The best and worst schedules in women's college basketball

[RSHERMVIKES]

Check this out very interesting IMO:

The best and worst schedules in women's college basketball

Which teams' nonconference schedules will help their NCAA tournament seeding come March? Which teams will wish they had added a marquee game or two?

www.espn.com

 

[Centerstream]

I'm surprised that Charlie included (as #1) LSU in the worst list. No way does their OOC schedule not include some top 150 teams!

 

[Next 12]

Uconn has always had the toughest OOC of all the colleges. This shows Geno exactly what kind of team he will have for the year. Also, it shows him who will be his starting five will be and who will be the best bench players he can count on. So far it has worked pretty well and Geno will not change his way of coaching. This year he will have one of his best team that can suceed in their quest for NC.12. The caveat being injury free. GO HUSKIES!!!!

 

[EricLA]

I liked the article. I like the fact that he acknowledges that even tho LSU win the NC last season, seeding DOES matter and the OOC schedule is a big part of that. Altho he does mention ND possibly beating "top 10 Tennessee". Haven't seen a preseason poll with them in the top 10, but I'll admit I've not searched that hard!

Usually I am pretty hard on Charlie (rightfully so IMHO), but when he gets something right, I ought to acknowledge that too!

 

[JonathanXIV]

What a shock that LSU is on the list of worst out of conference schedules. Last year their OOC schedule was ranked 320(!) Adding a handful of slightly better teams while still including 6 teams outside of the top 300 does little to change the fact that Kim has, once again, put together an embarrassing schedule.

 

[ed4ourgirls]

No doubt Kim schedules a lot of cupcakes because she feels it is best for her team.

But is it good for WCBB? Seems not good to me.

 

[visitingcock]

No doubt Kim schedules a lot of cupcakes because she feels it is best for her team.

But is it good for WCBB? Seems not good to me.

Is it good for the LSU fanbase? Seems not good to me.

If I were a Bayou Bengal, I would be disgruntled. Sure, I would get to see my team play SCar at home this year, but c'mon Barbs.

 

[Rixxx]

Kim has been doing this for years. ( cupcake schedules. See Baylor)

 

[PacoSwede]

what? scar plays nd in PARIS this year. does anybody know the story behind this? is it even true?

 

[sun]

Queens is one of LSU's opponents this year which is a Division 2 team from New York City.
The Queens players must be thrilled to be able to play a game against LSU.
And so should some of the other OOC teams that get to play LSU because they know if they play well enough to win they'll make national headlines.

At least LSU plays SCar which helps UConn fans gauge how strong they are against a common opponent.

LSU SCHEDULE

 

[visitingcock]

Queens is one of LSU's opponents this year which is a Division 2 team from New York City.
The Queens players must be thrilled to be able to play a game against LSU.
And so should some of the other OOC teams that get to play LSU because they know if they play well enough to win they'll make national headlines.

At least LSU plays SCar which helps UConn fans gauge how strong they are against a common opponent.

LSU SCHEDULE

But, we play them after we play you

 

[visitingcock]

Do recruits look at “ How often will I be on TV and how often will I be in the spotlight of big games?” I think it’s a factor.

Sure LSU played in two monster eyeball games last year against SCar in the regular season and against Iowa. But I think top ten prospects want more.

 

[Dillon77]

what? scar plays nd in PARIS this year. does anybody know the story behind this? is it even true?

Paco: his was announced in early April. Here's a link to one story.

https://www.si.com/college/2023/04/12/south-carolina-notre-dame-historic-game-paris-2023-24-season

Come on over to the The General section every so often...it was announced early and often there given it was a non-UConn headline.

 

[TerpWomenFan]

I know they only have 5 on each side but Maryland has a really good schedule this season. Not only they play both UConn and South Carolina this season, they also play PAC 12 tournament champion Washington State. Also, the Terps might have one of the toughest mid-major schedules in the country. Harvard, Green Bay, UMass, Towson and James Madison all could win their conference this season.

 

[sun]

But, we play them after we play you

That doesn't matter.
It would be a gauge of relative strength that mostly benefits the fans & media pundits. but not very useful for the coaching staffs.
The fans would be able to gauge LSU's strength by how well they play against the common opponent.

 

[DEpup]

This is actually on of the more fair and accurate article Charlie has written. Good on him to lead with facts instead of click bait statements.

 

[visitingcock]

Uconn has always had the toughest OOC of all the colleges. This shows Geno exactly what kind of team he will have for the year. Also, it shows him who will be his starting five will be and who will be the best bench players he can count on. So far it has worked pretty well and Geno will not change his way of coaching. This year he will have one of his best team that can suceed in their quest for NC.12. The caveat being injury free. GO HUSKIES!!!!

Always the toughest of all the colleges may carry it a bit a bit too far.

Always among the toughest? Yup.

The toughest on average over the past 20 years. Probably.

However, There are some years in the past ten or so when ours has been as tough or tougher than UConn’s.

In fact, this 23-24 year is very arguable as between South Carolina and UConn. (Now, if Stanford hadn’t cancelled on us . . .) We won’t really know until the end of the season and it will probably be very arguable then . Heck, the loser of our matchup can argue the tougher schedule because the loser will have played the winner,
.
Fearless scheduling by Geno and Dawn keeps our series going and at the top of the list of annual matchups. I think one Philly legend taught a rising one the value of tough scheduling.

Peace Out!

 

[Next 12]

Always the toughest of all the colleges may carry it a bit a bit too far.

Always among the toughest? Yup.

The toughest on average over the past 20 years. Probably.

However, There are some years in the past ten or so when ours has been as tough or tougher than UConn’s.

In fact, this 23-24 year is very arguable as between South Carolina and UConn. (Now, if Stanford hadn’t cancelled on us . . .) We won’t really know until the end of the season and it will probably be very arguable then . Heck, the loser of our matchup can argue the tougher schedule because the loser will have played the winner,
.
Fearless scheduling by Geno and Dawn keeps our series going and at the top of the list of annual matchups. I think one Philly legend taught a rising one the value of tough scheduling.

Peace Out!

I like your assessment and your comments. You always bring a level perspective in your comments. But, Uconn has been a power house for 30 years and without me knowing for sure, I believe Uconn , if counted up, would be far and away with tougher teams than anyone else. That's my belief. I'm pretty sure one of the stats keeppers on the Yard can verify what I've stated. GO HUSKIES!!!!

 

[Next 12]

I like your assessment and your comments. You always bring a level perspective in your comments. But, Uconn has been a power house for 30 years and without me knowing for sure, I believe Uconn , if counted up, would be far and away with tougher teams than anyone else. That's my belief. I'm pretty sure one of the stats keeppers on the Yard can verify what I've stated. GO HUSKIES!!!!

I know that these figures are not accurate, but the general thought is there. With my limited access to the information, I came up with since 1994,Uconn has scheduled 159 OOC games and lost 34. That's pretty darn good, I would say. I'm waiting for more accurate figures from the more talented posters. GO HUSKIES!!!!

 

[mbr33ct]

Queens is one of LSU's opponents this year which is a Division 2 team from New York City.
The Queens players must be thrilled to be able to play a game against LSU.
And so should some of the other OOC teams that get to play LSU because they know if they play well enough to win they'll make national headlines.

At least LSU plays SCar which helps UConn fans gauge how strong they are against a common opponent.

LSU SCHEDULE

It's not the Queens you're talking about...besides they can't play Div 2 teams in regular season, exhibition games yes but not regular season.

 

[Rowdy831]

You have two schools of thought on schedules. The first is I want to challenge my team as much as I can to see where I stand against the best and the second is I need to schedule teams that I can develop my team without the risk of losing a bunch of games. I would add that UCONN plays in a weaker conference than most and uses those early games as a way to level out their strength of schedule for later in the season.

I live in Baton Rouge and the fans are excited about their team and show up regardless of who LSU is playing. I would love UCONN and a couple big names to come down and play but I have to be content with watching a well coached team beat up on lesser teams.

 

[sun]

It's not the Queens you're talking about...besides they can't play Div 2 teams in regular season, exhibition games yes but not regular season.

Thank you very much.
I didn't pay attention to the school logo displayed on the LSU schedule.
I should have verified which school it was by comparing schedules.
I didn't look far enough down the search results of the schools named Queens to see Queens University of Charlotte.

 

[McFly]

Laugh at LSU's schedule all you want, Mulkey is laughing too. All the way to the bank.

 

[hoopsfan22]

Laugh at LSU's schedule all you want, Mulkey is laughing too. All the way to the bank.

2 national championships with 2 different programs in 2 different conferences in the last 4 years speaks for itself. Meanwhile UConn doing the opposite hasn't had a national championship in the better part of a decade.

 

[Bone Dog]

2 national championships with 2 different programs in 2 different conferences in the last 4 years speaks for itself. Meanwhile UConn doing the opposite hasn't had a national championship in the better part of a decade.

Seriously? You think Geno should switch to a creampuff schedule? That can’t be what you mean, but this post sure comes off that way.

Geno is not all about winning championships. It only seems that way sometimes because he’s won so many. But he is first and foremost a teacher. He is focused on building character. He recruits for character (and talent) and he works on character in the 4 years he has them. That’s his legacy. That’s what all the alumni say when asked about their experience at UConn.

You can’t build character with a creampuff schedule. That’s only good for flattering the players. I’d rather watch UConn lose NCs for the next decade than see Geno compromise his principles. I wonder what Kim’s principle is.