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Post by Commissioner on Jun 25, 2024 22:30:01 GMT -5
It's been reported previously (and also seems obvious to some observers) that the Titans play a lot of buy games because they actually need the money to maintain the program. I doubt the programs makes much of anything from home games with 200 fans in attendance. I'd like to see us get a couple of sure (or as close to "sure" as we can get) wins on the schedule. I also understand the need to generate revenue at the cost of home dates, whether I agree with the philosophy or not. So far, the schedule for 2024-25 appears to be heavy on buy games. I think that has less to do with the who the head coach is and more to do with the financial realties that we face. I don't think Davis was creating a road heavy schedule with only a couple of home dates and no "easy" games just for kicks. Actually, I do think that's why Davis created his schedule. He was very clear from the start that he wanted tough road games, believing that was the best way to prepare the team for conference play and ultimately, the conference tournament, which he saw as all that really mattered. And that was his philosophy at South Texas. I can't and won't say that that philosophy is wrong. However, I tend to be skeptical that any one scheduling philosophy is the best for all situations. I voiced concerns about whether that philosophy would work at Detroit when he was hired, and no, it didn't seem to work out. I also tend to think that if you want to be taken seriously as a program, you have to schedule home games, or at least be willing to foot the bill to play in a neutral site MTE. And I tend to believe that in the current Titan situation, we just need some wins. I'm not oblivious to the financial realities, but at some point, if we can't make some investment in the program, maybe it really is time to drop down to D-3. If you've got a plan--"we're gonna play a bunch of buy games for 3 years and invest all the money in the program"--OK. But I don't want to be like many of the SWAC/MEAC schools, and some others, playing for dollars as non-conference fodder on the road, with the dollars siphoned off to other areas or used to keep a program on life support, hoping that maybe now and again we can win the Crappy Conference tournament and get a 15 or 16 seed in the NCAA tournament and a week to be excited before our first round blowout loss, after which we'll continue to play all our games on the road. |
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Post by Commissioner on Jul 2, 2024 22:15:20 GMT -5
A bunch of new non-conference games appearing.
Niagara at Detroit is of most interest to this board. Niagara was #327 last year. Very winnable home game. Old-timers know of Niagara--the youngins' (those under about age 50!) not so much. Old timers also like to see those Catholic schools.
Kudos to Oakland, which will play in the Diamond Head Class in Hawaii over Christmas. Three games against high majors and good mid-majors on a neutral floor, great trip for the players. Pairings have yet to be announced.
Wright State got an attractive home game--they'll host Air Force.
Youngstown State gets to play Ohio State--on the road, of course. The Penguins schedule is nearly complete.
Robert Morris will play at Cornell. I like that game. Winnable; a name people recognize. I'm guessing it's home and home, but maybe not.
All known games in first post at the top of this thread.
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Post by Rogobob77 on Jul 11, 2024 12:05:28 GMT -5
"Sounds like GBโs non-conference opponents are now known with @codywkrupp filling in the final 2 pieces of the puzzle"
11/4 @ OK St
11/8 v St Thomas
11/13 @ Western IL
11/16 @ Providence
11/24 @ Ohio St
12/18 v Michigan Tech
TBD @ Evansville, @ Drake
TBD v SIUE, v Campbell, v UCSB
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Post by Commissioner on Jul 12, 2024 9:23:38 GMT -5
Both Cleveland State and Purdue-Fort Wayne will play at Michigan this year. Full non-conference schedules (as known) in first post in this thread.
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Post by Commissioner on Jul 19, 2024 16:46:53 GMT -5
Wright State will be playing in the Myrtle Beach Invitational, a bracketed tournament with a bunch of solid mid-majors: Bradley, Princeton, Ohio U, South Florida a couple others.
Oakland has a similar event in the Diamond Head invitational, with some high mid-majors and low-high majors (can we slice it thinner), including Hawaii, Loyola, Nebraska, Oregon State, Murray State, Charleston, Charlotte.
I would like to see us get in that type of MTE. Good locations, good competition on neutral floors. Don't know the economics of these tournaments.
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Post by Commissioner on Jul 26, 2024 9:13:21 GMT -5
Wright State will play EMU in December.
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Post by Commissioner on Aug 7, 2024 10:42:05 GMT -5
Milwaukee's schedule is almost complete. They need to fill in the dates for road games at Duquesne and Southern Mississippi, and reveal the non-D1 team they will play in December. Overall, 6 home games, 2 against non-D1 teams. No real home standout--the best from a fan standpoint is probably a game at Fiserve against Akron. That is technically a neutral-site game. I don't know the finances, but Akron is usually pretty good and they'll get NET credit for a neutral game that in reality is a home game (I've included it in the 6 mentioned above). Clever, I think.
They have buy games at Northern Iowa, Central Florida, and Duquesne. Again, I don't know that those pay top dollar vis, say, playing Ohio State or someone like that (wonder how they compare to Wake Forest), but they all seem very winnable games, which is not usually the case for buy games. I'd like to see us get a buy game at Duquesne--relatively short road trip (esp. for me), old Catholic rival, winnable, good destination city to spend a night.
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Post by Commissioner on Aug 15, 2024 15:02:41 GMT -5
Robert Morris has published its non-conference schedule. They've got 7 home games, a feat done by scheduling one non-D1 game (Chatham) and hosting their own MTE. None of those games will pack 'em in--Lindenwood, Stone Hill, and New Orleans in the MTE, plus St. Francis, Towson, and Canisius. They've only got one obvious "buy" game, at West Virginia. Their other road games--which I would guess are part of H&H arrangements, but maybe not, are Cornell, Delaware, and Ohio U. Given they've got 6 other home games, I'm kinda surprised they didn't seek out another buy game rather than schedule D-3 Chatham.
Six of their 7 home opponents--all but Towson but including Chatham--had NET ranks above 300 last year.
The Colonials join Green Bay, and IU-Indy in having a full slate of known opponents, though only IU-Indy has made the formal announcement.
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Post by Commissioner on Aug 15, 2024 15:05:08 GMT -5
Green Bay will get $95,000 for playing at Oklahoma State on November 4; $80,000 for playing at Drake on December 21. They've also got a buy game at Providence and will get a good payday for playing in Ohio State's MTE.
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Post by Commissioner on Aug 19, 2024 17:42:06 GMT -5
Northern Kentucky has scheduled a home game with NAIA member Midway University on November 23.
At last! A school with a worse Brand than Detroit Mercy. No one has any idea where the heck it is (though that's not really their fault--they're in Midway, Kentucky). We may be a hospital, but Midway? A drag strip? A small Pacific island? Some point between two places? At least people know where Detroit Mercy Hospital is located.
FWIW, Midway is roughly midway between Lexington and Frankfort, Ky. The mayor of this town of 1700 is named Grayson Vandegrift, which sounds like the name of the foil in a Rodney Dangerfield movie.
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Post by ptctitan on Aug 19, 2024 18:16:30 GMT -5
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Post by motorcitysam on Aug 19, 2024 18:34:56 GMT -5
Northern Kentucky has scheduled a home game with NAIA member Midway University on November 23. At last! A school with a worse Brand than Detroit Mercy. No one has any idea where the heck it is (though that's not really their fault--they're in Midway, Kentucky). We may be a hospital, but Midway? A drag strip? A small Pacific island? Some point between two places? At least people know where Detroit Mercy Hospital is located. FWIW, Midway is roughly midway between Lexington and Frankfort, Ky. The mayor of this town of 1700 is named Grayson Vandegrift, which sounds like the name of the foil in a Rodney Dangerfield movie. An airport in Chicago? |
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Post by ptctitan on Aug 21, 2024 17:23:08 GMT -5
PFW announced its full non-conference schedule today. November ๐ฐ โ ๐๐น๐๐ณ๐ณ๐๐ผ๐ป 8 โ at Central Florida ๐ญ๐ฎ โ ๐๐ฒ๐๐ต๐๐ป๐ฒ-๐๐ผ๐ผ๐ธ๐บ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ญ๐ฒ โ ๐ฆ๐ผ๐๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ป ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฎ 20 โ at Penn State 25 โ Sunshine Slam 26 โ Sunshine Slam 30 โ at Texas A&M-Commerce December 15 โ at Eastern Michigan ๐ฎ๐ฌ โ ๐๐ฒ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฐ๐ฒ 22 โ at Michigan
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Post by Commissioner on Aug 28, 2024 9:28:01 GMT -5
I noted on the MVC thread that the MVC is requiring teams to schedule 4 non-conference games against projected Quad 1 or 2 opponents. (Whose projection, I don't know). Here's what that means:
Quad 1: Home vs. 1-30; neutral vs. 1-50 ; road vs. 1-75
Quad 2: Home vs. 31-75; neutral vs. 51-100; road vs. 101-135
Using last year's NET rankings, though, here are the only HL games this year currently known that fit the bill:
Detroit at Wake Forest
Detroit at Loyola
Detroit at Davidson
Detroit at Wisconsin
Cleveland State @ Kansas St.
Cleveland State @ Michigan
Cleveland State @ Minnesota
Green Bay @ Oklahoma State
Green Bay @ Providence
Green Bay @ Drake
Green Bay @ Ohio State
Indy @ Xavier
Indy @ Iowa State
Milwaukee @ Northern Iowa
Milwaukee @ UCF
Milwaukee @ Duquesne
Cincinnati @ Northern Kentucky
Northern Kentucky @ Purdue
Northern Kentucky @ Akron
Northern Kentucky @ Charleston
Oakland vs. Michigan State (N)
Oakland vs. Loyola (N)
Oakland vs. Charleston? (N) (Possible MTE matchup)
Oakland @ Boise State
Oakland @ Kansas
Oakland @ Illinois
Oakland @ Toledo
Oakland @ Arkansas
PFW @ UCF
PFW @ Penn State
PFW @ Michigan
Robt. Morris @ Cornell
WSU vs. Princeton (N)
WSU vs. Bradley ? (N) (Possible MTE matchup)
WSU vs. South Florida ?? (N) Possible MTE matchup)
WSU @ Kentucky
WSU @ Toledo
YSU @ Ohio State
YSU @ Syracuse
As you can see, there is only 1 home game there--Cincinnati at NKU, a payback for NKU letting UC use its gym while UC's was undergoing renovation a couple years back. None of games you see against other mid-majors would count as quad 1 or quad 2 if played as a home game.
It's almost impossible for HL teams to schedule attractive home opponents anymore. Note that if the HL had this rule, it looks like Indy, RMU, PFW, YSU, and Milwaukee would all fail to meet the standard this year, and possibly CSU (there's a chance they'll make it yet, as they have 4 empty slots on their schedule) and WSU (depending on how you count MTE matchups that may not occur.
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Post by Commissioner on Aug 28, 2024 9:28:52 GMT -5
Looking at schedules, I see that Oakland does not have a single non-conference home game. They do get MSU at the Palace, and they do have one opening left, which I suspect they'll fill with a home game against a non-D1 opponent.
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