(08-23-2018 06:49 PM)TTT Wrote:  That being said, our home conference schedule is about as good as you could ask for in CUSA: Middle, UAB, WKU, Marshall, La Tech, UTEP. If we can beat some of the upper echelon CUSA teams then our attendance will be night and day difference between the first half and second half of the season.

Not trying to pile on... I know Southern Miss fans are not any happier with this schedule than the rest of the conference BUT this post illustrates exactly the problem with Conference USA basketball. Ya get beat up on the long road trips, you rack up some wins against non D1 opponents that don't count for anything, and then come limping into conference play with a bad win % against D1 opponents. Then you knock off a couple of the top conference teams at home and it counts as bad losses for them. Southern Miss is not alone in this approach and this strategy is exactly why we can't get at large bids and good seeding.

I would get some consultants to look at expanding our "pod" system. How much could it actually benefit us? Could we get the multi bids and better seeding that would pay for expanding the league?

What if we added two basketball only schools for 16... I would suggest Texas Arlington and Belmont. You would have four geographic pods. You play everyone in your pod home and home. Then the top 2 from each pod align together in an "upper division" and the bottom two from each pod align together in a "lower division". You would not play the team from your own pod again. So you play 6 intra pod teams and you play 12 games against your division for a total of 18 conference games.

And then what would be really great is if the MAC would do the same thing and then you would play two final games (home and home with the corresponding MAC team). So the #1 CUSA would play home and home with the #1 MAC team, the #2 CUSA team would play home and home with the #2 MAC team, and so on and so forth. I think those would be exciting games that would generate fan interest.

The tournament would be a 12 team format with all of the upper division teams and the top half of the lower division teams. Top four teams in the upper divison get a bye.

Obviously a system such as this would help the top teams by giving them more opportunities to get quality wins and fewer opportunities for bad losses. But I think this system would also help the bottom teams. If you are a bottom feeder then you can build confidence and fan base by winning against the lower division teams. Being the big fish in a smaller pond can be a program builder. Also if this leads to better seeds, deeper runs in the tournament, and multi bids then increased revenue would benefit ALL CUSA programs.

(08-25-2018 09:53 AM)THUNDERGround Wrote:  

(08-25-2018 09:31 AM)Hilltopper2K Wrote:  

(08-24-2018 10:55 AM)HerdZoned Wrote:  OK here is the reality. Not many schools north of Nashville care about college baseball.

In fairness not many teams south of Nashville care about basketball.

What? You're kidding, right?

Mostly being flippant, yes.

(08-25-2018 10:10 AM)Hilltopper2K Wrote:  

(08-25-2018 09:53 AM)THUNDERGround Wrote:  

(08-25-2018 09:31 AM)Hilltopper2K Wrote:  

(08-24-2018 10:55 AM)HerdZoned Wrote:  OK here is the reality. Not many schools north of Nashville care about college baseball.

In fairness not many teams south of Nashville care about basketball.

What? You're kidding, right?

Mostly being flippant, yes.

Fair enough my man.

(08-25-2018 09:55 AM)WKUYG Wrote:  

(08-25-2018 09:53 AM)THUNDERGround Wrote:  

(08-25-2018 09:31 AM)Hilltopper2K Wrote:  

(08-24-2018 10:55 AM)HerdZoned Wrote:  OK here is the reality. Not many schools north of Nashville care about college baseball.

In fairness not many teams south of Nashville care about basketball.

What? You're kidding, right?

Yeah I think he's a little off on that one....

maybe 25 or 30 years ago but not today.

I dunno. Look at average basketball attendance for like teams (compare P5 to P5 and non P5 to non P5) and I would bet there is still a pretty clear division there. I would suspect that you would see that in our own conference as well.

From another thread:

Middle Tenn 6774
Old Dominion 6346
UTEP 6155
Western Kentucky 5487
Marshall 5485
Charlotte 4008
UAB 3729
La Tech 3447
North Texas 2644
Rice 2295
USM 2139
FIU 1287
FAU 1188
UTSA 1146

There does seem to be a correlation between latitude and basketball attendance.

(08-25-2018 10:17 AM)Hilltopper2K Wrote:  

(08-25-2018 09:55 AM)WKUYG Wrote:  

(08-25-2018 09:53 AM)THUNDERGround Wrote:  

(08-25-2018 09:31 AM)Hilltopper2K Wrote:  

(08-24-2018 10:55 AM)HerdZoned Wrote:  OK here is the reality. Not many schools north of Nashville care about college baseball.

In fairness not many teams south of Nashville care about basketball.

What? You're kidding, right?

Yeah I think he's a little off on that one....

maybe 25 or 30 years ago but not today.

I dunno. Look at average basketball attendance for like teams (compare P5 to P5 and non P5 to non P5) and I would bet there is still a pretty clear division there. I would suspect that you would see that in our own conference as well.

From another thread:

Middle Tenn 6774
Old Dominion 6346
UTEP 6155
Western Kentucky 5487
Marshall 5485
Charlotte 4008
UAB 3729
La Tech 3447
North Texas 2644
Rice 2295
USM 2139
FIU 1287
FAU 1188
UTSA 1146

There does seem to be a correlation between latitude and basketball attendance.

There's a difference between fans and school. Last year in the SEC the top 3 schools all south of Nashville

Auburn
Tennessee
Florida

Texas A&M & Bama made the NCAA Tourney so 5 out of 7 south of Nashville

ACC most of the northern school were at the bottom of the conference

(08-25-2018 10:23 AM)WKUYG Wrote:  

(08-25-2018 10:17 AM)Hilltopper2K Wrote:  

(08-25-2018 09:55 AM)WKUYG Wrote:  

(08-25-2018 09:53 AM)THUNDERGround Wrote:  

(08-25-2018 09:31 AM)Hilltopper2K Wrote:  In fairness not many teams south of Nashville care about basketball.

What? You're kidding, right?

Yeah I think he's a little off on that one....

maybe 25 or 30 years ago but not today.

I dunno. Look at average basketball attendance for like teams (compare P5 to P5 and non P5 to non P5) and I would bet there is still a pretty clear division there. I would suspect that you would see that in our own conference as well.

From another thread:

Middle Tenn 6774
Old Dominion 6346
UTEP 6155
Western Kentucky 5487
Marshall 5485
Charlotte 4008
UAB 3729
La Tech 3447
North Texas 2644
Rice 2295
USM 2139
FIU 1287
FAU 1188
UTSA 1146

There does seem to be a correlation between latitude and basketball attendance.

There's a difference between fans and school. Last year in the SEC the top 3 schools all south of Nashville

Auburn
Tennessee
Florida

Texas A&M & Bama made the NCAA Tourney so 5 out of 7 south of Nashville

ACC most of the northern school were at the bottom of the conference

Fair enough.

(08-25-2018 09:06 AM)TTT Wrote:  

(08-25-2018 03:24 AM)Jack Bauer Wrote:  

(08-24-2018 07:58 PM)Noodles Wrote:  We don't get much in the way of state money. Sometimes we have to make deep cuts to survive. You are witnessing one of those times. We will hold our own in conference play.

As for baseball, USM brings in a fair amount of revenue. It's a very big deal here. Ease up on the disrespect.

It’s actially cheaper to not play the d3 games then. Those are buy games. So your point is moot

Right now, we literally have ZERO value as a bball program thus we have ZERO scheduling power. How do y'all not understand this?! NOBODY wants to play USM! Besides South Alabama, nobody wants to do a H/H with us! There is no benefit in any team in the world playing a H/H with Southern Miss in basketball. Why in the world would any school want to schedule a H/H/ with us!? Sure we could play MORE away OOC but athletic leadership wants AT LEAST a few home OOC games, the cheapest we can afford. It cost more money to fly our guys to a few states away to play another one-off game than what it costs for us to pay William Carey (literally 5 miles from USM campus), Southeastern Baptist (about 20 miles north of USM campus), Rust (small northern MS school), and Millsaps (about 2 hour drive north of USM Campus). We are probably paying PENNIES to have these schools come play us at home JUST so we could have SOME home OOC game....be/c that's our only options...be/c our bball program is broke as a joke. Blows my mind how anyone who's followed USM basketball over the past 4 years doesn't know this already. Why is anyone shocked we have a terrible basketball schedule???!!

There’s nothing stopping USM from swapping 2 of those non-D1 games with H/H series vs a Southland school or some other beatable D1 team.

(08-25-2018 02:15 PM)BeagleUSM Wrote:  

(08-25-2018 09:06 AM)TTT Wrote:  

(08-25-2018 03:24 AM)Jack Bauer Wrote:  

(08-24-2018 07:58 PM)Noodles Wrote:  We don't get much in the way of state money. Sometimes we have to make deep cuts to survive. You are witnessing one of those times. We will hold our own in conference play.

As for baseball, USM brings in a fair amount of revenue. It's a very big deal here. Ease up on the disrespect.

It’s actially cheaper to not play the d3 games then. Those are buy games. So your point is moot

Right now, we literally have ZERO value as a bball program thus we have ZERO scheduling power. How do y'all not understand this?! NOBODY wants to play USM! Besides South Alabama, nobody wants to do a H/H with us! There is no benefit in any team in the world playing a H/H with Southern Miss in basketball. Why in the world would any school want to schedule a H/H/ with us!? Sure we could play MORE away OOC but athletic leadership wants AT LEAST a few home OOC games, the cheapest we can afford. It cost more money to fly our guys to a few states away to play another one-off game than what it costs for us to pay William Carey (literally 5 miles from USM campus), Southeastern Baptist (about 20 miles north of USM campus), Rust (small northern MS school), and Millsaps (about 2 hour drive north of USM Campus). We are probably paying PENNIES to have these schools come play us at home JUST so we could have SOME home OOC game....be/c that's our only options...be/c our bball program is broke as a joke. Blows my mind how anyone who's followed USM basketball over the past 4 years doesn't know this already. Why is anyone shocked we have a terrible basketball schedule???!!

There’s nothing stopping USM from swapping 2 of those non-D1 games with H/H series vs a Southland school or some other beatable D1 team.

First of all, you don't think we're trying to schedule better than Rust and Southeastern Baptist...??? Nobody wants anything to do with us as far as a H/H goes. What does a Southland conference team have to gain by scheduling a H/H with Southern Miss that they couldn't get with a team that's closer and just as good if not better?

clt learned today that Nashville TN, is the equator of college sports

(08-25-2018 04:12 PM)TTT Wrote:  First of all, you don't think we're trying to schedule better than Rust and Southeastern Baptist...??? Nobody wants anything to do with us as far as a H/H goes. What does a Southland conference team have to gain by scheduling a H/H with Southern Miss that they couldn't get with a team that's closer and just as good if not better?

Because those teams are in the same boat as us. They can’t get many teams to play them at home so they load up on non-D1 teams. Schools like SELA and UNO would jump at a H/H with USM.

(08-25-2018 02:15 PM)BeagleUSM Wrote:  

(08-25-2018 09:06 AM)TTT Wrote:  

(08-25-2018 03:24 AM)Jack Bauer Wrote:  

(08-24-2018 07:58 PM)Noodles Wrote:  We don't get much in the way of state money. Sometimes we have to make deep cuts to survive. You are witnessing one of those times. We will hold our own in conference play.

As for baseball, USM brings in a fair amount of revenue. It's a very big deal here. Ease up on the disrespect.

It’s actially cheaper to not play the d3 games then. Those are buy games. So your point is moot

Right now, we literally have ZERO value as a bball program thus we have ZERO scheduling power. How do y'all not understand this?! NOBODY wants to play USM! Besides South Alabama, nobody wants to do a H/H with us! There is no benefit in any team in the world playing a H/H with Southern Miss in basketball. Why in the world would any school want to schedule a H/H/ with us!? Sure we could play MORE away OOC but athletic leadership wants AT LEAST a few home OOC games, the cheapest we can afford. It cost more money to fly our guys to a few states away to play another one-off game than what it costs for us to pay William Carey (literally 5 miles from USM campus), Southeastern Baptist (about 20 miles north of USM campus), Rust (small northern MS school), and Millsaps (about 2 hour drive north of USM Campus). We are probably paying PENNIES to have these schools come play us at home JUST so we could have SOME home OOC game....be/c that's our only options...be/c our bball program is broke as a joke. Blows my mind how anyone who's followed USM basketball over the past 4 years doesn't know this already. Why is anyone shocked we have a terrible basketball schedule???!!

There’s nothing stopping USM from swapping 2 of those non-D1 games with H/H series vs a Southland school or some other beatable D1 team.

and there is the problem most of us are facing. if your trying to schedule guarantee wins, you end up with home schedules like this one. coaches are trying to protect their jobs with as many wins as they can. dont matter if the fans dont want to pay or see non- D1 teams.