From reading Benson's interview it is obvious a great deal of discussions are centering around the scheduling issue:

1. Whether of not to go to a 9 game conference FB schedule or remain at 8.

2. Whether to stay with 20 conference basketball games or go to some lesser number

3. How to schedule in basketball to try to get Sun Belt at least in top 15 in RPI

4. How to handle tournaments in various sports--- byes, whether or not to allow all teams to conf. tourney, format.

1. 9
2. play each team twice H/A
3. who wants to play us OOC? Get top teams on the phone and get them scheduled. Get rid of non D1 games, no exceptions
4. Less teams, not more. Bye for 1st place except baseball, softball. Softball needs to cut that crap out they did this year. Double elimination like the rest of the NCAA tourney. Softball/baseball, DE. All the rest, single elimination.

There, problems solved.

I prefer 8. Having 4 OOC games will give teams flexibility to have 6 home games each year. If the concern is FCS games or too many P5 away games put limits on both.

I prefer 18 basketball conference games, no more than one D2 games, and scheduling no OOC games with teams lower than "X" RPI from the prior year would be a goal.

Only allow the top 8 teams in the tourneys, double elim for baseball and softball.

1. 8
2. 20
3. Ban Non D1 games. Limit teams to 2 money games.
4. I like top 8. Keep double bye for Men's Basketball semifinals. Don't like it? Play better.

1. I would stay with 8-- gives teams more flexibility in scheduling non-conference games.
2. I go with double round robin with 11 teams also = 20 conference games. If you are going to only take the top 8 to the tourney then I feel everyone should play everyone home/away
3. Eliminate non D1 games. If you play 20 conference games that only leaves 7 or so games to schedule. Try to schedule teams from higher RPI conferences-- maybe some prohibition on playing teams from with RPI below a certain number.
4.Assuming 11 teams: For basketball I have no problem with 8 making tourney provided double round robin is done. I like the idea of byes the way it was done this year. For softball and baseball--- straight double eliminiation with 8 teams-- 2 pods of 4 teams each

(05-19-2014 09:34 PM)GaSoEagle Wrote:  1. I would stay with 8-- gives teams more flexibility in scheduling non-conference games.
2. I go with double round robin with 11 teams also = 20 conference games. If you are going to only take the top 8 to the tourney then I feel everyone should play everyone home/away
3. Eliminate non D1 games. If you play 20 conference games that only leaves 7 or so games to schedule. Try to schedule teams from higher RPI conferences-- maybe some prohibition on playing teams from with RPI below a certain number.
4.Assuming 11 teams: For basketball I have no problem with 8 making tourney provided double round robin is done. I like the idea of byes the way it was done this year. For softball and baseball--- straight double elimination with 8 teams-- 2 pods of 4 teams each

Pods suck. I like straight DE tourneys. Best baseball tournament I ever attended was 2011. TXST was the 1 seed, lost game 1, came back from the losers bracket, winning 5 straight. Pitching depleted we started our ace closer. He threw a complete game shut-out. That was nerve wracking and thrilling all wrapped into a 4 day run. (8 guys from that team are in minor league systems)

Generally I agree with straight DE baseball tourney but if TV is involved at all they want 1 championship game, not the possibliity of an "if" game.

(05-19-2014 09:06 PM)GaSoEagle Wrote:  From reading Benson's interview it is obvious a great deal of discussions are centering around the scheduling issue:

1. Whether of not to go to a 9 game conference FB schedule or remain at 8.

2. Whether to stay with 20 conference basketball games or go to some lesser number

3. How to schedule in basketball to try to get Sun Belt at least in top 15 in RPI

4. How to handle tournaments in various sports--- byes, whether or not to allow all teams to conf. tourney, format.

1. Eight game schedule, we've got too many games lined up to go to 9.

2. 20 for hoops unless hoops schedules start looking like football schedules and we can trust the coaches to schedule better OOC.

3. Stick with DI games and play an average RPI of 150.

4. Sports with more than 8 teams, limit field to 8. Keep the men's hoops format, move the women to it.

I'm fine with the Sun Belt protecting their top teams in conference tournaments. Gives the regular season more meaning for everyone. The SoCon does a lot of the "everyone gets a trophy" type mess.

I'm in favor of 16 league games in hoops with provisions to limit big money games and NO sub-D1 teams in the regular season. We had seven non-conference MBB games this year and four of them were sub-D1's. FOUR!

(05-19-2014 09:44 PM)CatMom Wrote:  

(05-19-2014 09:34 PM)GaSoEagle Wrote:  1. I would stay with 8-- gives teams more flexibility in scheduling non-conference games.
2. I go with double round robin with 11 teams also = 20 conference games. If you are going to only take the top 8 to the tourney then I feel everyone should play everyone home/away
3. Eliminate non D1 games. If you play 20 conference games that only leaves 7 or so games to schedule. Try to schedule teams from higher RPI conferences-- maybe some prohibition on playing teams from with RPI below a certain number.
4.Assuming 11 teams: For basketball I have no problem with 8 making tourney provided double round robin is done. I like the idea of byes the way it was done this year. For softball and baseball--- straight double elimination with 8 teams-- 2 pods of 4 teams each

Pods suck. I like straight DE tourneys. Best baseball tournament I ever attended was 2011. TXST was the 1 seed, lost game 1, came back from the losers bracket, winning 5 straight. Pitching depleted we started our ace closer. He threw a complete game shut-out. That was nerve wracking and thrilling all wrapped into a 4 day run. (8 guys from that team are in minor league systems)

That's what straight DE is ... Two four-team pods, brackets, groups whatever you want to call them.

(05-19-2014 09:19 PM)CatMom Wrote:  1. 9
2. play each team twice H/A
3. who wants to play us OOC? Get top teams on the phone and get them scheduled. Get rid of non D1 games, no exceptions
4. Less teams, not more. Bye for 1st place except baseball, softball. Softball needs to cut that crap out they did this year. Double elimination like the rest of the NCAA tourney. Softball/baseball, DE. All the rest, single elimination.

There, problems solved.

Who the hell is scheduling Division 2 opponents?

Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk

(05-20-2014 06:33 AM)warhawk09 Wrote:  

(05-19-2014 09:44 PM)CatMom Wrote:  

(05-19-2014 09:34 PM)GaSoEagle Wrote:  1. I would stay with 8-- gives teams more flexibility in scheduling non-conference games.
2. I go with double round robin with 11 teams also = 20 conference games. If you are going to only take the top 8 to the tourney then I feel everyone should play everyone home/away
3. Eliminate non D1 games. If you play 20 conference games that only leaves 7 or so games to schedule. Try to schedule teams from higher RPI conferences-- maybe some prohibition on playing teams from with RPI below a certain number.
4.Assuming 11 teams: For basketball I have no problem with 8 making tourney provided double round robin is done. I like the idea of byes the way it was done this year. For softball and baseball--- straight double elimination with 8 teams-- 2 pods of 4 teams each

Pods suck. I like straight DE tourneys. Best baseball tournament I ever attended was 2011. TXST was the 1 seed, lost game 1, came back from the losers bracket, winning 5 straight. Pitching depleted we started our ace closer. He threw a complete game shut-out. That was nerve wracking and thrilling all wrapped into a 4 day run. (8 guys from that team are in minor league systems)

That's what straight DE is ... Two four-team pods, brackets, groups whatever you want to call them.

Not exactly, but close enough.

(05-19-2014 10:22 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(05-19-2014 09:06 PM)GaSoEagle Wrote:  From reading Benson's interview it is obvious a great deal of discussions are centering around the scheduling issue:

1. Whether of not to go to a 9 game conference FB schedule or remain at 8.

2. Whether to stay with 20 conference basketball games or go to some lesser number

3. How to schedule in basketball to try to get Sun Belt at least in top 15 in RPI

4. How to handle tournaments in various sports--- byes, whether or not to allow all teams to conf. tourney, format.

1. Eight game schedule, we've got too many games lined up to go to 9.

2. 20 for hoops unless hoops schedules start looking like football schedules and we can trust the coaches to schedule better OOC.

3. Stick with DI games and play an average RPI of 150.

4. Sports with more than 8 teams, limit field to 8. Keep the men's hoops format, move the women to it.

I agree with everything you said. I would also extend the men's hoops format to women's hoops, softball and baseball.

(05-20-2014 07:39 AM)Vobserver Wrote:  

(05-20-2014 06:33 AM)warhawk09 Wrote:  

(05-19-2014 09:44 PM)CatMom Wrote:  

(05-19-2014 09:34 PM)GaSoEagle Wrote:  1. I would stay with 8-- gives teams more flexibility in scheduling non-conference games.
2. I go with double round robin with 11 teams also = 20 conference games. If you are going to only take the top 8 to the tourney then I feel everyone should play everyone home/away
3. Eliminate non D1 games. If you play 20 conference games that only leaves 7 or so games to schedule. Try to schedule teams from higher RPI conferences-- maybe some prohibition on playing teams from with RPI below a certain number.
4.Assuming 11 teams: For basketball I have no problem with 8 making tourney provided double round robin is done. I like the idea of byes the way it was done this year. For softball and baseball--- straight double elimination with 8 teams-- 2 pods of 4 teams each

Pods suck. I like straight DE tourneys. Best baseball tournament I ever attended was 2011. TXST was the 1 seed, lost game 1, came back from the losers bracket, winning 5 straight. Pitching depleted we started our ace closer. He threw a complete game shut-out. That was nerve wracking and thrilling all wrapped into a 4 day run. (8 guys from that team are in minor league systems)

That's what straight DE is ... Two four-team pods, brackets, groups whatever you want to call them.

Not exactly, but close enough.

Just gotta argue to argue don't you? Yes, you could seed 1-8 and drop everyone down into one big bracket, but traditional baseball DE tournaments are two brackets or whatever you want to call them.

(05-20-2014 07:41 AM)Vobserver Wrote:  

(05-19-2014 10:22 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(05-19-2014 09:06 PM)GaSoEagle Wrote:  From reading Benson's interview it is obvious a great deal of discussions are centering around the scheduling issue:

1. Whether of not to go to a 9 game conference FB schedule or remain at 8.

2. Whether to stay with 20 conference basketball games or go to some lesser number

3. How to schedule in basketball to try to get Sun Belt at least in top 15 in RPI

4. How to handle tournaments in various sports--- byes, whether or not to allow all teams to conf. tourney, format.

1. Eight game schedule, we've got too many games lined up to go to 9.

2. 20 for hoops unless hoops schedules start looking like football schedules and we can trust the coaches to schedule better OOC.

3. Stick with DI games and play an average RPI of 150.

4. Sports with more than 8 teams, limit field to 8. Keep the men's hoops format, move the women to it.

I agree with everything you said. I would also extend the men's hoops format to women's hoops, softball and baseball.

So you're saying play single elimination baseball & softball tournaments?

(05-20-2014 08:28 AM)warhawk09 Wrote:  

(05-20-2014 07:41 AM)Vobserver Wrote:  

(05-19-2014 10:22 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(05-19-2014 09:06 PM)GaSoEagle Wrote:  From reading Benson's interview it is obvious a great deal of discussions are centering around the scheduling issue:

1. Whether of not to go to a 9 game conference FB schedule or remain at 8.

2. Whether to stay with 20 conference basketball games or go to some lesser number

3. How to schedule in basketball to try to get Sun Belt at least in top 15 in RPI

4. How to handle tournaments in various sports--- byes, whether or not to allow all teams to conf. tourney, format.

1. Eight game schedule, we've got too many games lined up to go to 9.

2. 20 for hoops unless hoops schedules start looking like football schedules and we can trust the coaches to schedule better OOC.

3. Stick with DI games and play an average RPI of 150.

4. Sports with more than 8 teams, limit field to 8. Keep the men's hoops format, move the women to it.

I agree with everything you said. I would also extend the men's hoops format to women's hoops, softball and baseball.

So you're saying play single elimination baseball & softball tournaments?

You'll never see the coaches move to a single elimination format... I could see a more complicated format where portions are single elimination, but judging by the way the round robin format was pretty much universally hated...I don't know if it would work.

(05-20-2014 08:28 AM)warhawk09 Wrote:  

(05-20-2014 07:41 AM)Vobserver Wrote:  

(05-19-2014 10:22 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(05-19-2014 09:06 PM)GaSoEagle Wrote:  From reading Benson's interview it is obvious a great deal of discussions are centering around the scheduling issue:

1. Whether of not to go to a 9 game conference FB schedule or remain at 8.

2. Whether to stay with 20 conference basketball games or go to some lesser number

3. How to schedule in basketball to try to get Sun Belt at least in top 15 in RPI

4. How to handle tournaments in various sports--- byes, whether or not to allow all teams to conf. tourney, format.

1. Eight game schedule, we've got too many games lined up to go to 9.

2. 20 for hoops unless hoops schedules start looking like football schedules and we can trust the coaches to schedule better OOC.

3. Stick with DI games and play an average RPI of 150.

4. Sports with more than 8 teams, limit field to 8. Keep the men's hoops format, move the women to it.

I agree with everything you said. I would also extend the men's hoops format to women's hoops, softball and baseball.

So you're saying play single elimination baseball & softball tournaments?

Perhaps not; I spoke too quickly there. I meant extend the concept of giving byes to top seeded teams. I know we did that in softball this year; would like to see it in baseball as well.

(05-20-2014 08:37 AM)Vobserver Wrote:  

(05-20-2014 08:28 AM)warhawk09 Wrote:  

(05-20-2014 07:41 AM)Vobserver Wrote:  

(05-19-2014 10:22 PM)arkstfan Wrote:  

(05-19-2014 09:06 PM)GaSoEagle Wrote:  From reading Benson's interview it is obvious a great deal of discussions are centering around the scheduling issue:

1. Whether of not to go to a 9 game conference FB schedule or remain at 8.

2. Whether to stay with 20 conference basketball games or go to some lesser number

3. How to schedule in basketball to try to get Sun Belt at least in top 15 in RPI

4. How to handle tournaments in various sports--- byes, whether or not to allow all teams to conf. tourney, format.

1. Eight game schedule, we've got too many games lined up to go to 9.

2. 20 for hoops unless hoops schedules start looking like football schedules and we can trust the coaches to schedule better OOC.

3. Stick with DI games and play an average RPI of 150.

4. Sports with more than 8 teams, limit field to 8. Keep the men's hoops format, move the women to it.

I agree with everything you said. I would also extend the men's hoops format to women's hoops, softball and baseball.

So you're saying play single elimination baseball & softball tournaments?

Perhaps not; I spoke too quickly there. I meant extend the concept of giving byes to top seeded teams. I know we did that in softball this year; would like to see it in baseball as well.

I don't know. The softball tournament was extremely convoluted and hard to figure out. By the time it was designed, ULM was going to have to play 6 games in 4 days to win the thing. That's almost impossible to pull off from a baseball perspective without asking for arm injuries to your pitching staff. Its part of the reason the coaches moved the Championship to Sunday...just to give teams at least a chance to save their arms.

Heck, one of the big reasons we went round robin eventually was because FIU foolishly abused their entire pitching staff to win the league tournament when they had a 2 seed and NCAA Regional Bid locked up either way. Ended up costing them a 2 and BBQ in Regionals.

2. Whether to stay with 20 conference basketball games or go to some lesser number
3. How to schedule in basketball to try to get Sun Belt at least in top 15 in RPI

Strikes me ( and I know NMSU is not of SunBelt BB - yet ) these are mutually exclusive.
More conference games means fewer OOC and less opportunity to improve RPI.

NMSU's non-conference starts with four games against rivals ( home&away with UTEP & UNM ).
That doesn't leave much room for others. Fortunately, UTEP & UNM have been good or decent for RPIs.
But you want your schedule with some patsies ( that you hope your team grows through victory )
as well as top tier teams ( to provide challenge and competition with the best ).

I have no problem with the way the basketball tourney was done this year and would have no problem expanding it to the women's tourney.

In softball and baseball however I favor an 8 team DE tourney-- no byes, no single elimination. I guess if the game is televised we would have to go to the 2 pods of 4 teams each and have the championship game be a single game. Honestly I would rather see 1 8 team DE tourney with no pods however.

The Sun Belt has to be the only conference in the country to have done the softball tourney like it was done this year. I say scrap that format.