DRC: C-USA announces new scheduling format (updated with Baker's take)

[Brett Vito]

DRC: League hoping new approach will help it land more NCAA bids, higher seeds

https://www.dentonrc.com/sports/c-usa-announces-new-schedule-format-for-men-s-basketball/article_2f9d81be-d5f0-524d-b369-294a42fe31df.html

Edited May 30, 2018 by Brett Vito

[jdennis82]

Pretty creative way to "to help teams in the league improve their RPI and resume in advance of the NCAA tournament."  I'm all for thinking outside the box here.

Excited  to see how it plays out.

[Wag Tag]

Is this simaliar to other conferences? I like it!

[KRAM1]

So...no way to know at the start of a season who we will be playing and when. Going to make for some interesting scheduling situations.

[RiseUNT]

12 minutes ago, KRAM1 said:

So...no way to know at the start of a season who we will be playing and when. Going to make for some interesting scheduling situations.

Does it just change the last 4 games?

Edited May 30, 2018 by RiseUNT

[BillySee58]

11 minutes ago, KRAM1 said:

So...no way to know at the start of a season who we will be playing and when. Going to make for some interesting scheduling situations.

It will affect two home games. Don't think it will be that big a deal, from a home scheduling standpoint. 

[GreenN'walinsVet]

Would assume the dates will be set, just with team TBD

[TreeFiddy]

If they really want to go nuclear, they could leave the bottom 4 teams at home and give #1 and #2 seeds double byes into the semi finals.

[DentonLurker]

13 hours ago, KRAM1 said:

So...no way to know at the start of a season who we will be playing and when. Going to make for some interesting scheduling situations.

Kind of like the CBI at the end of last season. I like the excitement it can create knowing your team is playing for something at the end of the regular season. Far too often those games are deemed insignificant and have very little interest. This way,  those games still matter a lot.

[MeanGreenTexan]

2 minutes ago, DentonLurker said:

Kind of like the CBI at the end of last season. I like the excitement it can create knowing your team is playing for something at the end of the regular season. Far too often those games are deemed insignificant and have very little interest. This way,  those games still matter a lot.

...As long as you finish in the top 5, otherwise they still don't really mean much at all.

This format is designed for the 5 teams in the top level to play & increase the RPI between each other so it will help when the selection process happens in March.   This is no-doubt an attempt to make sure a team like MT doesn't get left out of the tourney again.

[DentonLurker]

1 hour ago, MeanGreenTexan said:

..As long as you finish in the top 5, otherwise they still don't really mean much at all.

Agreed

[TIgreen01]

Gimmicky.  I get trying to help our top teams not end up with a slew of games against the bottom feeders in the conference any given year.  I imagine that those teams will beat up on each other, though, increasing the number of losses they all have.  So this model probably really only helps when you have a clear front-runner (or two at the most).  Otherwise, all of our teams are going to end up with at least a couple fewer wins than they could have otherwise had had they played the worst teams in the league.

[outoftown]

I like it. Not just for the top teams either, but also for the bottom ones, who need to find something and who need oponents they are on par with. It will also make sure that the teams in the bottom four are playing the actual other contenders for the final 2 spots in the tournament, so something will be on the line there for sure. If you like European soccer, you know how interesting a relegation fight can be. This will be similar.

It does less for the middle 5 teams, other than that team number 9 and 10 kind of know early they will make the tournament and at least fans can plan for that, but yes if you are 6th after 14 games, the remaining schedule will be kind of uninteresting. I think having it go 5 best 5 worst and 4 middle teams would have been better than 5best 5 second best, 4 worst. But it is still a very good and creative idea overall. I wouldn't be surprised to see numerous other mid-major conferences copy it by 2019-20.

Edited May 30, 2018 by outoftown

[Wag Tag]

Is this like, everybody gets a participation trophy? GMG!!

 

[EagleMBA]

After reading how it is supposed to work a couple of times...I still don't think I "get" it. Is any team in the league subject to more or fewer home games? The tail-end of the season looks like it could be a logistical nightmare for our travel planning, etc. Kinda made me feel like this...

 

[meangreenJW]

1 hour ago, EagleMBA said:

After reading how it is supposed to work a couple of times...I still don't think I "get" it. Is any team in the league subject to more or fewer home games? The tail-end of the season looks like it could be a logistical nightmare for our travel planning, etc. Kinda made me feel like this...

 

I'm sure travel logistics will be a nightmare. But the logic here is sound. The NCAA tournament committee is emphasizing Quadrant 1 and Quadrant 2 wins. The bottom half of CUSA has brutal RPIs (sub 300). This will give the best teams more opportunities against the better teams in the league. Probably all top 100 RPI games. Basically the power 5 teams get these games already. This levels the playing ground. The last couple years teams like MTSU actually saw their RPI fall drastically even when winning because they played bad CUSA teams late. So now the best teams will have an opportunity to actually strengthen their resume.

[EagleMBA]

8 hours ago, meangreenJW said:

I'm sure travel logistics will be a nightmare. But the logic here is sound. The NCAA tournament committee is emphasizing Quadrant 1 and Quadrant 2 wins. The bottom half of CUSA has brutal RPIs (sub 300). This will give the best teams more opportunities against the better teams in the league. Probably all top 100 RPI games. Basically the power 5 teams get these games already. This levels the playing ground. The last couple years teams like MTSU actually saw their RPI fall drastically even when winning because they played bad CUSA teams late. So now the best teams will have an opportunity to actually strengthen their resume.

Now that you 'splained it JW, I see that the benefit could really outweigh the cost.  This first season will be a bumpy ride.

[meangreenJW]

4 hours ago, EagleMBA said:

Now that you 'splained it JW, I see that the benefit could really outweigh the cost.  This first season will be a bumpy ride.

Check out this website from the NCAA.

https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball-men/bracketiq/2018-02-15/ncaa-selection-committee-adjusts-team-sheets-emphasizing

Here are some details 

The breakdown will be as follows:
Quadrant 1: Home 1-30; Neutral 1-50; Away 1-75
Quadrant 2: Home 31-75; Neutral 51-100; Away 76-135
Quadrant 3: Home 76-160; Neutral 101-200; Away 136-240
Quadrant 4: Home 161-plus; Neutral 201-plus; Away 241-plus.

 

So at a minimum the top 5 teams "should" be getting games 4 games against Q1 and Q2 teams late in the season that shouldn't hurt their at large chances if they lose and could significantly help them if they win.

[WaxaWarrior2016]

This would be great if we end up as one of the top 5 teams, but if we're outside there's no chance to gain any ground until the conf tournament. I'm intrigued by this format, I guess its' main goal is to improve our best teams' resumes in the final weeks of the regular season. It will certainly be an interesting season for CUSA basketball! Several teams have the opportunity to make some noise!