Men's basketball conference schedule released.

[herdinatl]

Conference USA Announces 2021 Men’s Conference Basketball Schedule - Marshall University Athletics

Conference USA released the updated 2021 C-USA men's basketball conference schedule Monday after announcing changes to the format of the schedule and confere...

herdzone.com

Bad news for us. We were hoping for road games at UAB, MTSU or Charlotte. They are all easy driving distance from Atlanta.

 

[BleedsGreen33]

2021 Marshall MBB Conference Schedule
Dec. 31 and Jan. 2 at Louisiana Tech
Jan. 7 and Jan. 9 vs. Charlotte
Jan. 13 at Western Kentucky
Jan. 16 vs. Western Kentucky
Jan. 21 and Jan. 23 at FIU
Jan. 28 and Jan. 30 vs. Florida Atlantic
Feb. 4 and Feb. 6 at Old Dominion
Feb. 11 and Feb. 13 vs. Middle Tennessee
Feb. 18 and Feb. 20 at Rice
Feb. 25 and Feb. 27 vs. North Texas

 

[W-S HerdFan]

Looks good. One benefit of this schedule: No 5 game road trips!! We have the game in Bowling Green on a Saturday followed by the 2 game swing down to Miami, and that is the most games in a row on the road.

 

[Herd2413]

So you play the same team twice a day apart?

 

[W-S HerdFan]

So you play the same team twice a day apart?

2413 - correct, except for Western, where we are doing Weds home Saturday away in that particular week. Cuts down on travel costs & more importantly less chance of virus exposure.

 

[Chris McLaughlin]

Landon's take: https://www.wvgazettemail.com/sport...cle_e5bcf213-b650-52b1-8fa6-4641186c29ee.html

 

[The Real SamC]

Hate to agree with Landon, but, yeah, the proof of this concept will be in if anyone else adopts it.

None will, just like the idiotic pod system.

Will make the conf. tournament, where teams will play that have not played one another, somewhat more random.

 

[TwolfHerdfan]

The POD - another brilliant idea by the CUSA braintrust. 🤪

 

[oldeherd]

The POD - another brilliant idea by the CUSA braintrust. 🤪

TwolfHerdfan, pardon me for asking but doesn't the term "braintrust" infer that the parties at first must have brains??

 

[riflearm2]

Landon's take: https://www.wvgazettemail.com/sport...cle_e5bcf213-b650-52b1-8fa6-4641186c29ee.html

Landon's almost as much of a moron as some of the people on this board.

He claims that "the inherent problem is obvious . . . whoever wins the Thursday game . . . will have a lot of difficulty winning the Saturday game."

Really? How can a guy who follows sports for a career have such an unfounded, bogus belief. Winning the first game doesn't give the loser of that game an advantage in the second game. There's no legitimate argument to think that.

Does winning game one of a baseball double-header decrease the winning team's chances of winning game two? Of course not.

Not only is his claim not based in logic, but even if it were, it wouldn't be anywhere close to the actual major issues:

1) A young team that hasn't jelled yet will get much better throughout the season. Having to play the same teams twice early in the season allows the possibility for those teams to get a two game lead in the standings without those teams playing again later in the season.

2) A banged up team/star player won't get the chance to play the opponent again. He will most likely miss both games against the same team.

 

[MichiganHerd]

Landon's almost as much of a moron as some of the people on this board.

He claims that "the inherent problem is obvious . . . whoever wins the Thursday game . . . will have a lot of difficulty winning the Saturday game."

Really? How can a guy who follows sports for a career think have such an unfounded, bogus belief. Winning the first game doesn't give the loser of that game an advantage in the second game. There's no legitimate argument to think that.

Does winning game one of a baseball double-header decrease the winning team's chances of winning game two? Of course not.

Not only is his claim not based in logic, but even if it were, it wouldn't be anywhere close to the actual major issues:

1) A young team that hasn't jelled yet will get much better throughout the season. Having to play the same teams twice early in the season allows the possibility for those teams to get a two game lead in the standings without those teams playing again later in the season.

2) A banged up team/star player won't get the chance to play the opponent again. He will most likely miss both games against the same team.

I wish I knew what Chuck's handle was here on HN. Maybe it's samC or mlblack. As for his take, I guess it depends on how the first game transpires, meaning if you get your butt stomped the first game, then chances are great that it will occur again. However, if you happened to lose the first game by a small margin, and know that your team simply played horrible, then there's a chance his logic may make a very small bit of sense, assuming your players learned from the initial game. If I were betting, I would wager an overwhelming majority of these two game sets will be sweeps.

 

[The Real SamC]

I would wager an overwhelming majority of these two game sets will be sweeps.

Probably, among the teams that make an effort at basketball. Talent is talent and talent rises to the top. Among the random teams at the bottom , maybe less so, its more or less pickup basketball at a rec center, shirts beat skins one game, skins beat shirts the next. It is not like they really care.

 

[herdalicious]

I think its all just competitive psychology mumbo jumbo.

You don't want to play a team twice in a row because if you beat them, you want that victory to be definitive, and not something you have to defend two nights later. Just the same, if you lose, you don't want to have to revisit a team that can beat you two nights after getting your ass kicked. Even though really it doesn't matter either way.

 

[muthed]

Probably, among the teams that make an effort at basketball. Talent is talent and talent rises to the top. Among the random teams at the bottom , maybe less so, its more or less pickup basketball at a rec center, shirts beat skins one game, skins beat shirts the next. It is not like they really care.

It's kind of like football this year. Except for maybe 3 teams, at most, at the top of cusa, most don't care enough to stay healthy. MU has had 7 of 12 games taken away, 3 of them cusa games. MH has replaced 3 of the noncon games but cusa hasn't done anything yet to replace the 3 con games. Covid has become a fall back excuse to avoid playing the Herd, imo.

 

[riflearm2]

Except for maybe 3 teams, at most, at the top of cusa, most don't care enough to stay healthy. .

Outside of Ruston, Hattiesburg, and Bowling Green, the other C-USA schools are in metro areas or places with high MSA populations. With a low population, a place with little travel in/out, Huntington and the few others have a much easier path to control something like Covid. It isn't that the other schools "don't care enough to stay healthy," but rather, have a much harder ability to do it based on geography.

Covid has become a fall back excuse to avoid playing the Herd, imo.

Stop. Games are being canceled in multiple conferences every week. Is Wisconsin looking for an excuse to avoid Nebraska this week? Is UTEP's best team in years just wanting an excuse to avoid North Texas' worst team in years by canceling their game this week?

 

[Herdmeister]

The POD - another brilliant idea by the CUSA braintrust. 🤪

The schools overwhelmingly accepted a 2 year try. In fact a number of us were there when the presentation was made to Marshall. Virtually every Herd tan there was excited to try it. We had no idea than soon after approval that RPI would be eliminated from the equation.
The league gets blasted for being stagnant. They try thinking out of the box and get blasted by the same people.
Keep in mind the that the league commissioner has zero authorization. She only does what the college presidents tell her to do

 

[elginherd]

Landon's almost as much of a moron as some of the people on this board.

He claims that "the inherent problem is obvious . . . whoever wins the Thursday game . . . will have a lot of difficulty winning the Saturday game."

Really? How can a guy who follows sports for a career have such an unfounded, bogus belief. Winning the first game doesn't give the loser of that game an advantage in the second game. There's no legitimate argument to think that.

Does winning game one of a baseball double-header decrease the winning team's chances of winning game two? Of course not.

Not only is his claim not based in logic, but even if it were, it wouldn't be anywhere close to the actual major issues:

1) A young team that hasn't jelled yet will get much better throughout the season. Having to play the same teams twice early in the season allows the possibility for those teams to get a two game lead in the standings without those teams playing again later in the season.

2) A banged up team/star player won't get the chance to play the opponent again. He will most likely miss both games against the same team.

Chuckie is just filling his column with folk wisdom which has no grounding in logic.
A lot of people believe that when flipping a coin results in 'heads', the odds of the coin coming up heads for a second time is decreased....sort of like there's more pregnancies because of more pregnancy tests or more COVID cases because there's more COVID tests. A lot of effing idiots believe that too along with the Book of Genesis.

To add to your 2 good points:
-If the two teams are pretty close to equivalent, the odds that the result of the second game will not be dependent on the first game.

-If one team is better than the other, the odds of a sweep increase. But the odds that the result of the second game will not be dependent on the first game.

-If a better team has a bad day in the office and loses , the odds of a sweep decreases. But the odds that result of the second game will still not be dependent on the first game.

The biggest factor for the success of the winners of the first game will be how the players & coaches handle what did not go well in the victory. DD's NBA & HS background should be a little bit of an advantage here.

 

[TwolfHerdfan]

The schools overwhelmingly accepted a 2 year try. In fact a number of us were there when the presentation was made to Marshall. Virtually every Herd tan there was excited to try it. We had no idea than soon after approval that RPI would be eliminated from the equation.
The league gets blasted for being stagnant. They try thinking out of the box and get blasted by the same people.
Keep in mind the that the league commissioner has zero authorization. She only does what the college presidents tell her to do

I don’t put much stock in ANYTHING this league does. Most of their actions or experiments fall flat right out of the gate.

 

[Herdmeister]

I don’t put much stock in ANYTHING this league does. Most of their actions or experiments fall flat right out of the gate. Marshall fans are partly the blame. When we watched the presentation we encouraged the administration to accept it which they did

 

[lexkyherdfan]

The pod stuff might have worked had teams actually went out and won OOC games as well but when teams don’t play to win their OOC games to help their record nothing else will matter. The goal has to be to win. Look at the mid majors that have got two teams in the tournament in the past several years. Teams won a bunch of games including teams from the major conferences.

 

[19MU88]

It isn't that the other schools "don't care enough to stay healthy," but rather, have a much harder ability to do it based on geography.

WTF?? You really should stop calling anyone a moron.

 

[The Real SamC]

The schools overwhelmingly accepted a 2 year try. In fact a number of us were there when the presentation was made to Marshall. Virtually every Herd tan there was excited to try it. We had no idea than soon after approval that RPI would be eliminated from the equation.
The league gets blasted for being stagnant. They try thinking out of the box and get blasted by the same people.
Keep in mind the that the league commissioner has zero authorization. She only does what the college presidents tell her to do

A lot of people were overwhelmingly acceptant of lots of dumb ideas throughout history. Socialism, alchemy, using leaches to cure the plague, whatever. Until these ideas were tried, failed, and we learned who the smart people really were, those who said "no" in the first place.

Removing RPI has zero point zero to do with the matter. The idea of the idiotic pod system was to improve seeding and get at-large teams. Even if the RPI measure had remained the same, this idea failed.

Because, and this is important, THIS IS A ONE-BID LEAGUE. One-bid, seeded, somewhere between 11th to 15th. Every year. This is all it is. That is all it ever will be.

 

[W-S HerdFan]

A lot of people were overwhelmingly acceptant of lots of dumb ideas throughout history. Socialism, alchemy, using leaches to cure the plague, whatever. Until these ideas were tried, failed, and we learned who the smart people really were, those who said "no" in the first place.

Removing RPI has zero point zero to do with the matter. The idea of the idiotic pod system was to improve seeding and get at-large teams. Even if the RPI measure had remained the same, this idea failed.

Because, and this is important, THIS IS A ONE-BID LEAGUE. One-bid, seeded, somewhere between 11th to 15th. Every year. This is all it is. That is all it ever will be.

Let’s refer back to this post in March......I believe this could be a really special season.

 

[The Real SamC]

So you disagree with my assertion that CUSA will get ONE-BID and that that bid will be seeded no higher than 11th. Even though neither has happened since Memphis, et al, left the conference.

Optimism is admirable. But optimism without logic and facts is delusion.

 

[TwolfHerdfan]

The only way CUSA would ever get two bids going forward is for the regular season champ be ranked and end up losing in the league tourney finals. Thus the tourney champ would get the auto bid and assuming the ranked team would get a bid as well.

 

[W-S HerdFan]

So you disagree with my assertion that CUSA will get ONE-BID and that that bid will be seeded no higher than 11th. Even though neither has happened since Memphis, et al, left the conference.

Optimism is admirable. But optimism without logic and facts is delusion.

I'm just sayin' we could get a better seed than you are projecting, assuming we essentially run the table ala the current football record...

 

[GoHerdMarshallYes]

The POD - another brilliant idea by the CUSA braintrust. 🤪

I'll give CUSA credit for at least TRYING to make the conference have more of a presence with the Pod System.
Did it sound like it could send more teams to the MCAA tournament? Yes.
Did it work? Hell no, but again, the attempts to recognize a much needed change to bolster the successful teams and somewhat reward those who actually make an effort, isn't something to be mocked...JMO.

It was an extremely rare moment when CUSA actually tried to be forward thinking for the sake of the conference.

 

[GoHerdMarshallYes]

The only way CUSA would ever get two bids going forward is for the regular season champ be ranked and end up losing in the league tourney finals. Thus the tourney champ would get the auto bid and assuming the ranked team would get a bid as well.

Wasn't it MTSU who had like 7 losses the entire season and ended up being left out?
Frankly, I wouldn't mind CUSA just telling some schools like MTSU or UTEP to just either drop football, or simply give no cares, focus on basketball, and have 2-3 powerhouse schools in basketball while others can focus on football.

You'd think the expansion of the tournament would continue to reward the merits of winning...obviously not since P5 schools with pitiful records by comparison, get in over G5's more deserving.

 

[GoHerdMarshallYes]

I don’t put much stock in ANYTHING this league does. Most of their actions or experiments fall flat right out of the gate.

I think much of it has to do with the attitudes of the AD's. It's not just CUSA...every G5 conference has this problem.
It's tough to keep momentum going when you have a 12 win season since you may graduate all your players the next year, coach bolts for the P5, or a combination of both. The 5% or so of AD's who actually commit to the programs, generally see more success. They won't just throw their hands up and say, "wow!" They'll actually look at what they did to make the season successful and continue to apply that.

Its what separates WMU, Northern Illinois, Hawaii from Boise, ucf, Cincy, etc.

I will say, despite the fact he thinks he's automatically invited to the P5 club house without knowing the password, AAC's Mike Aresco has lit a fire under the collective asses of the AD's, and they legit believe they can compete (and often do).

Other G5 commissioners, except maybe MWC, don't seem too enthusiastic to push their conferences, keep their mouths shut, take the crumbs from the table, and hope some team gets lucky and gets consideration, makes a NY6 bowl game, does nothing to build on that, then wonders why they're suddenly forgotten.

 

[GoHerdMarshallYes]

It's kind of like football this year. Except for maybe 3 teams, at most, at the top of cusa, most don't care enough to stay healthy. MU has had 7 of 12 games taken away, 3 of them cusa games. MH has replaced 3 of the noncon games but cusa hasn't done anything yet to replace the 3 con games. Covid has become a fall back excuse to avoid playing the Herd, imo.

A fall back excuse to avoid playing the Herd?

Funny you say that, since the worst conference in America decided to play essentially on time with the SEC and ACC.
If that mentality were actually true, CUSA would've folded its season by now...because...COVID.

 

[W-S HerdFan]

Looks like final schedule is set. The 2 home games, @Wright St @ Akron, @CoC, then OU, Toledo, N Iowa & UNCA before we open on the road @ LaTech....

 

[herdinatl]

Looks like final schedule is set. The 2 home games, @Wright St @ Akron, @CoC, then OU, Toledo, N Iowa & UNCA before we open in the road @ LaTech....

Where are you seeing this?

 

[W-S HerdFan]

Where are you seeing this?

My brother's friend's cousin told me! I don't think there are any surprises on there......seems like all of the OOC teams have already been mentioned in this thread....

 

[herdinatl]

My brother's friend's cousin told me! I don't think there are any surprises on there......seems like all of the OOC teams have already been mentioned in this thread....

Oh, I agree. I'm just looking for dates. We have to plan our off-days from work to see if we can even make a road game or two. College of Charleston is only 5 hours from us. We might could make that one.

 

[W-S HerdFan]

Oh, I agree. I'm just looking for dates. We have to plan our off-days from work to see if we can even make a road game or two. College of Charleston is only 5 hours from us. We might could make that one.

Wednesday 12/09

 

[herdinatl]

Wednesday 12/09

Thank you, but what a tease, lol. Was wanting the whole schedule.

 

[Herdmeister]

Oh, I agree. I'm just looking for dates. We have to plan our off-days from work to see if we can even make a road game or two. College of Charleston is only 5 hours from us. We might could make that one.

College of Charleston is Wednesday Dec 9th

 

[TwolfHerdfan]

Looks like final schedule is set. The 2 home games, @Wright St @ Akron, @CoC, then OU, Toledo, N Iowa & UNCA before we open on the road @ LaTech....

With our experience, we should win all of these.

 

[The Real SamC]

And here it is:

November 25th Coppin State

November 27th Tennessee State

December 2nd at Wright State

December 5th at Akron

December 9th at College of Charleston

December 13th Ohio

December 16th Toledo

December 19th Northern Iowa

December 22nd UNC Asheville

 

[W-S HerdFan]

IIRC - UNI will be a test,,,,,