Another Elite Team (Miss St) Weak OOC Schedule

[Plebe]

Does everyone see the irony of a Maryland fan sticking up for MSU’s very pathetic schedule? Though, this year there is SC, NC St, Belmont, Clemson and Quinnipiac on the schedule. Then paper teams that on the surface look good but aren’t in GW, JMU and Delaware. Then the bakery cupcakes of Ga St, Loyola and Wagner. That’s actually an outstanding schedule for Brenda! Maybe with a highly hyped team she can validate them. Here’s their schedule

2023-24 Women's Basketball Schedule - University of Maryland Athletics

The official 2023-24 Women's Basketball schedule for the Maryland Terrapins

umterps.com

This has to be the best Maryland OOC schedule in many years. Certainly much better than MSU's.

 

[SECbbfan24]

Maryland is stacked with so much talent. Can Brenda though get them to play to their potential? I really enjoyed watching Mikesell and Austin play last year, both are studs. They bring back Charles, Watson, Jones, then add a crazy good class of freshmen (Owusu, Miller, Young, and Masonius). Hell, Mimi Collins could possibly be eligible if given the go sign by the NCAA.

On paper they are one of the more dangerous teams out there. I just question if the coaches can put all the pieces together. Hopefully they cut down on the turnovers and try to play defense.

 

[MSUFan2003]

Yeah, but you see, when MSU has the weakest schedule of any top 25 team, it's not Vic's fault. It's Geno's because he didn't bow to Vic's demand that he travel to Starkville. Seriously, the MSU fans are never wrong about this kind of stuff.

So I asked one of our beat writers that is close to the team about this because I had never heard anything about it. Per the beat writer, several years ago (before we went to the NC game), we tried to do a home and home with UConn, and it just never worked. The beat writer said he didn't know why other than it just didn't work out.

 

[militarydog]

So I asked one of our beat writers that is close to the team about this because I had never heard anything about it. Per the beat writer, several years ago (before we went to the NC game), we tried to do a home and home with UConn, and it just never worked. The beat writer said he didn't know why other than it just didn't work out.

Unfortunately any type of unbiased discussion has long since passed on this subject. Sometimes it is more productive to just move on.

 

[mbr33ct]

Regarding "this" Miss St vs UConn home 'n home series that never materialized "several years ago", however it has been stated here and other forums the reason was Geno being "stubborn" did not want to travel to Starkville for first game.

I have to believe Vic approached Geno with this request...maybe the conversation went something like this;

Vic: Geno, how about starting a home 'n home series with us?
Geno: Sure Vic it sounds great, is it ok if we start it off at our place?
Vic: cricket cricket

...or the conversation may have gone this way;

Vic: Geno, how about starting a home 'n home series with us with the first game in Starkville.
Geno: cricket cricket

 

[eebmg]

Regarding "this" Miss St vs UConn home 'n home series that never materialized "several years ago", however it has been stated here and other forums the reason was Geno being "stubborn" did not want to travel to Starkville for first game.

I have to believe Vic approached Geno with this request...maybe the conversation went something like this;

Vic: Geno, how about starting a home 'n home series with us?
Geno: Sure Vic it sounds great, is it ok if we start it off at our place?
Vic: cricket cricket

...or the conversation may have gone this way;

Vic: Geno, how about starting a home 'n home series with us with the first game in Starkville.
Geno: cricket cricket

Interesting your versions have the coaches meeting in some secluded field.

Phones are easier.

 

[Dwilliams02]

Does everyone see the irony of a Maryland fan sticking up for MSU’s very pathetic schedule? Though, this year there is SC, NC St, Belmont, Clemson and Quinnipiac on the schedule. Then paper teams that on the surface look good but aren’t in GW, JMU and Delaware. Then the bakery cupcakes of Ga St, Loyola and Wagner. That’s actually an outstanding schedule for Brenda! Maybe with a highly hyped team she can validate them. Here’s their schedule

2023-24 Women's Basketball Schedule - University of Maryland Athletics

The official 2023-24 Women's Basketball schedule for the Maryland Terrapins

umterps.com

They should have scheduled a matchup with each other. MSU/Maryland matchup would definitely boost the strength for both teams.

 

[DefenseBB]

Maryland is stacked with so much talent. Can Brenda though get them to play to their potential? I really enjoyed watching Mikesell and Austin play last year, both are studs. They bring back Charles, Watson, Jones, then add a crazy good class of freshmen (Owusu, Miller, Young, and Masonius). Hell, Mimi Collins could possibly be eligible if given the go sign by the NCAA.

On paper they are one of the more dangerous teams out there. I just question if the coaches can put all the pieces together. Hopefully they cut down on the turnovers and try to play defense.

I think the eligibility of Collins and Westbrook go hand in hand, if one gets it, both with get it. I know Westbrook filed before the coaching change but it was such a s#@t show with Holly, the NCAA should lean favorably towards the student (you know the actual people you should be protecting).
What I don’t get is all these pundits who love UM so much but when you compare the credentials of UM vs. UConn rankings and their accomplishments thus far NEVER mind what Geno/CD have done vs. Brenda, UConn should be ranked higher than the Terps.
In looking at their rosters,
Team .........UM.............UConn
players.........13................11
Top 10 HG......2................5
Top 25............1................1
Top 100.........10...............1
International....1...............2
Unranked........0...............2.
While all USA players were ranked for Maryland (impressive) the top end is thin with 2 (Mikesells freshman year notwithstanding) while UConn’s is loaded.
What Brenda does do well is develop a bench, rotating in 10 players regularly whereas Geno has not. That said, give me UConn, all day, all night and Twice on Sunday.

 

[HuskyNan]

This was covered in the non conference thread. I think Matyland's schedule was listed as well. @Wbbfan1

Why do you have an Elon avatar?

 

[triaddukefan]

Why do you have an Elon avatar?

Well....... since its the off-season...

Well there are 18 schools in NC that play Division I sports.... I root for 17 of them to do well

Figured there are about 17 weeks or so until the preseason starts.... so I change it every week until then. Last week was NCA&T ... this week Campbell.

Figured after a few weeks... that I can keep track of it better if i went from east to west.... last week was NC Central in Durham... before that East Carolina

 

[MSSportsGuy]

I will admit it's a pretty weak schedule for a program that has risen to the level it has and wants to be in conversation for elite recruits and mentioned with the top programs. I tend to think that not all scheduling decisions are based on what the head coach wants but I could be wrong.

I will be very curious to see how MSU does this season with so many new faces. It seems they played well overall in the overseas tournament and the freshmen were good contributors. I expected more out of Mya Taylor last season than I saw but there is still time for her to improve. Hopefully Bibby comes back strong and Promise Taylor is able to step in for T and be a force.

 

[MSUFan2003]

Promise Taylor is a bit of a mystery to me at this point. Are we even sure she will be able to practice when the team comes back to campus? No one knows exactly what type of foot injury she has.

I think Vic wanted Morris because he didn't know when/if Promise would be 100%. I would not bank on her being the one to replace T's production at this point. Bibby's recovery has been a lot more transparent.

 

[militarydog]

Promise Taylor is a bit of a mystery to me at this point. Are we even sure she will be able to practice when the team comes back to campus? No one knows exactly what type of foot injury she has.

I think Vic wanted Morris because he didn't know when/if Promise would be 100%. I would not bank on her being the one to replace T's production at this point. Bibby's recovery has been a lot more transparent.

Yeah I’m trying not to read too much into things but the information on C Bibby’s recovery and return has been a lot more clear than the status of P Taylor. Coach Schaefer has been a lot more guarded in his comments regarding the status and projected return date for P Taylor.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

You can't argue with Vic's results. I don't doubt his coaching and ability to develop players. That said I do think it would be a helluva lot more beneficial to challenge your team during the OOC slate. Not saying you need to go on murder row and have all these top 10 matchups but challenge yourself with a solid core of top 25/top 50 teams. It is also good for fans and WBB in general. A top ten team beating up on sisters of the poor is not very exciting from a fan perspective. What does that prove as well?

Yes I am sure certain programs probably didn't have room to squeeze in games due to some of the OOC matchups being set up way ahead of time. I just find it hard to believe State couldn't get better teams on schedule. That is 100% on Vic.

South Carolina used to have an elite baseball program that rarely travelled in the non-conference aside from two games of its rivalry series and rarely even brought in a challenging opponent.

The justification was always the difficulty of the SEC schedule, the need for a non-revenue sport to have as many well attended home games as possible, and the luxury of deploying the full roster in somewhat loss stress dates.

I never really bought it, but it worked for us. I feel like it was a missed opportunity and despite probably (definitely) being the best program in the country for a period of time, I'm not sure the program got its due even within the conference. But they have the two NCs and the CWS's nonetheless.

That seems like what Miss State is doing. I just think it's short changing fans. You have the chance to be on big spotlights and instead you're whipping up on some poor cupcake and being overlooked.

 

[mbr33ct]

 

[Carnac]

I know Bibby and Taylor by their number, who is girl #3?

Girl # 3 is former UConn recruit Andrea Espinosa-Hunter

MSST 2019-2020 Women's BB roster

 

[DefenseBB]

South Carolina used to have an elite baseball program that rarely travelled in the non-conference aside from two games of its rivalry series and rarely even brought in a challenging opponent.

The justification was always the difficulty of the SEC schedule, the need for a non-revenue sport to have as many well attended home games as possible, and the luxury of deploying the full roster in somewhat loss stress dates.

I never really bought it, but it worked for us. I feel like it was a missed opportunity and despite probably (definitely) being the best program in the country for a period of time, I'm not sure the program got its due even within the conference. But they have the two NCs and the CWS's nonetheless.

That seems like what Miss State is doing. I just think it's short changing fans. You have the chance to be on big spotlights and instead you're whipping up on some poor cupcake and being overlooked.

Umm, not sure the two correlate. SC baseball is still awesome! Most southern teams host the Northern Teams in the Feb/early March time frame as the northern teams need to get games in warmer weather. The weekends are for conference series and the 1 weekday game is for a local game usually. Plus BB has 25-28 players to travel and pay lodging for vs. 12-14 for basketball. One game in Hoop and 2/3 games for Baseball. BB also plays 50+ games vs. 28 in Hoop (before conference tourney and NCAA tournament). BTW I love that SC baseball facility and they are still a top team. Keep the Faith!

 

[Dwilliams02]

With the success of UConn over the last 20 years (and especially the last six, being the weak AAC), UConn fans have gotten use to their team playing a very challenging non-conference schedule. Because of the extremely weak competition in the AAC, UConn is forced to load up on top ranked opponents in the preseason, because they won't face any during conference play.

That philosophy has worked well for UConn lately. Don't forget that UConn is the only top 15 team in a non P5 conference. Women's College Basketball Rankings - Postseason

As stated by other posters, the other top ranked programs don't have to load up their OOC schedule with the heavyweights that UConn does. They see multiple top ranked teams during the regular season. Kim Mulkey and Baylor is consistently chided here in the yard for the embarrassingly weak schedule she consistently crafts every year, but she gets away with it.

She only scheduled 11 OOC games last year (below), all but two were home games at the Ferrell Center on campus. Their only loss was a road game to Stanford that Mulkey did not attend because of a family emergency. In spite of her insistence of playing a "soft" schedule to begin the season, Baylor has done well over this time, and getting deep into the post season, finally winning it all last year.

For years I was critical of her scheduling preferences. That was when I was looking at it from a fan's point if view. Once I began to look at it from a "coach's" point of view, it made more sense. Her goal is two fold at the beginning of the year. To get her freshmen and transfers up to speed as quickly as possible learning how to play "Baylor-ball", and not to lose any games in the process.

View attachment 45374

Baylor has become a "destination " for a lot of Texas high school athletes. Mulkey has been able to keep some of the top talent at home. Some folks may not like her coaching or scheduling methods. That's OK, she's not trying to win friends or fans, just championships.

I don't find last year's schedule to be soft. I mean had Texas lived up to their rankings, then their schedule would have looked stronger. This year schedule is indeed soft, but playing UConn, and SC give them some competitiveness.

 

[Plebe]

She only scheduled 11 OOC games last year (below), all but two were home games at the Ferrell Center on campus. Their only loss was a road game to Stanford that Mulkey did not attend because of a family emergency. In spite of her insistence of playing a "soft" schedule to begin the season, Baylor has done well over this time, regularly getting deep into the post season, and finally winning it all last year.

For years I was critical of her scheduling preferences. That was when I was looking at it from a fan's point if view. Once I began to look at it from a "coach's" point of view, it made more sense. Her goal is two fold at the beginning of the year. To get her freshmen and transfers up to speed as quickly as possible learning how to play "Baylor-ball", and not to lose any games in the process.

Just a minor edit: Mulkey was at the Stanford game last year. You're probably thinking of their loss to UCLA the previous year (Nov. 2017), when Mulkey missed the trip due to her family emergency.

The 2018-19 season was an anomaly in terms of Baylor's nonconference SOS in recent years.
Baylor's OOC SOS ranking by year (based on RPI):

2013: 1​

2014: 107​

2015: 46​

2016: 34​

2017: 76​

2018: 73​

2019: 4​

It's notable that in Griner's senior year (2012-13), Mulkey scheduled way up in her OOC (including games against Kentucky, Stanford, Tennessee, Notre Dame and UConn). In the following 5 seasons, she intentionally swung the pendulum to the soft side, and the criticism was certainly warranted. Last year's OOC schedule was a major upgrade from previous years.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

Umm, not sure the two correlate. SC baseball is still awesome! Most southern teams host the Northern Teams in the Feb/early March time frame as the northern teams need to get games in warmer weather. The weekends are for conference series and the 1 weekday game is for a local game usually. Plus BB has 25-28 players to travel and pay lodging for vs. 12-14 for basketball. One game in Hoop and 2/3 games for Baseball. BB also plays 50+ games vs. 28 in Hoop (before conference tourney and NCAA tournament). BTW I love that SC baseball facility and they are still a top team. Keep the Faith!

South Carolina baseball is not still awesome, but certainly hope it gets back there.

There are other baseball programs that do tournaments and have a challenging non-conference in preseason. Of course having a barnstorming series against another top 25 program in Clemson every year is always the counter. But historically, South Carolina schedules three other teams whose RPIs are in the high 200s to 300s.

 

[Gamecockfan77]

Just a minor edit: Mulkey was at the Stanford game last year. You're probably thinking of their loss to UCLA the previous year (Nov. 2017), when Mulkey missed the trip due to her family emergency.

The 2018-19 season was an anomaly in terms of Baylor's nonconference SOS in recent years.
Baylor's OOC SOS ranking by year (based on RPI):

2013: 1​

2014: 107​

2015: 46​

2016: 34​

2017: 76​

2018: 73​

2019: 4​

It's notable that in Griner's senior year (2012-13), Mulkey scheduled way up in her OOC (including games against Kentucky, Stanford, Tennessee, Notre Dame and UConn). In the following 5 seasons, she intentionally swung the pendulum to the soft side, and the criticism was certainly warranted -- especially in 2016 to 2018, when. Last year's OOC schedule was a major upgrade from previous years.

My question is did scheduling down really help Baylor much? What is the most it did? Save them from a big loss or two?

 

[Bayloralum]

My question is did scheduling down really help Baylor much? What is the most it did? Save them from a big loss or two?

Well, Baylor made it to 4 elite 8’s from 2014-17 with a weak OOC schedule so I say it was still good

 

[JonathanXIV]

Well, Baylor made it to 4 elite 8’s from 2014-17 with a weak OOC schedule so I say it was still good

Disagree. Would Baylor not have made the Elite 8 (which is aiming too low for a team of Baylor's pedigree) if they had a more challenging OCC? I don't think so. They would have been fine. Bluntly, I find Kim only scheduling tough teams when she feels she has the advantage as cynical and beneath a top coach and program.

 

[Bayloralum]

Disagree. Would Baylor not have made the Elite 8 (which is aiming too low for a team of Baylor's pedigree) if they had a more challenging OCC? I don't think so. They would have been fine. Bluntly, I find Kim only scheduling tough teams when she feels she has the advantage is cynical and beneath a top coach and program.

Yeah I don’t know why baylor’s Schedule this year isn’t as strong as last year. We have a great team returning and we are defending champions! Oh well