(10-16-2018 08:50 AM)BrooklynRocket Wrote: (10-15-2018 10:40 PM)Billy_Bearcat Wrote: I think this is the most even the conference has ever been. That could end up being a detriment if the conference winner ends up with 6 losses in conference.
I don't think that would be too big of an issue as long as the conference improves considerably during OOC play this year.
This is what it boils down to, top to bottom we can't have teams losing their buy games and we need to pick up marquee wins to bolster our conference strength. Also, looking at other AAC teams' OOC schedules, it'd do wonders for our league perception if we could get a tie-in with another reputable conference for OOC games like the B1G/AAC challenge.. I know it's been talked about previously on this board but some of these OOC schedules are flat out bad.
Temple losing to LaSalle and George Washington
USF losing to Morgan St., Elon, App State, and FIU
ECU losing to Radford, Central Connecticut State, Rutgers, NC A&T, Charlotte, UNCW to OT
Tulsa losing to Lamar and Illinois St (twice)
Tulane losing to Georgia State (Tulane actually looked relatively good OOC besides that)
Memphis lost to UAB and a bad Louisville team while not having a great OOC schedule
SMU 3 games stretch of losing to Northern Iowa, then beating #2 Arizona (who turned out to be a bit overrated), only to lose to WKU
UCF and UCONN had a good number of marquee games but lost most of them
I know good teams lose buy games and losses happen but when your OOC schedule strength is bad, you need to get every win you can and bad losses are an anchor to our conference perception. When you get the chance to play a Tier 1 or Tier 2 team you need those wins.