Should Mason Play AU or JMU on a Regular Basis?

[Pablo]

Mason now leads the series with AU 31-10. But, prior to last night, the former local rivals had not played each other since the BB&T Classic on 12/5/05. Why not play an OOC game each season vs. either AU or JMU?

 

[Old Man]

Between the two, I'd choose Madison every time. The picture thread alone is worth it!

 

[MasonFanatic]

We have little to gain from playing AU regularly. I think you'll see us start a regular series with JMU as soon as next season.

 

[Plink833]

I feel like an AU series could be good for us however. Whether its a 2 or 3 for 1 series or we host them on a semi-regular basis, playing local opponents is good. I thought the crowd last night was good, and I think, if no other DC area teams (GW excluded) are going to play us, then adding American on the schedule can't hurt.

 

[GMUgemini]

JMU.

We can throw in a random DMV area team every once in awhile -- AU, Howard, Navy, UMBC, Towson, W&M, etc.

I'd prefer never to play Radford again (or at least for the next 10 years...I got really tired of that series).

 

[PDGL Hoops]

The A-10 is 9-0 and the CAA is 1-9 in the opening weekend. Though it would be nice to play these teams I hope we are looking for better competition.

 

[GMUgemini]

The A-10 is 9-0 and the CAA is 1-9 in the opening weekend. Though it would be nice to play these teams I hope we are looking for better competition.

Look at who the two leagues played and where:

A-10
IPFW @ Dayton
Manhattan @ La Salle (La Salle lost, so that's 8-1)
Abilene Christian @ Duquesne (Abilene Christian isn't even division 1, so make that 7-1)
South Dakota @ St. Bonaventure
St. Joseph's @ Vermont
American @George Mason
Radford @ George Washington
Delaware @ Richmond
Illinois State @ vcu

A-10: 0 BCS games, 8 home games

CAA:
Monmouth @ Hofstra
JMU @ UVA
Delaware @ Richmond
W&M @ Hampton
Navy @ Towson
UNCW @ Iowa
Drexel @ UCLA
CofC @ Louisville

CAA: 4 BCS games (include 3 top 25 teams), 2 home games.

So it's a little unfair to compare conference records when we're talking about a huge difference in who the two conferences are playing and where.

There's no reason to get all uppity about scheduling some local area/CAA teams in our OOC. I'm sure we'll be scheduling up overall. And if rumors are correct that ACC teams are going to be looking at signing home-and-homes with us now that Maryland has left, that's a big, big bonus to us.

 

[JBiggs]

The A10 is actually 11-1, but your point remains. The only loss was La Salle to a very good Manhattan squad in double OT.

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[GMUgemini]

The A10 is actually 11-1, but your point remains. The only loss was La Salle to a very good Manhattan squad in double OT.

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It is good to be in a league where everyone wins the games they're supposed to win (even if we almost blew it ourselves).

 

[Bricker]

JMU- no question. Tradition, fun, relevancy. Who knows-- maybe they'll beat us once or twice in the next ten years.

 

[Five Two]

Are we returning the game to AU next year or was that a guarantee game?
I like having a home and home with AU for the following:
-Its a road game us locals can attend
-Its a road game we typically should win and road wins are weighted more in the RPI
-Most years they are not an RPI killer
-They aren't any worse than the years we played @ Liberty or @ Radford RPI-wise
-It doesn't require lots of $$ for the program to use to get to. Rent a bus and that's it. No plane ride, hotel rooms or long bus rides
-Doesn't require missed classes
-Guaranteed somebody from the Washington Post will cover a road game for us given its two DMV schools.

I'd like to have JMU on the school too and there is no reason we can't have both.

 

[PDGL Hoops]

I am not being uppity about scheduling and playing a local school/CAA opponent would be nice but we shouldn't settle for those matchups. UNCW played at Iowa State (who we open against in the Diamond Head Classic) the other night and crushed them. Those are the match ups we need to avoid.

 

[GMUgemini]

I am not being uppity about scheduling and playing a local school/CAA opponent would be nice but we shouldn't settle for those matchups. UNCW played at Iowa State (who we open against in the Diamond Head Classic) the other night and crushed them. Those are the match ups we need to avoid.

15 3s against UNCW...I shudder to think what they're going to do to us...

Overall I'm fine with the way we've scheduled this year. I wouldn't mind seeing another BCS opponent in there to replace one of the Ivy's maybe (hopefully we can start convincing some ACC teams to come to the Pat Dome), but overall not a bad OOC. We've got two DMV schools in our schedule (AU and ODU). If JMU becomes a semi-permanent home-and-home partner, we can rotate in a Howard, a Towson (or any other CAA team), an American, a Navy and not be worse for wear.