Two thoughts.Lowest Kenpom ranking (2021-22 season) of a current Valley team? 321 (Evansville). Second lowest? 287 (UIC). Third lowest? 230 (Indiana State).
Lowest Kenpom ranking (2021-22 season) of non-conference schedule? 357 (Eastern Illinois). Second lowest? 340 (Chicago State). Third and Fourth lowest? 330 (Northwestern State [x2]). Fifth lowest? 316 (Eastern Michigan). Sixth lowest? 298 (SIUE). Seventh lowest? 267 (Ball St.). Eighth lowest? 250 (Western Illinois).
That is the entirety of non-conference except for Cayman Islands. The third worst Kenpom ranking in the Valley from last year is higher than the best of our non-conference excluding Cayman. That means 73% of our non conference would have been outside the top 10 in the Valley in Kenpom.
Also, during the time when we had our saviors in Loyola (quite recently, in fact), we had a 15 seed in Bradley as our only team in 2019. We would have had another ~15 seed Bradley in 2020 had the tournament been played. This entire narrative is just false.
Illinois State will have six new players on their roster this season. None will be Freshman, None will be JUCO transfer’s. How many teams in the MVC will have fewer than six new players on their roster with none being Freshman or JUCO? Most teams aside from Drake will be dealing with chemistry issues. If we can’t win with this schedule it will be due to lack of talent not chemistry issues. Check out how many new players Missouri State have, Murray State, and other Valley teams. How many new players will the schools on our non-con schedule have? Do they have everyone
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I wasn't primarily pointing out the weakness of the non-conference. While I am not thrilled with it, that has been discussed here and I am not all that concerned about it. I agree with you all for the most part on that (giving it a pass for year 1).The nonconference schedule is weak this year. Hopefully it's a one-year anomaly and not a sign of what to expect in the future.
Tell me this right now:So the Jank schedule? That didn’t help us in St Louis.
Do you really think there is a notable jump in weight class from 330 to 250? Like, for real? If you played the 320 team against the 250 team in a 10 game series, what do you think the split is? 6 games to 4 sounds about right to me.Lowest Kenpom ranking (2021-22 season) of a current Valley team? 321 (Evansville). Second lowest? 287 (UIC). Third lowest? 230 (Indiana State).
Lowest Kenpom ranking (2021-22 season) of non-conference schedule? 357 (Eastern Illinois). Second lowest? 340 (Chicago State). Third and Fourth lowest? 330 (Northwestern State [x2]). Fifth lowest? 316 (Eastern Michigan). Sixth lowest? 298 (SIUE). Seventh lowest? 267 (Ball St.). Eighth lowest? 250 (Western Illinois).
That is the entirety of non-conference except for Cayman Islands. The third worst Kenpom ranking in the Valley from last year is higher than the best of our non-conference excluding Cayman. That means 73% of our non conference would have been outside the top 10 in the Valley in Kenpom.
Also, during the time when we had our saviors in Loyola (quite recently, in fact), we had a 15 seed in Bradley as our only team in 2019. We would have had another ~15 seed Bradley in 2020 had the tournament been played. This entire narrative is just false.
I literally just showed you how there are 2 MVC teams that were within the same range of the non-conference opponents in terms of KenPom. And yes, I would say it is quite a big difference. Your narrative just isn't true.Do you really think there is a notable jump in weight class from 330 to 250? Like, for real? If you played the 320 team against the 250 team in a 10 game series, what do you think the split is? 6 games to 4 sounds about right to me.
The Valley in 2022 is full of teams that range from holy bad to average mid major, with half in the "bad" to "below average" (sub 150) range. So go learn how to beat teams that are holy bad to regular bad and suddenly you are winning half your conference games.
I'll take a winning season as a big win for this team whether we are playing Duke or Southeastern Nowhere Tech.
If we were capable of going 4-6 against top 25s I would not like this schedule. I believe this year, in our first 10 games, with several new players and a new coach, we would go 1-9 IF we had several home games in the mix. This acheduke is fine for this year.Yep. I totally get why Pedon did it. It’s absolutely abysmal to look at, but I get it.
My issue is with posters (Not you phantom), who argue it somehow makes them better than one going 4-6 against the Top 25 (their scenario, not mine) and it helps with an NIT bid.
Hey! Keep the religious talk out of here. There ain't nothin' holy about our schedule.Do you really think there is a notable jump in weight class from 330 to 250? Like, for real? If you played the 320 team against the 250 team in a 10 game series, what do you think the split is? 6 games to 4 sounds about right to me.
The Valley in 2022 is full of teams that range from holy bad to average mid major, with half in the "bad" to "below average" (sub 150) range. So go learn how to beat teams that are holy bad to regular bad and suddenly you are winning half your conference games.
I'll take a winning season as a big win for this team whether we are playing Duke or Southeastern Nowhere Tech.
Brand new team, new staff, new regime....we have no idea how good or bad we might be.
Nobody said this years schedule would help with an NIT bid. And tell me how a Muller schedule versus a Jank schedule had the team produce better results in the Valley tournament. Playing Maryland and Kentucky close doesn’t mean you wont get bounced out of the Valley tournament by Indiana state in the quarterfinals. There is a whole conference season in between the non conference and Valley tournament.Yep. I totally get why Pedon did it. It’s absolutely abysmal to look at, but I get it.
My issue is with posters (Not you phantom), who argue it somehow makes them better than one going 4-6 against the Top 25 (their scenario, not mine) and it helps with an NIT bid.