Basketball adds Chattanooga to schedule
Michigan has added Chattanooga (2017: 8-23, 305 KenPom, 304 RPI) to this season's basketball schedule on 11/23.
Plz create "game the scheduling system" internships asap, Warde.
Yikes. A complete RPI anchor.
Where's Maizen when we don't need him?
That is absolutely an idiotic scheduling move! Dont they fucking get it?
Go check Auburn's 2017-18 non-conference schedule. No anchors, no dangers. A lot of teams between 50 and 150 RPI. THAT is how you schedule "filler" games...
Stupid shit by our athletic dept...
I looked. They played 4 games in the range you gave, and lost one of them (to Temple). Michigan played 3 such teams (@Texas, LSU, VCU) last year. Auburn also played four teams with RPIs over 200, which is the same number that we are predicted to play (including starting the season with Norfolk State, as we will this season). They also completely avoided good teams in their OOC scheduling, with their only top 50 games coming against Middle Tennessee and Murray State. As a result, they had no OOC win to really hang their hat on, which is probably why they got bumped down to a 4 seed as the co-champs of an 8-bid league.
Overall, Auburn had a slightly worse overall record than Michigan and played in a much tougher conference (which they won), and ended up with a lower seed. I don't see how they are the apotheosis of RPI gaming, and it's not an example that justifies your characterization of the athletic department as "stupid" and "idiotic."
Auburn was a #4 seed because they lost 4 of their last 6 games and sucked at end of the season (believe starter was injured). I mean they sucked badly. Their RPI was always high because they didnt play teams like Alabama A&M and their #350 RPI (making them the 2nd worst team in the country).
How goddamn stupid do you have to be to schedule teams like that?
Auburn's RPI was also high before their losing run because they were 21-2.
I understand your point; one of the reasons RPI is falling out of favor is that a team can drop when beating a bad team. However, if you remove Alabama A&M from the schedule and substitute a win over Air Force, for example, Michigan's RPI goes from 12 to 10. Hardly an RPI anchor. Repeat that with the Detroit and UC Riverside games and we're up to 8. Does that change our seed line? Probably not. At best we slide into MSU's spot in Detroit, but I doubt it.
Also keep in mind the 20 game conference schedule is replacing one or two previous tomato cans with conference opponents. So the SOS is going to improve from that alone.
Two other things to consider: cost and team availability. We have 5 guarantee games on the schedule. I would think better teams are more expensive. Also, we were filling a spot on the day after thanksgiving, which limits availability. Three of last year's baby seals were over Christmas break or during finals; same problem.
Overall I just think RPI isn't hugely determinative in seeding, the impact of an RPI 200 vs 300 is overrated, and there are reasons to schedule a couple guaranteed blowouts early in the season. I think Beilein has earned a break from fan bitching about this for a while, especially since the schedule is legitimately harder this year.
RPI gaming is only important if you cannot beat good teams. Michigan last year (everyone bitched about the RPI "anchors") finished 5th in a shitty conference and still got a 3 seed.
I'm thinking Michigan's non-conference schedule ended up being just fine.
Chattanooga actually has a rather prestigious history (at least for Southern Conference). Couple of D-II titles and a boatload of mid-major conference titles
Yeah, they're normally pretty good for their level. Maybe last year was just a one-off. I can't say I'm an expert as to their returning talent in 2018-19.
2 Chattanooga basketball trivia facts:
(1) Chattanooga made the Sweet 16 in 1997 as a #14 seed. They knocked off a pretty good Illinois team along the way to the Sweet 16. That 3rd round game was against played Providence, who advanced that far as a #10 seed. That was the highest ever combined seed match-up for a Sweet 16 game.
(2) Chattanooga also played in the NCAA in 1995. Lost to UConn as a #15 seed. Terrell Owens was on that Chattanooga team.
With that, I am out of Chattanooga basketball trivia facts.
Last year they seemed to go 7-deep, with two freshman, two sophomores, two juniors, and one senior (who was the 7th in the 7-man rotation). The only other two players who seemed to get some amount of meaningful playing tome were also freshman. So while they weren’t good, they could definitely improve this year based on having a more experienced team and not losing much production (assuming there were no transfers). Still shouldn’t be any kind of threat, but it’s readonanly likely they won’t be in the 300s this year. Last year was also the first year of a new coach, so hopefully year 2 of his system helps bring growth as well.
This is a good, and predictable, scheduling move for several reasons:
- It's the day after Thanksgiving, and with The Game in Columbus this year most students won't be on campus, so it's the perfect time to schedule a complete baby seal. It unfortunately conflicts with the home hockey game the same night, but I don't think there's much that can be done about that unless they have the bball game in the afternoon.
- It's a good opportunity to get the freshman some additional run before the home game against UNC. With five freshmen joining the team, these games are valuable ways to get them game experience in low-pressure situations before throwing them into the fire in the conference season.
- Michigan's OOC schedule is still predicted to be tougher than last year's. The Naismith Tip-off is roughly the same level of competition as Maui last year, @Villanova should be similar to last year's @UNC, and you replace the games against UCLA and Texas with games against UNC and South Carolina (though admittedly Texas was a road game). There are only three real tomato cans on the schedule (RPI over 250), compared with four last year, and none anywhere near the awfulness of Alabama A&M, which won its last game to pull ahead of Delaware St. to be the second-worst team in Division 1.
I think we get way too upset about the negative RPI impact these teams cause. Our supposedly terrible RPI-gaming landed us a 3 seed after finishing 5th in a down B1G that only had 4 bids. Also, MSU had a lower RPI than us, and lost to us twice and got the higher placement on the seeding curve (although I'm glad they did, as things worked out). Also, the RPI 100-200 games that everyone seems to want are not the layups that people seem to think. After all, we lost at Northwestern (RPI 168), and we had very uncomfortable wins against Iowa (157), Minnesota (171), and CMU (167). A team like Chattanooga is a 99%+ win, and a team like Western Michigan is more like, say, 92%. Put 5 Westerns on the schedule and there's about a 1 in 3 chance that we lose at least one of those games. More importantly, however, we lose the opportunity to use those games as the scrimmages they are intended to be.
This team will need to break in a very different kind of starting offense, without an outside shooting threat at the 5. Poole and Livers will have to play a much bigger role. The backup PG and center roles are going to be important battles. The freshman need to get playing time, and we need large leads to let them play as much as possible. We need a few tomato cans to work out the kinks before conference play begins.
I can get behind much of your reasoning but the fact remains that any win against a 300ish team will invariably hurt Michigan's tourney resume.
I'd just like to see them pick tomato cans that aren't the very worst tomato cans.
Fair enough. Although 300 is an improvement from 350, at least. And Chattanooga comes from a decent one bid conference, and probably won't be 300 again (it took them going 3-15 in conference to be that low).
Hopefully that starts a great Michigan weekend the 23rd
Based on the comments above, I would swear that most of these people have never followed college hoops around tourney time.
There is absolutely no benefit in scheduling teams higher than a 200 RPI. And above 250 or so is death. NO BENEFIT!
If our team can't beat other filler teams in the 70-199 range - so be it. But quit scheduling those absolute turds. They are RPI killers, and all thingd held equal, will hurt you come seeding time.
70 RPI isn't "filler." 70 was Notre Dame last year. Maryland (a team we needed a miracle to beat at home) was 75, and NIT champ Penn State was 77. Would OSU call Penn State "filler?" For that matter, losing to Rider (RPI 69) may be what kept Penn State out of thie tournament.
I would argue that playing a team around RPI 150 is a no-win situation. They're good enough to have some chance to beat you, and not good enough to help you when you beat them. Ask UNC about Wofford. At least a 200-300 team is a virtually certain win and you get your bench a lot of run, which is very important down the road.
Chattanooga? Call me underwhelmed.
That said, it could be an interesting tune-up game for the rest of the schedule, so call me intrigued at the same time.
Well, if you were wondering why nobody shows up to games I have a theory about that. We had a terrible home slate last year. Tons of dog games in the non conference and no MSU home game.
I read an article that said they lost their top 6 scorers from last year. If that's true they may be one of the worst D1 teams out there.
Choo Choo!!