2022-2023 Season: Games of Interest - Future Opponents

[tblack33]

https://bballnet.com/teams/george-mason

Time to put to bed the OOC strength of schedule, it was bad. 1 Q1 game, and two Q2 games. That’s it, and will never cut it. This is something tangible that I will be looking to see improved for next season.

 

[GMUgemini]

https://bballnet.com/teams/george-mason

Time to put to bed the OOC strength of schedule, it was bad. 1 Q1 game, and two Q2 games. That’s it, and will never cut it. This is something tangible that I will be looking to see improved for next season.

Only SLU and Davidson had more than 3 Q1 games this year. The whole conference needs to get better.

I want to see us play at least 4 Q1 games in the OOC next season, even if it means taking 4 buy games from P6 in order to get them and thats also because the teams most likely to be possibly top 75 in the A10 are also going to be home games next year (unless they make us play them home and home) and I’m not sure if any of them will be top 35.

No Q4 losses and at least 4 Q1 games would be progress. Would also be nice to have won at least 1 Q2 game

 

[mkaufman1]

Only SLU and Davidson had more than 3 Q1 games this year. The whole conference needs to get better.

I want to see us play at least 4 Q1 games in the OOC next season, even if it means taking 4 buy games from P6 in order to get them and thats also because the teams most likely to be possibly top 75 in the A10 are also going to be home games next year (unless they make us play them home and home) and I’m not sure if any of them will be top 35.

No Q4 losses and at least 4 Q1 games would be progress. Would also be nice to have won at least 1 Q2 game

So I'm in agreement the league needs to schedule better, even though thats a whole bigger conversation. Unfortunately thats a whole mountain to climb. I'd lose to see the league schedule some sort of challenge against an equivalent league like a Mountain West for example.

That said, I'm not against Mason taking 1 or 2 buy games to help the overall schedule because we are stuck and (most likely) not going to be invited to a really good MTE. Taking 4 so that Mason can pile up 4 losses? I don't agree there. My idea is the buy games, the MTE, and trying to find like 2 neutral games that are really really good. Tulane was good but perhaps we could do Tulane AND something even better.

In general, its going to be probably tough to get more than 1-2 Q1 games on the schedule. Not only because power 5s dont' want to schedule, but also because its also really hard to project. The league also did 0 favors in how we did out of conference and it is a trickle effect.

 

[GMUgemini]

So I'm in agreement the league needs to schedule better, even though thats a whole bigger conversation. Unfortunately thats a whole mountain to climb. I'd lose to see the league schedule some sort of challenge against an equivalent league like a Mountain West for example.

That said, I'm not against Mason taking 1 or 2 buy games to help the overall schedule because we are stuck and (most likely) not going to be invited to a really good MTE. Taking 4 so that Mason can pile up 4 losses? I don't agree there. My idea is the buy games, the MTE, and trying to find like 2 neutral games that are really really good. Tulane was good but perhaps we could do Tulane AND something even better.

In general, its going to be probably tough to get more than 1-2 Q1 games on the schedule. Not only because power 5s dont' want to schedule, but also because its also really hard to project. The league also did 0 favors in how we did out of conference and it is a trickle effect.

Keep in mind that for a road game it goes to 75. So Mason could schedule teams like Oklahoma (15-16), Texas Tech, Ohio State (15-18), Florida (16-16), Washington, or Colorado and those all would have been Q1 road games. They don’t all have to be top 25 teams or even sometimes teams that finish in the top half of their conference.

Neutral games are tougher because those teams have to be top 50. We also only had 3 Q2 games this year (2 of those were SLU), so we could do better there, probably with better MTE/Neutral site games.

Editing to include home-and-homes with non-P6 teams (harder to predict, but not a horrible strategy if you pick traditionally good mid-majors): UCF, UAB, Charleston, Drake, Bradley, Kent State, Iona, Nevada, New Mexico, Boise State (SD State probably wouldn’t schedule us).

The return game with Toledo should be a decent one next year, for example.

 

[gmujim92]

Only SLU and Davidson had more than 3 Q1 games this year. The whole conference needs to get better.

I want to see us play at least 4 Q1 games in the OOC next season, even if it means taking 4 buy games from P6 in order to get them and thats also because the teams most likely to be possibly top 75 in the A10 are also going to be home games next year (unless they make us play them home and home) and I’m not sure if any of them will be top 35.

No Q4 losses and at least 4 Q1 games would be progress. Would also be nice to have won at least 1 Q2 game

Last I saw we were 1-2 against Q1 and 1-2 against Q2 this season. Just not nearly enough opportunities if you’re serious about contending for an at-large.

 

[gmujim92]

Keep in mind that for a road game it goes to 75. So Mason could schedule teams like Oklahoma (15-16), Texas Tech, Ohio State (15-18), Florida (16-16), Washington, or Colorado and those all would have been Q1 road games. They don’t all have to be top 25 teams or even sometimes teams that finish in the top half of their conference.

Neutral games are tougher because those teams have to be top 50. We also only had 3 Q2 games this year (2 of those were SLU), so we could do better there, probably with better MTE/Neutral site games.

Right, it’s pretty clear by now the NET is designed to favor even middling P6 teams, so we have to figure out how to get on those middling P6 teams’ schedules. If we’re not good enough to go on the road and beat some of them, we’re not good enough to get an at-large regardless so it’s a moot point.

 

[tblack33]

Right, it’s pretty clear by now the NET is designed to favor even middling P6 teams, so we have to figure out how to get on those middling P6 teams’ schedules. If we’re not good enough to go on the road and beat some of them, we’re not good enough to get an at-large regardless so it’s a moot point.

I’m fine with taking the show on the road. If our mantra for scheduling really is anytime, anyone, any place then let’s do it. Ideally we would still schedule some decent home and homes so we can not have a completely terrible home slate again but in general our scheduling needs to improve.

 

[GSII]

Who are decent opponents that would agree to a home and home?

 

[GMUgemini]

I’m fine with taking the show on the road. If our mantra for scheduling really is anytime, anyone, any place then let’s do it. Ideally we would still schedule some decent home and homes so we can not have a completely terrible home slate again but in general our scheduling needs to improve.

Agreed. And let’s think about this: SLU’s record is 1 game better than ours but their NET is 40 spots better because they went 0-6 against Q1 teams and 4-2 against Q2. That’s the difference. Are they at-large worthy? No, but sitting top 100 with the same number of wins as us.

 

[mkaufman1]

Keep in mind that for a road game it goes to 75. So Mason could schedule teams like Oklahoma (15-16), Texas Tech, Ohio State (15-18), Florida (16-16), Washington, or Colorado and those all would have been Q1 road games. They don’t all have to be top 25 teams or even sometimes teams that finish in the top half of their conference.

Neutral games are tougher because those teams have to be top 50. We also only had 3 Q2 games this year (2 of those were SLU), so we could do better there, probably with better MTE/Neutral site games.

Editing to include home-and-homes with non-P6 teams (harder to predict, but not a horrible strategy if you pick traditionally good mid-majors): UCF, UAB, Charleston, Drake, Bradley, Kent State, Iona, Nevada, New Mexico, Boise State (SD State probably wouldn’t schedule us).

The return game with Toledo should be a decent one next year, for example.

Thanks for the clarity and I stand corrected. Going on the road and having up to 75 NET does give you wiggle room and it doesn't mean that you have to go play Duke and lose by 20.

The NET really favors the power 6 conferences and screws over anyone who tries to get games in the top 50 or 75 to help their resume. And a lot of those programs can schedule themselves to help each other out in the nonconf.

In general I'd like to see us take no more than like 1 sub 250 buy game and keep everything else above 200 NET if not better than that. And unfortunately it really does mean more road games if we are seirous about an at large and don't have years of benefit shown like a Dayton or vcu.

Agreed. And let’s think about this: SLU’s record is 1 game better than ours but their NET is 40 spots better because they went 0-6 against Q1 teams and 4-2 against Q2. That’s the difference. Are they at-large worthy? No, but sitting top 100 with the same number of wins as us.

They would rather see you "schedule up and lose" and beat up your conference than pile the wins against potato puffs.

 

[gmujim92]

Thanks for the clarity and I stand corrected. Going on the road and having up to 75 NET does give you wiggle room and it doesn't mean that you have to go play Duke and lose by 20.

The NET really favors the power 6 conferences and screws over anyone who tries to get games in the top 50 or 75 to help their resume. And a lot of those programs can schedule themselves to help each other out in the nonconf.

In general I'd like to see us take no more than like 1 sub 250 buy game and keep everything else above 200 NET if not better than that. And unfortunately it really does mean more road games if we are seirous about an at large and don't have years of benefit shown like a Dayton or vcu.


They would rather see you "schedule up and lose" and beat up your conference than pile the wins against potato puffs.

Also because efficiency data is so much more baked into NET than the old RPI, you have to really wallop the bad teams you do play. Mason’s NET was hurt badly this year even in a 20-win season because so many of our conference games were close against Q3 and Q4 opponents.

 

[GMUgemini]

Also because efficiency data is so much more baked into NET than the old RPI, you have to really wallop the bad teams you do play. Mason’s NET was hurt badly this year even in a 20-win season because so many of our conference games were close against Q3 and Q4 opponents.

Yep, gotta beat the bad teams by 10+, but we only had 6 of those all season despite playing 13 Q4 games (27 combined Q3 and 4).

 

[MasonFanatic]

I heard High Point was looking to move to A10. Not sure they have much to offer basketball wise. It has exploded. Them and Elon have grown a ton.

0% chance of this unless HPU steps up their performance considerably.

 

[TweederGMU]

I’m fine with taking the show on the road. If our mantra for scheduling really is anytime, anyone, any place then let’s do it. Ideally we would still schedule some decent home and homes so we can not have a completely terrible home slate again but in general our scheduling needs to improve.

This is a recurring theme/topic that comes up every year and seems we just can't land quality opponents for OOC since upsets have become so regular that these P5 teams do not want to take a chance on having an upset and wouldn't do much for them as we would probably be a Quad 2 or 3 win opportunity while they would be a Quad 1 for us. The reward for them doesn't really outweigh the risk.

A vast majority of the schools in the P5 (SEC, Big 12, Big 10, etc.) will schedule cupcake teams to get them a large win record with around 2 Quad 1 games in their OOC schedule and then just battle each other in the conference and hope that a 11-9 or 10-10 record in the conference can propel them to the NCAA's. As examples include...Penn State, Rutgers, Iowa, Illinois, Vanderbilt, Arizona State, etc. are hoping for this year.

The major culprit conference over the past 10 years or so has been the Big East. These pussies refuse to play us but yet makes the most sense since majority of these schools are close to us and both teams can get in and out pretty easy travel wise - Georgetown, Villanova, Seton Hall, St. John's, etc. I'm sure we would take a 2-1 deal or just buy games straight up.

Would love some ACC schools to step up and play us since travel wise would make perfect sense.... but goes back to these major conference schools being scared to lose to a Mid-Major program.

SEC is probably our best shot and props to Auburn for taking the plunge. Texas A&M's Buzz Williams (was a fan of him while he coached at VT) has the same sentiment as KE as he often has expressed publicly over the years he would play anyone, anytime and anywhere. He has shown love to mid-majors and seems like a great candidate in the future. This year some of their (OOC) opponents included Colorado, Loyola-Chicago, Wofford, Depaul, Murray State, SMU, Boise State, Memphis... Buzz would more than likely take a call from us.

 

[GMUgemini]

Watching UCR-UCSB right now and Hartwell is who has always been: good shooter, getting crossed over every time he’s guarding the ball handler.

Keeping track of our OOC opponents still alive:

Tulane just made the AAC semifinals.

Toledo also in the final of the MAC

All the P5 conferences going to 20 game conference schedules does make it harder and the fact that they are absorbing each other into mega conferences doesn’t help either.

 

[TweederGMU]

Watching UCR-UCSB right now and Hartwell is who has always been: good shooter, getting crossed over every time he’s guarding the ball handler.

The Big West 6th Man of the Year Jamal Hartwell. Very interesting he won that award.

He could never defend well so seems that followed him back home. But wish him well.

 

[psyclone]

vcu outplaying SLU badly. 13-16(!) from the field, up 11 at the under8. Okuro hurt.

 

[psyclone]

SLU cuts it to 5 at halftime.

 

[mkaufman1]

I’m a big St. Louis fan today.

 

[psyclone]

I’m a big St. Louis fan today.

Right now, vcu doing a real number on the Billikens...ahead by 22 with 12 minutes left. Showing SLU fans how it feels to suffer a beat down. Mkaufman...you may want to save your rooting for the Dayton-Fordham game.