Judging from the UTEP women's basketball schedule (linked below), it appears CUSA is using the same pod system that the men's basketball teams used last year in conference play (and I would assume that also means the men are using it again for sure in 2019-20 as well). It looks like you play every team once and then have one crossover team (UTEP's is UTSA, so I would imagine ours might be UNT).

I think that's actually pretty good news for the women assuming we're as solid of a team as we anticipate. If we could be in the top pod along with say MTSU (who should be #2 in the preseason polls) and a couple other top 50-100 RPI teams, then that should help our RPI quite a bit.

https://krod.com/utep-womens-basketball-...-schedule/

From the conference web site:

Quote:An 18-game format with traditional play for the first 14 games. Teams play all 13 members at least once and travel partner twice. The conference will predetermine the remaining four games (no later than December 15) with consideration for the most competitive matchups coupled with geographical constraints.

Sounds like a modified pod system.

In contrast, here is the description of the format for Mens BB:

Quote: Teams play 12 members once and their travel partner twice. Following the initial 14 games, teams will be grouped based on their finish and scheduled against four conference opponents in the final three weeks of the season for an 18-game schedule. Potential dates during group play are to be determined.

(07-18-2019 11:20 AM)temchugh Wrote:  From the conference web site:

Quote:An 18-game format with traditional play for the first 14 games. Teams play all 13 members at least once and travel partner twice. The conference will predetermine the remaining four games (no later than December 15) with consideration for the most competitive matchups coupled with geographical constraints.

Sounds like a modified pod system.

So much for Title IX. If we had this system in place in 2018-19, the Pod 1 teams would have been Rice, UAB, MTSU and WKU (ODU and Marshall tied for 5th). In other words, none of the teams are anywhere close to Rice geographically. It would defeat the purpose if Rice ends up playing UNT and Louisiana Tech in a similar scenario in 2019-20.

ETA - and wow I'm just noticing that Dec. 15th disclosure too. How in the world can they predict future standings so early?

I had the same thought about Dec 15. Conference games don’t start until January. I guess you can make the matchups slightly better than you would get from a fixed rotation over the years. But not much better than choosing the extra games in July.

My guess is that this is primarily to help align the men’s and women’s schedules for the first 14 conference games. I.e. men will play at FAU and FIU the same week the the women host those two teams. The was the historical approach but it was not used during the past two seasons.

A. I like it. It will help CUSA with a better chance to get one or more at-large bid(s).

B. Most of the data you need about who is going to be able to use RPI help is in hand by Dec. 15. Between Massey and pseudoRPI, we’ll have a good idea. Look at it a different way, maybe MTSU could have used another game against Rice to help their at-large chances.

C. I think the conference will tilt this toward scheduling strong schools for the top third or half (those who need and care about SoS for NCAA) and more geographic for the others (who cares about RPI if you’re not in contention for the big dance, just play somebody close by or a rival.)

Three pods up from me!