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[Gazoo]

Originally Posted by Chris R If these programs scheduled accordingly, why didn't they stick with it? It was working too well? That you admit its been tried off and on underscores just how hit or miss the results of those attempts were. Were it the panacea, everyone would be doing it. The UD basketball office has 20 years of aggregate metrics that show precisely what the resume' must look like for a non Power school to receive an at-large bid into the dance. Goes something like 23 wins, 3 Top-50 wins, 7 Top-100 wins, .500 on the road, no quad 4 losses, Top-3 in the conference, Top-90 SOS, Top-60 non Con SOS, etc. You do these things and your chances of making the NCAAs is like well over 90%. However, the number of non Power schools that got in with 18-13 records is next to zero. SOS means nothing if you dont win games. Its easier to reach the requirements I highlighted above than convincing all those teams you want on the schedule to play Dayton and somehow get Dayton in the NCAAs as an 18-13 team. Scheduling tough teams is harder than winning 23 games against less tough teams. That said, Dayton wants to still schedule tough. But a game only happens when the other program wants to play it as much or more than you do. By the time you rule out nearly all of the ACC, Big10, all Big East schools, Big12, and PAC12, you're left with just a handful with any interest whatsoever. They have no reason to be interested -- 2/3rds of their schedule can punch their ticket every year -- their own Power league. And its not easy to get BYU and Belmont to play Dayton either. Imagine having to pay the Belmonts of the world to get them on the schedule moving forward -- paying them to play us at UD Arena and then receiving $0 to play them on their home court for the return game. We've already had to do that. Thats how desperate scheduling has become. If anyone knows of a way to get the Big10/ACC on the schedule, Neil's phone is awaiting your call. Exempt tourneys and neutral court games are the one card we can still play -- largely because of our fan base's ability to sell tickets anywhere in the country -- or out of it. Regardless, the last couple seasons UD's non-con schedule hasnt gotten in the way of anything. The A10 has dramatically underperformed. That's where SOS took a beatdown. The A10 was barely over .500 this year in the non-con. It needs to be close to .700 in every non-con. The A10 is 2/3rds of our schedule. That's where fans should be most concerned. The bottom 4-6 teams in this league every year are boat anchors -- boat anchors the bottom 1/3 of all other major leagues dont have. The A10 has always been a top-heavy, bottom-light kind of conference. Haves and have-nots to the extreme. What other league has a UD Arena and a Rose Hill and Tom Gola gym juxatposed? UD spends as much of more time lobbying to get the rest of the league to improve and schedule their own non-con accordingly to win .700 as they do their own schedule because its self-serving. Sometimes the other schools listen, sometimes they dont.

Chris, I could be totally wrong, but it always seems to me that the UD admin's strategy is to take the safe route. The safe route will give you the greatest chance of getting in the tournament, but a very low chance of getting a great seed (barring the incredibly improbable 30 win season).



I'm not saying that's wrong. Would you rather be a 7-10 seed in 4 out of 7 years, or a 3 seed once every 20 years? I think I'd rather be in the dance more often.