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(01-21-2018 12:59 PM)FearTheLion Wrote:  I don't think any school in CUSA would be interested in a series with the CAA. ODU can schedule all of those tune ups annually anyway.

I'd rather see the our Top 5 playing the A10 or MVC in a series. That's the kind of stuff our conference commissioner should be trying to set up.

It would have to be one that only included the top, say, six or eight teams from each conference since otherwise you'd be getting into some less-than-appealing matchups like FIU-Fordham or Rice-Evansville.

For kicks and giggles, an A-10/CUSA challenge might look like this, taking into account preseason expectations and regional interest when possible:

Davidson vs. Old Dominion
Rhode Island vs. Middle Tennessee
St. Bonaventure vs. North Texas
VCU vs. UAB
Dayton vs. WKU
St. Joseph's vs. Louisiana Tech
St. Louis vs. Southern Miss
George Washington vs. Charlotte
Duquesne vs. Marshall
George Mason vs. Florida Atlantic
Fordham vs. FIU
La Salle vs. UTSA
Richmond vs. Rice
UMass vs. UTEP

Rhode Island vs. Middle Tennessee or WKU would be the obvious headline game. After that, it gets tricky. St. Bonaventure was the clear No. 2 team in the A-10 before the season began, so you'd want to give them a better opponent than North Texas in an ideal world, but doing that knocks a few regionally intriguing (ODU-Davidson, WKU-Dayton, Marshall-Duquesne) and ex-conference-mate (UAB-VCU, Charlotte-GW) from the board. You could easily cut four to six games from that lineup, though both conferences have 14 teams so there's enough for everyone to have a game.

Missouri Valley in its current state isn't very appealing except perhaps for some of the western-facing schools, and even then it's no sure thing: does Missouri State-Middle Tennessee get anyone's blood flowing?

The most logical challenge series, and I doubt anyone wants to hear it, is with the Sun Belt. Off hand:

Old Dominion vs. Georgia State
Middle Tennessee vs. UT Arlington
WKU vs. Louisiana Lafayette
UAB vs. South Alabama
Marshall vs. Georgia Southern
Charlotte vs. Appalachian State
Florida Atlantic vs. Coastal Carolina
FIU vs. Troy
UTEP vs. Texas State
Lousiana Tech vs. Arkansas State
Southern Miss vs. Little Rock
North Texas vs. Louisiana Monroe

Upon further review, not very sexy, even if the Middle Tennessee and WKU games would be low-key good.

I'm not so high on the MVC; I would prefer OVC

(01-21-2018 01:50 PM)CameramanJ Wrote:  I'm not so high on the MVC; I would prefer OVC

Marginally better but honestly outside of Belmont and another crack at Murray State, do any of the OVC's teams appeal to ODU fans? Or fans of schools other than perhaps Middle Tennessee/WKU/Marshall?

I think the problem is the conferences with which we'd like to see challenges (A10, AAC) wouldn't be interested in kind. The better-fitting conferences (CAA, SoCon, MVC, OVC, Sun Belt) have their own issues, either with geography that leaves a large part of the CUSA membership with underwhelming matchups or overall quality.

Good points here. I'd say just showcase the top 5-6 teams in these kinds of matchups to keep them interesting. I put MVC in there because I think those top schools draw so well even after WSU and Creighton left. I'd still like to rumble with UNI, Bradley, Missouri State, or SIU.

Not sure about all this but I would love to see us add a home and home series with teams like Davidson, Rhode Island, St. Joseph and Dayton.
Watched some of Davidson on TV the other night and while it didn't seem like a giant arena, it was packed. Would like to see those teams, I know we have some history with the latter three.

I think Davidson would be a nice draw.

Can someone explain to me why we never play GW? Doesn't make sense to me.

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(01-21-2018 05:25 PM)ODUMONARCHZ1 Wrote:  Can someone explain to me why we never play GW? Doesn't make sense to me.

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No insider knowledge here but looking at their recent schedules, most of their OOC games seem oriented toward the Northeast. In the past three years, their only road OOC games south of the Potomac have been in Florida (FSU, Miami, USF, UCF). The last time they played an OOC game at a non-major Virginia school was JMU in 2012. I suspect they're playing in areas where they get a large number of their students, and in-conference games against George Mason, VCU, Richmond and Davidson get them in front of enough eyes in Virginia and North Carolina.

(01-21-2018 10:51 PM)smudge12 Wrote:  

(01-21-2018 12:59 PM)FearTheLion Wrote:  I don't think any school in CUSA would be interested in a series with the CAA. ODU can schedule all of those tune ups annually anyway.

I'd rather see the our Top 5 playing the A10 or MVC in a series. That's the kind of stuff our conference commissioner should be trying to set up.

I'd like to see bracket busters brought back. I know ESPN used to run it, but I don't see why another network couldn't reignite the concept if the non-power conferences approached them with interest.

I thought CUSA didn't participate in that regardless.

Mid major poll this week:

Thanks for posting that poll 09.

I think we are about right on there, but think MTSU and WKU are a bit low and I'd take UAB and Marshall over most of those teams below us.

(01-22-2018 10:36 AM)EverRespect Wrote:  I think we are about right on there, but think MTSU and WKU are a bit low and I'd take UAB and Marshall over most of those teams below us.

I agree with that analysis.

(01-22-2018 09:48 AM)odu09 Wrote:  Mid major poll this week:

I like FGCU as a long-term bet to be a solid program, but they're way overrated here. 14-8 with losses to FIU, Florida Atlantic, Bowling Green and Oral Roberts and only one decent win (UT Arlington). Odd call to have them ahead of all but three CUSA teams when they're 0-4 against the conference.

Just because I live in the Richmond area and still can't stand them, VCU currently has the 6th best RPI in the state of Virginia. Not too far behind Radford :-)

http://warrennolan.com/basketball/2018/rpi-live

On a side note, that game at the Ted next Thursday is a big one!

(01-22-2018 02:35 PM)Punk Wrote:  Just because I live in the Richmond area and still can't stand them, VCU currently has the 6th best RPI in the state of Virginia. Not too far behind Radford :-)

http://warrennolan.com/basketball/2018/rpi-live

On a side note, that game at the Ted next Thursday is a big one!

I think having the 241st SOS is unacceptable. I get its harder to schedule these day but we have to be in the top 125.

(01-22-2018 02:41 PM)cmett003 Wrote:  

(01-22-2018 02:35 PM)Punk Wrote:  Just because I live in the Richmond area and still can't stand them, VCU currently has the 6th best RPI in the state of Virginia. Not too far behind Radford :-)

http://warrennolan.com/basketball/2018/rpi-live

On a side note, that game at the Ted next Thursday is a big one!

I think having the 241st SOS is unacceptable. I get its harder to schedule these day but we have to be in the top 125.

Is it the scheduler's fault that VCU & UR are having down years and St Bonnie backed out? Could we have done better, yes. But I have a hard time believing the admin had a soft schedule on purpose.

I don't. Anyone could see that this was a pivotal year. An 18 win season would have almost certainly meant JJ's seat would get extremely hot, if not worse.

It's had to tell how certain teams are going to do year after year, but you can be fairly certain that scheduling NSU, Bowling Green, Fairfield, and UMES in the same season is going to be weak sauce. We only had 12 OOC games, and can't afford to have 1/3 of them on this level.

Where is this poll from? CollegeInsiders MM poll doesn't include the CUSA (and thats a good thing)