C-USA Bball Scheduling Change Up

[HerdFan76]

When it comes to the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, Conference USA believes it has been doubly wronged.

Not only has C-USA been a one-bid league in recent years, its lone representative has been saddled with a low seed.

In an effort to fight back, C-USA is trying something radical among college conferences – a “smart” scheduling model in which the top teams play each other down the stretch.

The league announced the plan Tuesday .

“With the goals to improve seeding and increase the number of teams that advance to the postseason, we viewed this as a great opportunity to enhance our top teams’ resumes by providing them additional quality games within their conference schedule,” C-USA Commissioner Judy MacLeod said in a news release.

Under the plan, which was endorsed by athletic directors and coaches at last week’s league meetings, teams would be re-seeded into three pods after the first 14 conference games, and the top five would square off over the final three weeks.

Having teams from the league’s upper tier play each other would boost their RPI, with an aim of securing a higher seed for the league champ and more bids overall.

https://pilotonline.com/sports/coll...cle_2bef4222-6356-11e8-be8f-5753f1ee7a8e.html

 

[Chris McLaughlin]

A couple of other good write-ups on the change: https://www.midmajormadness.com/201...ball-bubble-western-kentucky-middle-tennessee

http://www.herald-dispatch.com/spor...cle_dad0483a-c987-5b60-9041-bfc87418accd.html

 

[Chris McLaughlin]

Here’s how it’s going to work:

The league will keep an 18-game schedule, and play its first 14 games as normal. That means each team will play the other 13 CUSA teams once, plus its travel partner an additional time. After that, the remaining four games will have pre-determined dates, but matchups will be made based on the league standings at the time. That means the top five teams in the conference will play each other, teams 6-10 will do the same thing, and teams 11-14 after that.

 

[herdalicious]

Basketball games don't end in ties. It's trading cupcake wins that nobody notices for mid-major losses that can be used to justify keeping teams out of the tournament.

C-USA can't grow its own reputation beating itself. We need quality wins against top-tier teams in OOC play; we need member schools to get into higher-visibility early season tournaments, and knock off named schools with strong reputations. We need teams who go on the road and beat power teams on their home courts.

Marshall just made the NCAA tournament for the first time in 31 years, and what a coincidence, we get plopped in the same bracket with WVU. When we upset WSU to make it to the second round, our game just happens to be the latest slot on the last night. Do people really think the decisions of the selection committee are based on hard data and not TV ratings? Who had the better resume, MTSU or Syracuse? Who has the bigger TV market?

 

[The Real SamC]

If (the largest word in the world) a team can run the table, it might move it from the common 12 to 14 seed to maybe 9th or 10th. Run the table would mean be in 1st place after 14 games and have played a reasonable non-conference schedule, then go 4-0 against the top tier, and then win the tournament.

Anything short of that, and it is probably a non-event. I do not see anything that would get a second team in the tournament. The system is rigged and the committee will always take the 8th or 9th loser from a big conference over the 2nd mid major.

This is still a conference based on winning the conference tournament, period.

 

[Herdmeister]

If (the largest word in the world) a team can run the table, it might move it from the common 12 to 14 seed to maybe 9th or 10th. Run the table would mean be in 1st place after 14 games and have played a reasonable non-conference schedule, then go 4-0 against the top tier, and then win the tournament.

Anything short of that, and it is probably a non-event. I do not see anything that would get a second team in the tournament. The system is rigged and the committee will always take the 8th or 9th loser from a big conference over the 2nd mid major.

This is still a conference based on winning the conference tournament, period.

You may be right but it will certainly create excitement the last 2 weeks of the season.

 

[Dreh_Nagi_HC_IM]

Not sure I agree with this format. If anything, it's going to hurt them (in my opinion) due to knocking one another off. Plus, it penalizes the 4th or 5th best team by having them have to play the top teams, which could cause them to drop in the standings and conference tournament seeding (assuming they don't lock them in after 14 games). Mickey Mouse league just got Goofier.

 

[MUHerd]

Not sure I agree with this format. If anything, it's going to hurt them (in my opinion) due to knocking one another off. Plus, it penalizes the 4th or 5th best team by having them have to play the top teams, which could cause them to drop in the standings and conference tournament seeding (assuming they don't lock them in after 14 games). Mickey Mouse league just got Goofier.

My understanding is that after the first 14 games, teams will be locked within the 5 team grouping they are apart of (or 4 in the case of the last place teams). So the 5th place team will be seeded no lower than 5th for the tournament, and the 6th place team can finish no higher than 6th.

 

[Dreh_Nagi_HC_IM]

That sounds more reasonable then. Who is considered Marshall's traveling partner in CUSA? Western Kentucky????

 

[Chris McLaughlin]

That sounds more reasonable then. Who is considered Marshall's traveling partner in CUSA? Western Kentucky????

Yep.

 

[AllEers6]

My understanding is that after the first 14 games, teams will be locked within the 5 team grouping they are apart of (or 4 in the case of the last place teams). So the 5th place team will be seeded no lower than 5th for the tournament, and the 6th place team can finish no higher than 6th.

I like this because if you can run the table in your pod it will give you a much better RPI. The top pod gets a nice jump in sch strength but the middle group takes a hit so the advantage is to finish in that top pod. then if you win in that top group your set yourself up for a possible post season birth without winning the tourney.

 

[Dreh_Nagi_HC_IM]

I like this because if you can run the table in your pod it will give you a much better RPI. The top pod gets a nice jump in sch strength but the middle group takes a hit so the advantage is to finish in that top pod. then if you win in that top group your set yourself up for a possible post season birth without winning the tourney.

correct, but the real key is that the conference as a whole needs to improve their overall ranking. I believe they were like 14th in RPI last season, and really need to get closer to 10th. The top three schools last year had pretty decent RPIs, all in the top 50 I believe, while Marshall was about 70 I think at season's end. Unfortunately, there's about 6 or 7 teams with RPIs in the upper 100's that's ruining the stew.

 

[ohio herd]

Not sure this is a bad idea or not. The key is twofold. Strengthen the bottom dwellers in the conference who kill our RPI and beat good teams OOC.

 

[RhinoD]

I think its a pretty good idea... and here's why... All of the good teams are in CUSA East anyway.

Under last years schedule we played – Everybody once (13 games) then we played ODU, WKU, MTSU, Charlotte and UAB again.
If the new format were in place, guess who we would have played – Everybody once (13 games), ODU, WKU, MTSU, UAB and UTSA.

Basically, since all the good CUSA teams are in the east, the scheduling format would have just traded us out a game with awful Charlotte for a game against above-average UTSA.

The team that makes out in this new scenario is the best team in the West (assuming they are in the top 5 in the league standings). Instead of playing UTEP, Rice, Southern Miss and North Texas twice (for example) they can get a second shot at Marshall, MTSU, WKU, ODU.

 

[AllEers6]

correct, but the real key is that the conference as a whole needs to improve their overall ranking. I believe they were like 14th in RPI last season, and really need to get closer to 10th. The top three schools last year had pretty decent RPIs, all in the top 50 I believe, while Marshall was about 70 I think at season's end. Unfortunately, there's about 6 or 7 teams with RPIs in the upper 100's that's ruining the stew.

agreed but until that happens this is a good way to at least help the upper teams

 

[Herdmeister]

After the first 14 games, the league will take 1 week off before starting pod play. All pod games will be on Wednesday and Saturday instead of Thursday and Saturday to allow for what could be more travel.

 

[The Real SamC]

more travel.

That is a good point. Under the current system, stuff can be arranged, months in advance. Planes, buses, hotel rooms. Now some behind-the-scenes person has to figure out all that for some pretty out-of-the-way places. And everyone will have to budget for an extra trip, as now it is by "travel partner" and it could end up being two schools no where near one another, making it two separate trips.

 

[herdalicious]

I just wonder what net effect it has on your schedule perception if you wind up playing the same team 3-4 times in a season (in our case, WKU).

 

[Herdmeister]

That is a good point. Under the current system, stuff can be arranged, months in advance. Planes, buses, hotel rooms. Now some behind-the-scenes person has to figure out all that for some pretty out-of-the-way places. And everyone will have to budget for an extra trip, as now it is by "travel partner" and it could end up being two schools no where near one another, making it two separate trips.

The reason they will take a week off before pod play begins is to give them added time to arrange travel.

 

[herd2believe]

Not sure I fully understand, but trust that this is a good thing. A couple observations and concerns. Don’t feel like possibly playing the same team 3-4 in a season will be detrimental. Very common in all leagues for 3 times, 2 home and home in regular season and 1 in tournament. Concerned that the best will beat up on each other down the stretch and add “losses” which the Selection committee will use to downgrade final records. Finally, even if it works to perfection, the Selection committee simply continues to move the goal line to take Big Conference programs anyway.

 

[Herdmeister]

Not sure I fully understand, but trust that this is a good thing. A couple observations and concerns. Don’t feel like possibly playing the same team 3-4 in a season will be detrimental. Very common in all leagues for 3 times, 2 home and home in regular season and 1 in tournament. Concerned that the best will beat up on each other down the stretch and add “losses” which the Selection committee will use to downgrade final records. Finally, even if it works to perfection, the Selection committee simply continues to move the goal line to take Big Conference programs anyway.

It is all about trying to raise the top 2 teams RPI. Obviously if there are no 4-0 or 3-1 teams, it won't work. Regardless, I love that we will be seeing meaningful games the last 2 weeks of the year.

 

[Raoul Duke MU]

It's brilliant. It also won't matter because the NCAA will continue to screw mid majors.

Here's another good write-up on it:

https://deadspin.com/conference-usa-is-completely-revamping-its-conference-s-1826386373

 

[Raoul Duke MU]

Who had the better resume, MTSU or Syracuse? Who has the bigger TV market?

Nashville has by far a larger TV market than Syracuse. But no one in Nashville cares about MTSU.

 

[Dreh_Nagi_HC_IM]

Nashville has by far a larger TV market than Syracuse. But no one in Nashville cares about MTSU.

Nashville is UT Volunteer country, just like 97.62% of the rest of the state of Tennessee, and it always will be. Vanderbilt has 1.38% of the fans, and the other 1% either don't care, or woefully cheer for East Tennessee State, Belmont, Memphis, Austin Peay, or even Lipscomb.

 

[herdalicious]

I was considering Syracuse's "market" to be New York, and MTSU's to be MTSU graduates. Same way I consider WVU's market to be WV, and Marshall's is the Huntington half of the Charleston-Huntington DMA. I was just being loose with my descriptors.

 

[The Real SamC]

While Syracuse and the ACC like to market as "New York's college team", the fact is it is not. Syracuse (the #85 media market) is a private school that is far closer to Montreal than it is NYC.

 

[RhinoD]

While Syracuse and the ACC like to market as "New York's college team", the fact is it is not. Syracuse (the #85 media market) is a private school that is far closer to Montreal than it is NYC.

Lived in Pennsylvania near NY growing up... When Syracuse was good (90's, early 2000's) and I would dispute this. People in NY watched Syracuse. They would prefer St. John's or one of the "real" NYC teams to be good, but they usually aren't, so people who enjoy college basketball watch Syracuse.

That said, people in NY would rather watch NBA over college 10-to-1.