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A question was asked on Facebook that caused me to do a little research and the results are interesting. The question was "how many P5 teams have been to Bartow since it opened?

Here are the results

not counting conference teams who became P5 teams or Big East teams, and not counting post season NIT games

Gene Bartow era

1 in 1988-89 when it opened with Vanderbilt.
3 in 1989-90 - Oregon, Penn State and Arkansas
1 in 1990-91 - Auburn
1 in 1991-92 - Minnesota
2 in 1992-93 - Mississippi State and Auburn
0 in 1993-94
1 in 1994-95 - Auburn
0 in 1995-96

Murry Bartow era
1 in 1996-97 - Auburn
1 in 1997-98 - Vanderbilt
0 in 1998-99
0 in 1999-00
0 in 2000-01
0 in 2001-02

Mike Anderson era
1 in 2002-03 - Mississippi State
1 in 2003-04 - LSU
1 in 2004-05 - Nebraska
1 in 2005-06 - Oklahoma State

Mike Davis era
1 in 2006-07 - Minnesota
0 in 2007-08
0 in 2008-09
1 in 2009-10 - Georgia
0 in 2010-11
0 in 2011-12

Jarod Haase era
0 in 2012-13
1 in 2013-14 - North Carolina
1 in 2014-15 - LSU
0 in 2015-16

Rob Ehsan era
1 in 2016-17 - Auburn
0 in 2016-17

To me, it is clear that with the exception of Gene Bartow and his connections and Mike Anderson, with Nolan's connections, no one has been very successful.

Anderson also had the benefit of a better league to be associated with.

True, but that didn't help Murry, so I suspect that Nolan's connections was the difference.

I’m sure it did as well as winning over 20 games a season and going to post season every year. One of the reasons MTSU has been able to schedule better is their post season success. Had they had mediocre records they would be in the same boat as us.


Thanks for what you put up.

Still no excuse to have the worst ooc in conference

(12-27-2017 08:46 PM)Blazer88 Wrote:  Still no excuse to have the worst ooc in conference

I don't know why that happened, but I think it is a one year aberration. Memphis was not expected to be as bad as they are. Auburn may be better than originally thought. Chattanooga was not as good as they were a year or so ago. I suspect some other games fell through, and we ended up matched with the worst possible combination of games in the Cayman tournament. If we had beaten Richmond, we would have gotten Cincinnati and our schedule would not have been as bad.

Murry played Indiana at the then-BJCC.

(12-27-2017 08:58 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  

(12-27-2017 08:46 PM)Blazer88 Wrote:  Still no excuse to have the worst ooc in conference

I don't know why that happened, but I think it is a one year aberration. Memphis was not expected to be as bad as they are. Auburn may be better than originally thought. Chattanooga was not as good as they were a year or so ago. I suspect some other games fell through, and we ended up matched with the worst possible combination of games in the Cayman tournament. If we had beaten Richmond, we would have gotten Cincinnati and our schedule would not have been as bad.

The problem is deliberately scheduling:

Jacksonville
Lemoyne Owen
Mississippi College
Alabama A&M (in the double header with Au!)
Miss Valley State

Why not games from a pool of teams like the following - schools that have and will play us:

Belmont (Ohio Valley)
Lipscomb (Atlantic Sun)
Ga Southern (Sun Belt)
Illinois State (Missouri Valley)
William & Mary (Colonial)
George Washington (Atlantic 10)

(12-27-2017 08:58 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  

(12-27-2017 08:46 PM)Blazer88 Wrote:  Still no excuse to have the worst ooc in conference

I don't know why that happened, but I think it is a one year aberration. Memphis was not expected to be as bad as they are. Auburn may be better than originally thought. Chattanooga was not as good as they were a year or so ago. I suspect some other games fell through, and we ended up matched with the worst possible combination of games in the Cayman tournament. If we had beaten Richmond, we would have gotten Cincinnati and our schedule would not have been as bad.

In 2017 we were 196th SOS which was 7th in conference.

So mediocre in a very bad conference = not much better

In 2016 we are same very very bad spot as the year

SOS 335 and LAST in CUSA

Apparently -We just do not give a damn

(12-27-2017 10:01 PM)58-56 Wrote:  Murry played Indiana at the then-BJCC.

Yeah, I know, but I stuck with the parameters of the question presented. The P5 teams that had played at Bartow since Bartow opened. There were some Auburn games played at BJCC as well.

(12-27-2017 10:14 PM)Dragonz Lair Wrote:  

(12-27-2017 08:58 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  

(12-27-2017 08:46 PM)Blazer88 Wrote:  Still no excuse to have the worst ooc in conference

I don't know why that happened, but I think it is a one year aberration. Memphis was not expected to be as bad as they are. Auburn may be better than originally thought. Chattanooga was not as good as they were a year or so ago. I suspect some other games fell through, and we ended up matched with the worst possible combination of games in the Cayman tournament. If we had beaten Richmond, we would have gotten Cincinnati and our schedule would not have been as bad.

The problem is deliberately scheduling:

Jacksonville
Lemoyne Owen
Mississippi College
Alabama A&M (in the double header with Au!)
Miss Valley State

Why not games from a pool of teams like the following - schools that have and will play us:

Belmont (Ohio Valley)
Lipscomb (Atlantic Sun)
Ga Southern (Sun Belt)
Illinois State (Missouri Valley)
William & Mary (Colonial)
George Washington (Atlantic 10)

Since the beginning, we have had teams on the schedule like that first group. That deliberate scheduling has always happened to fill out a home schedule. Again, why there were more than normal this year, I don't know, but I suspect it wasn't the original plan.

Some of the teams in the second group (George Washington, Illinois State, Belmont) are able to schedule home and homes against P5 teams, so why bother with CUSA schools. I was there in person when George Washington hosted Miami. I read where Illinois State was able to schedule a home and home with Mississippi simply because they share the memory of Torey Ward. Andy has shown no interest in playing us, and we have already scheduled a home and home with Illinois State (beat them home and away), so maybe they don't want to schedule us again. Not sure why you think William and Mary or Georgia Southern would be strong draws.

And also, I don't like playing non D1 teams as much as anyone, but playing teams like Mississippi College and Lemoyne Owen is better for our RPI than playing sub 300 RPI teams because they don't factor into the RPI.

(12-27-2017 10:56 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  And also, I don't like playing non D1 teams as much as anyone, but playing teams like Mississippi College and Lemoyne Owen is better for our RPI than playing sub 300 RPI teams because they don't factor into the RPI.

Sure, but it generates negative fan interest to play non-d1 games.

Fans should go to see the Blazers play, not the opponent.

(12-27-2017 11:40 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  Fans should go to see the Blazers play, not the opponent.

that kind of thinking has us averaging how many fans? Did memphis even break 4000?

(12-27-2017 11:45 PM)Dracorex Wrote:  

(12-27-2017 11:40 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  Fans should go to see the Blazers play, not the opponent.

that kind of thinking has us averaging how many fans? Did memphis even break 4000?

Plus 100. You aren't going to generate any new fans for the future or generate any interest whatsoever with current fans with mediocre results with an abysmal schedule.

Also, not sure what the point of the post was, but who is asking for more than maybe the occasional power conference team to come play us at Bartow?? We can still have very good OOC schedules without playing power conference teams at home.

(12-27-2017 08:17 PM)ATTALLABLAZE Wrote:  I’m sure it did as well as winning over 20 games a season and going to post season every year. One of the reasons MTSU has been able to schedule better is their post season success. Had they had mediocre records they would be in the same boat as us.


Thanks for what you put up.

There are other teams in "the same boat as us" or actually significantly worse than us that have much better schedules that we do. How do you explain that?

(12-27-2017 11:40 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  Fans should go to see the Blazers play, not the opponent.

That’s a hard sell for anybody who isn’t a hardcore fan. A 67-66 game against a decent opponent is a game people want to see. A 30 point thrashing of the swac isn’t.

(12-28-2017 12:05 AM)The Answer UAB Wrote:  

(12-27-2017 11:45 PM)Dracorex Wrote:  

(12-27-2017 11:40 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  Fans should go to see the Blazers play, not the opponent.

that kind of thinking has us averaging how many fans? Did memphis even break 4000?

Plus 100. You aren't going to generate any new fans for the future or generate any interest whatsoever with current fans with mediocre results with an abysmal schedule.

Also, not sure what the point of the post was, but who is asking for more than maybe the occasional power conference team to come play us at Bartow?? We can still have very good OOC schedules without playing power conference teams at home.

The point of the post was someone asked me a question on Facebook that I researched and found interesting, so I put it here as well.

(12-27-2017 10:56 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  

(12-27-2017 10:14 PM)Dragonz Lair Wrote:  

(12-27-2017 08:58 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  

(12-27-2017 08:46 PM)Blazer88 Wrote:  Still no excuse to have the worst ooc in conference

I don't know why that happened, but I think it is a one year aberration. Memphis was not expected to be as bad as they are. Auburn may be better than originally thought. Chattanooga was not as good as they were a year or so ago. I suspect some other games fell through, and we ended up matched with the worst possible combination of games in the Cayman tournament. If we had beaten Richmond, we would have gotten Cincinnati and our schedule would not have been as bad.

The problem is deliberately scheduling:

Jacksonville
Lemoyne Owen
Mississippi College
Alabama A&M (in the double header with Au!)
Miss Valley State

Why not games from a pool of teams like the following - schools that have and will play us:

Belmont (Ohio Valley)
Lipscomb (Atlantic Sun)
Ga Southern (Sun Belt)
Illinois State (Missouri Valley)
William & Mary (Colonial)
George Washington (Atlantic 10)

Since the beginning, we have had teams on the schedule like that first group. That deliberate scheduling has always happened to fill out a home schedule. Again, why there were more than normal this year, I don't know, but I suspect it wasn't the original plan.

Some of the teams in the second group (George Washington, Illinois State, Belmont) are able to schedule home and homes against P5 teams, so why bother with CUSA schools. I was there in person when George Washington hosted Miami. I read where Illinois State was able to schedule a home and home with Mississippi simply because they share the memory of Torey Ward. Andy has shown no interest in playing us, and we have already scheduled a home and home with Illinois State (beat them home and away), so maybe they don't want to schedule us again. Not sure why you think William and Mary or Georgia Southern would be strong draws.

And also, I don't like playing non D1 teams as much as anyone, but playing teams like Mississippi College and Lemoyne Owen is better for our RPI than playing sub 300 RPI teams because they don't factor into the RPI.

The main reason I picked these schools (and there are many others like them) is because of current RPI...and yes some of them get an occasional P5 to play at their place but just like us they have a BUNCH of other slots to fill in their non-conf schedule...our SOS would not be 337 if we played these teams or teams like them...with a road warrior game thrown in here or there...nobody has all the answers but I believe this would be a step in the right direction

Belmont = RPI 69
Lipscomb = RPI 24
Ga Southern = RPI 93
Illinois State = RPI 66
William & Mary = RPI 64
George Washington = RPI 163

(12-28-2017 01:51 AM)Dragonz Lair Wrote:  

(12-27-2017 10:56 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  

(12-27-2017 10:14 PM)Dragonz Lair Wrote:  

(12-27-2017 08:58 PM)Memphis Blazer Wrote:  

(12-27-2017 08:46 PM)Blazer88 Wrote:  Still no excuse to have the worst ooc in conference

I don't know why that happened, but I think it is a one year aberration. Memphis was not expected to be as bad as they are. Auburn may be better than originally thought. Chattanooga was not as good as they were a year or so ago. I suspect some other games fell through, and we ended up matched with the worst possible combination of games in the Cayman tournament. If we had beaten Richmond, we would have gotten Cincinnati and our schedule would not have been as bad.

The problem is deliberately scheduling:

Jacksonville
Lemoyne Owen
Mississippi College
Alabama A&M (in the double header with Au!)
Miss Valley State

Why not games from a pool of teams like the following - schools that have and will play us:

Belmont (Ohio Valley)
Lipscomb (Atlantic Sun)
Ga Southern (Sun Belt)
Illinois State (Missouri Valley)
William & Mary (Colonial)
George Washington (Atlantic 10)

Since the beginning, we have had teams on the schedule like that first group. That deliberate scheduling has always happened to fill out a home schedule. Again, why there were more than normal this year, I don't know, but I suspect it wasn't the original plan.

Some of the teams in the second group (George Washington, Illinois State, Belmont) are able to schedule home and homes against P5 teams, so why bother with CUSA schools. I was there in person when George Washington hosted Miami. I read where Illinois State was able to schedule a home and home with Mississippi simply because they share the memory of Torey Ward. Andy has shown no interest in playing us, and we have already scheduled a home and home with Illinois State (beat them home and away), so maybe they don't want to schedule us again. Not sure why you think William and Mary or Georgia Southern would be strong draws.

And also, I don't like playing non D1 teams as much as anyone, but playing teams like Mississippi College and Lemoyne Owen is better for our RPI than playing sub 300 RPI teams because they don't factor into the RPI.

The main reason I picked these schools (and there are many others like them) is because of current RPI...and yes some of them get an occasional P5 to play at their place but just like us they have a BUNCH of other slots to fill in their non-conf schedule...our SOS would not be 337 if we played these teams or teams like them...with a road warrior game thrown in here or there...nobody has all the answers but I believe this would be a step in the right direction

Belmont = RPI 69
Lipscomb = RPI 24
Ga Southern = RPI 93
Illinois State = RPI 66
William & Mary = RPI 64
George Washington = RPI 163

Maybe these teams do not want the RPI drag of playing us ?