(02-07-2018 01:08 PM)Frank the Tank Wrote:  I think you're sort of acknowledging this with your last sentence, but DePaul's non-conference schedule (despite the statistical SOS numbers) don't really point to a lack of scheduling well. In the non-conference schedule, they had games against Notre Dame, Northwestern, Illinois, Michigan State (as part of the PK80 Tournament) and Oregon (also part of PK80). I wouldn't call that poor scheduling at all. It's just that everyone on that list besides Michigan State has a lot worse RPI than someone scheduling games a year or two ago could have reasonably anticipated.

I'm not sure I'm as sympathetic for DePaul as I would be for Marquette. DePaul rolled the dice with tournaments, and that risk assumption can have a big impact on SOS if you are in the consolation games. Yes, you get Michigan State and Illinois (good on paper, not exactly a consistent name like they once were), and then fall upon Oregon. You don't schedule Northwestern knowing they're the best Big 10 school, though. Notre Dame aside, you know EXACTLY what you get when you schedule Delaware State, Youngstown State, Central Connecticut, UIC, and Bama A&M. Far different than Marquette with Wisconsin, Georgia, and even Vermont (because we know AmEast hoops run through them frequently). Sure, I see Chicago State, EIU, NIU, and American...I'd commend the gamble to get MSM because they've won the NEC within recent memory. DePaul can't be bothered to do even that.

Creighton, still, gets away with pulling off the scam. Getting UCLA and Baylor in tournaments, and Gonzaga in Spokane are respectable. I don't know what they're thinking with the CBE HoF Classic, SIUE, UND, UMES, and USCU. And Nebraska is practically a body-bagger to any other competitive major most years. I'd be interested in knowing where Creighton would be now if UNL was in its usual basement-dwelling form. Creighton really is its wins against Seton Hall, Provy, and Butler so far, with the Big East's massive conference strength bumping up the SOS, and, as a result, the RPI WAY up.