Wku Prz On The Sun Belt

MeanGreen61 · March 24, 2010

Exerpt from a long interview with the WKU president. (off the Belt board)

On the Sun Belt Conference

“I am a little frustrated with the Sun Belt Conference. Seven of us met in Hot Springs with (SBC Commissioner Wright Waters) and when we reconvene in May we’re going to put in place some RPI policies.

“Part of my frustration right now is with our own conference. I can’t whine about it too much because we didn’t do much to contribute to it this year (in terms of RPI), but we didn’t have a team in the top 100 in the Sun Belt. If we’re going to do what we want as a program, we have to be able to improve our RPI when we get into conference play.

“So we’re going to look at some policies across the conference and the other presidents share our concerns. It hasn’t been that many years past when the conference RPI got as high as 10 or 11. And this year, we’re at No. 23 – that’s bad.

“We’ve got to get back to that point and we’re going to look at some policies and put them in place that maybe make it mandatory that you schedule teams above 150 in your non-conference games. I don’t know yet, but the commissioner is putting some things together and we’re going to study it.”

“What’s good for the league is what’s good for everybody in the league, but everybody in the league has to take ownership. Troy is really trying to build their program, they didn’t come into the Sun Belt with much of a history but they’re really working at it. Obviously Middle Tennessee is as well and will continue to, and some others, too. I’m encouraged, but I’ll say I’m cautiously optimistic that our program can be hitting on all cylinders and we can do it (in the Sun Belt) that helps us get there.

“I want the league to get four or five teams in there every year. It’s a battle now, but we’re battling teams with an RPI in the 200s who at the beginning of the year struggle in non-conference, but come February once they’ve gelled are pretty good basketball teams.

“I think we’re a better league than a No. 23 RPI, but boy, we’ve got to prove it in November and December and we’ve got to prove it in mid-March.

“(WKU has) a strong history and we want to continue to build on that and I want our conference to be a part of that strategy, I’m resovled to helping build this conference.”

“We’re going to do all we can to make sure it succeeds. There are only 11 BCS conferences, so if we’re going to go anywhere it’s going to be to one of other 10. I haven’t checked my mailbox today, but I don’t think we’ve gotten anything from the SEC or the ACC in there. There’s no dialogue going on with us and any other conference right now. Will there be movement with conferences in the future? Yeah, there probably will be. The Big 10 is in the process of identifying a 12th team, depending on what happens there it could be someone from the Big East, that might then effect Conference USA – there’s a lot of variables. The Pac 10’s probably going to have to expand their footprint. So who knows how the line of dominos will be, and I’d hate to think that we’re the seventh or eighth dominos in that line, but we’ll cross those bridges when they come. The best thing we can do is get better – as a program and as a conference. And that’s what the president’s concluded, we want to see policies that help the conference get better.

“There might be some realignment to where if we can get better as a league, some of those teams in some of those other (non-automatic qualifying leagues) want to come to the Sun Belt,” “But if a suitor comes along, we’ll listen, but we’re not searching.”

“We had a policy in place several years ago that said if you were in the conference, you cannot schedule anyone below a 150 RPI. And the AD’s whined about that, because scheduling’s hard and it’s work. So we relaxed that and then really just did away with it and here we are.

“Some of the AD’s and coaches might argue that, but the data is what it is and we may go back to that policy. … It’s important that we all grow and get better together.”

Censored by Laurie · March 24, 2010

Boy...this seems like the kind of tasking a conference commish (the top cop, if you will) should be under-taking to benefit the conference as a whole.

Ya know...if he wasn't a dildo.

MeanGreen61 · March 24, 2010

Scheduling below the 150 RPI sounds good, but.............

1. Within our own conference only THREE teams (UNT,Troy & WKU) had better than 150 RPI. Only FIVE (adding muts & Denver) had better than 200.

2. Did a quick check & regional opponents could be kinda sparce using the 150 RPI guideline.

Under 150

Baylor

A&M

Texas

Oklahoma State

UTEP

NMSU

Tulsa

Sam Houston

Texas Tech

LA Tech

Houston

Oklahoma State

SFA (at 151)

Over 150 RPI

Arkansas

TAMU-CC

UTSA

SE Louisiana

SMU

TCU

Texas Southern

UTA

texas State

Tulane

Rice

Houston Baptist

Texas-PanAm

Ret Faculty Fan · March 24, 2010

Exerpt from a long interview with the WKU president. (off the Belt board)

On the Sun Belt Conference
“I am a little frustrated with the Sun Belt Conference. Seven of us met in Hot Springs with (SBC Commissioner Wright Waters) and when we reconvene in May we’re going to put in place some RPI policies.

“Part of my frustration right now is with our own conference. I can’t whine about it too much because we didn’t do much to contribute to it this year (in terms of RPI), but we didn’t have a team in the top 100 in the Sun Belt. If we’re going to do what we want as a program, we have to be able to improve our RPI when we get into conference play.

“So we’re going to look at some policies across the conference and the other presidents share our concerns. It hasn’t been that many years past when the conference RPI got as high as 10 or 11. And this year, we’re at No. 23 – that’s bad.

“We’ve got to get back to that point and we’re going to look at some policies and put them in place that maybe make it mandatory that you schedule teams above 150 in your non-conference games. I don’t know yet, but the commissioner is putting some things together and we’re going to study it.”

“What’s good for the league is what’s good for everybody in the league, but everybody in the league has to take ownership. Troy is really trying to build their program, they didn’t come into the Sun Belt with much of a history but they’re really working at it. Obviously Middle Tennessee is as well and will continue to, and some others, too. I’m encouraged, but I’ll say I’m cautiously optimistic that our program can be hitting on all cylinders and we can do it (in the Sun Belt) that helps us get there.

“I want the league to get four or five teams in there every year. It’s a battle now, but we’re battling teams with an RPI in the 200s who at the beginning of the year struggle in non-conference, but come February once they’ve gelled are pretty good basketball teams.

“I think we’re a better league than a No. 23 RPI, but boy, we’ve got to prove it in November and December and we’ve got to prove it in mid-March.

“(WKU has) a strong history and we want to continue to build on that and I want our conference to be a part of that strategy, I’m resovled to helping build this conference.”

“We’re going to do all we can to make sure it succeeds. There are only 11 BCS conferences, so if we’re going to go anywhere it’s going to be to one of other 10. I haven’t checked my mailbox today, but I don’t think we’ve gotten anything from the SEC or the ACC in there. There’s no dialogue going on with us and any other conference right now. Will there be movement with conferences in the future? Yeah, there probably will be. The Big 10 is in the process of identifying a 12th team, depending on what happens there it could be someone from the Big East, that might then effect Conference USA – there’s a lot of variables. The Pac 10’s probably going to have to expand their footprint. So who knows how the line of dominos will be, and I’d hate to think that we’re the seventh or eighth dominos in that line, but we’ll cross those bridges when they come. The best thing we can do is get better – as a program and as a conference. And that’s what the president’s concluded, we want to see policies that help the conference get better.

“There might be some realignment to where if we can get better as a league, some of those teams in some of those other (non-automatic qualifying leagues) want to come to the Sun Belt,” “But if a suitor comes along, we’ll listen, but we’re not searching.”

“We had a policy in place several years ago that said if you were in the conference, you cannot schedule anyone below a 150 RPI. And the AD’s whined about that, because scheduling’s hard and it’s work. So we relaxed that and then really just did away with it and here we are.

“Some of the AD’s and coaches might argue that, but the data is what it is and we may go back to that policy. … It’s important that we all grow and get better together.”

Ret Faculty Fan · March 24, 2010

Talked with Wright Waters early in Hot Springs and he was particularly concerned about the strength of schedule issue. He is fully aware we need to do a better job as a conference in this area. Money and perceptions remain an issue for most conference schools.

VideoEagle · March 25, 2010

It's pretty obvious the entire conference needs to schedule with RPI at least in mind. There was a thread about this on the old SBC board a few years ago that much the same thing. Still, no one, including us, did much to improve.

FirefightnRick · March 25, 2010

How funny! First several posters after the K State game, then the T Mack article and now this one with the WKU prez demanding a raising of the bar and not a single word of dissent is muttered. But when Mo Green comes on here and basically said the same thing back in February, HERE, he got hammered for it.

Rick

CMJ · March 25, 2010

It's all about tone and timing Rick. Not to mention he wasn't exactly bullish on our chances come SBC tournament time.

But ALOT(obviously not all) of our RPI issues aren't about us so much as our conference mates. We can't play or schedule for them. When they lose to bad teams it brings us all down. We ended the year right around 100, which is pretty respectable. If we hadn't had so many schools on the bottom dragging the league RPI down we might've had a better seed.

Edited March 25, 2010 by CMJ

Keith7 · March 25, 2010

You guys realize we could also raise our RPI by winning games we are supposed to win i.e. Boise State, FIU and any other Sun Belt game

untgeorge · March 25, 2010

Scheduling below the 150 RPI sounds good, but.............

1. Within our own conference only THREE teams (UNT,Troy & WKU) had better than 150 RPI. Only FIVE (adding muts & Denver) had better than 200.

2. Did a quick check & regional opponents could be kinda sparce using the 150 RPI guideline.

Under 150
Baylor
A&M
Texas
Oklahoma State
UTEP
NMSU
Tulsa
Sam Houston
Texas Tech
LA Tech
Houston
Oklahoma State
SFA (at 151)

Over 150 RPI
Arkansas
TAMU-CC
UTSA
SE Louisiana
SMU
TCU
Texas Southern
UTA
texas State
Tulane
Rice
Houston Baptist
Texas-PanAm

why limit ourselves to regional? MAC, Missouri Valley, Southern regularly have such programs.

CMJ · March 25, 2010

You guys realize we could also raise our RPI by winning games we are supposed to win i.e. Boise State, FIU and any other Sun Belt game

Not always tho. Our RPI went down after some Sunbelt wins.

FirefightnRick · March 25, 2010

You guys realize we could also raise our RPI by winning games we are supposed to win i.e. Boise State, FIU and any other Sun Belt game

I realize it, Mo Green and a few others do as well.

Rick

Quoner · March 25, 2010

I realize it, Mo Green and a few others do as well.

Rick

I had no idea that winning more games would have that effect. That's a pretty enlightened position I'd like to learn more about. I just wish the team was improving on the court and making plans to play better teams the next few years. That'll be the day, right?

Edited March 25, 2010 by Quoner

ColoradoEagle · March 25, 2010

It's a very hard task to win every game you're supposed to win. Raising the RPI of the belt means that when we lose those games we're supposed to win, it'll be a step backwards instead of falling off a cliff.

Edited March 25, 2010 by ColoradoEagle