that beating a team with an RPI of 300 can be MORE VALUABLE to your RPI score than beating a team with an RPI of 225. 

This is often misunderstood. Your RPI doesn't care what the RPI of another school is. Directionally the comparisons work, but the details are what matters.