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Not a bad schedule

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delish1

Sophomore
Feb 4, 2004
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This looks like a pretty solid schedule for a team with aspirations of a high seed. There's no top teams on it but only four teams that will likely end up in the 200s or higher of the RPI (I didn't research it but I feel there's usually a couple more). There's a lot more games in the 150-200 range which I think is the sweet spot for not dragging down the RPI even with wins. The conference season will provide enough chances for truly big wins.

Here are the teams with last year's final RPI (out of 351) if anyone is interested

NC A&T 340 (Grambling St. dead last)
Vermont 181
ODU 41
Florida/St Joe's 69/179
Incarnate Word 173
Lehigh 176
Pitt 78
New Mexico 175
IUPUI 275
Howard 253
Youngstown St 296
Butler 30
Vandy 88
 
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Wish it was a bit stronger for a team that should gel early. Hard to say we are a top 25 team without top 25 teams to face in non-conference.
 
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Pretty unimpressive and boring if you ask me. The headline when I came here today was "Vanderbilt highlights non-conference". Seriously? A bad SEC team is the highlight of the schedule during a year where we have FF aspirations? Would like to see us schedule some top 15 type teams to see how we match up and what we need to work on if we ever want to make a deep run.
 
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JohnHoosierr said:
Pretty unimpressive and boring if you ask me. The headline when I came here today was "Vanderbilt highlights non-conference". Seriously? A bad SEC team is the highlight of the schedule during a year where we have FF aspirations? Would like to see us schedule some top 15 type teams to see how we match up and what we need to work on if we ever want to make a deep run.
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Yes, we should learn from MSU and build in some better teams early on.
 
Vanderbilt's not bad, but I get your point of wanting bigger "name" opponents.

You can look at it this way: if some of the returning guys are improved and new guys are as good or better than expected, plus the team is really clicking early on, they could be looking pretty good going into conference play.
 
delish1 said:
This looks like a pretty solid schedule for a team with aspirations of a high seed. There's no top teams on it but only four teams that will likely end up in the 200s or higher of the RPI (I didn't research it but I feel there's usually a couple more). There's a lot more games in the 150-200 range which I think is the sweet spot for not dragging down the RPI even with wins. The conference season will provide enough chances for truly big wins.

Here are the teams with last year's final RPI (out of 351) if anyone is interested

NC A&T 340 (Grambling St. dead last)
Vermont 181
ODU 41
Florida/St Joe's 69/179
Incarnate Word 173
Lehigh 176
Pitt 78
New Mexico 175
IUPUI 275
Howard 253
Youngstown St 296
Butler 30
Vandy 88
Click to expand...
I will first say I'm not a season ticket holder for basketball, so my opinion shouldn't carry all that much weight. But if I were a basketball ticket holder, I think I'd be pretty bummed. The ODU game should be a good challenge early. And hopefully Purdue gets Florida and not St. Joes. There's a solid road challenge in Pitt, and a later road test at Vandy. And the Crossroads Classic is a terrific event and I love to attend (although Purdue has struggled mightily in it). But... those are all away from Mackey and there is no marquee home game to speak of. The best team being brought in that season ticket holders will get to see is going to be a 150 - 200 ranked team?

I can appreciate that scheduling is not easy since a couple games are booked a year to two in advance, not to mention you don't know about possible NBA entrants until 6 weeks before the schedule has to be nearly finalized. But someone in the athletic department has got to be doing some scenario planning and thinking about this with some contingencies lined up. This just can't happen that a pre-season top-25 team with some hype for a strong season has no pre-B1G home games with anyone below the 150-200 range. I could see an exception if the athletic department got the team into one of the big early tournaments like the Atlantis event, Champions Classic, etc. where there are a couple really dynamite opponents, but that's not the case w/ the HoF Classic. Overall, I like that there are 2 quality road games which should hopefully help season the team for things to come, but to me the home slate is a big disappointment.
 
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cprh9u said:
Wish it was a bit stronger for a team that should gel early. Hard to say we are a top 25 team without top 25 teams to face in non-conference.
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I agree it leaves a lot to be desired, but I don't agree with the second comment. You guys are close if not in the preseason polls already. As long as you all keep winning, the rankings will take care of themselves. Just don't drop any OOC games that will look bad on the resume.
 
My thought is that its a good schedule.
You aren't going to get top-tier teams to come in here. It's very hard to do that. If you play the Kentuckys and Dukes of the world, it's going to be at a neutral site of their choice basically. That's just the way it is.
Getting decent programs in New Mexico and Vanderbilt to come in here is pretty good actually. Vandy is 17th in Goodman's top 25 already. New Mexico is a good program and will be much better this year. Vermont and Lehigh are solid programs.

For comparison, Duke's home schedule last year was: Presbyterian, Fairfield, Furman, Army, Elon, Toledo and Wofford. Its one true road game was at Wisconsin (ACC / Big Ten Challenge).

Kentucky's this year is Albany, NJIT, Wright State, Boston U., Illinois State, Eastern Kentucky, Arizona State, Louisville (in-state rivals that do home-and-homes). Road games at UCLA (return game) and at Kansas (SEC / Big 12 Challenge).

Scheduling is hard to do, especially when you need to fill home games.
 
I think this schedule is one game away from being the type of schedule I would like to see. Replace Howard with a team like Xavier or Cincinnati and I'd be pleased.
 
I think with the strength of the BT you wouldn't want to play a NC schedule so tough that if we have a slow start or not come together or whatever that you kill yourself with losses. Losses are losses regardless. Wins are wins. It hurts more to lose a game than it helps to win one.
 
kevindub said:
I think with the strength of the BT you wouldn't want to play a NC schedule so tough that if we have a slow start or not come together or whatever that you kill yourself with losses. Losses are losses regardless. Wins are wins. It hurts more to lose a game than it helps to win one.
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I don't disagree entirely with what you're saying. You're coming at this more from a win/loss, etc. standpoint though. I was giving more of the consumer perspective for season ticket holders. I wasn't suggesting Purdue should try to schedule a roundrobin of the proverbial "who's who" of college teams for 5-6 home games. I was saying that as a top 25 team with some hype - for which the athletic department should be tying to capitalize on a little - those in charge of scheduling kind of laid an egg. Again, talking exclusively about home games. Season ticket holders won't see a quality game at home.

To your point, I don't think anyone believes Purdue is anywhere close to a bubble team this year, so it's less important to have as many baked-in wins, IMO. And I don't think anyone needs to be reminded that there's no such thing as a gimme win anyway after 2 forgettable home losses last year. So it's not like a bumpkin games are totally risk-free. Look how long it took Purdue to climb back in to the tournament discussion last year are the Gardner Webb game and whoever that other nobody was. At one point late in the year, I think Purdue was sitting at 2nd in B1G and Lunardi and company had the team as one of last 4 out. Based on that, you can make a pretty good case that scheduling losers can have dire consequences if something goes wrong. If those 2 loses were to respectable mid-major teams (even ones that Purdue should have still beaten), they wouldn't have been nearly as damning on RPI, NCAA seeding, etc. So I see where you're coming from, but I disagree a little with the "losses are losses" comment; not all losses are equal.
 
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Statey said:
I don't disagree entirely with what you're saying. You're coming at this more from a win/loss, etc. standpoint though. I was giving more of the consumer perspective for season ticket holders. I wasn't suggesting Purdue should try to schedule a roundrobin of the proverbial "who's who" of college teams for 5-6 home games. I was saying that as a top 25 team with some hype - for which the athletic department should be tying to capitalize on a little - those in charge of scheduling kind of laid an egg. Again, talking exclusively about home games. Season ticket holders won't see a quality game at home.
Click to expand...

You will see a top-20 team in Vanderbilt.
I am not sure about who you want to bring in? Top-10 teams won't come here next year. Very few teams play big-time, marquee games at home.

Look at Duke's home schedule last year. If you were a season-ticket holder, how does that get you excited?

Michigan State's was Loyola, Santa Clara, Ark-Pine Bluff, Oakland, Eastern Michigan, Texas Southern, Citadel.

Among Big Ten teams only (best home game & outside of ACC / Big Ten Challenge):
Illinois: Georgia Southern
Indiana: SMU
Iowa: Iowa State (rotate home-and-home every year)
Maryland: N.C. Central
Mich. State: Eastern Michigan or Santa Clara
Michigan: SMU
Minnesota: Western Kentucky
Nebraska: Cincinnati or Creighton
Northwestern: North Florida or Central Michigan
Ohio State: Marquette
Penn State: George Washington
Rutgers: George Washington
Wisconsin: Boise State or Buffalo

I'll put Vandy AND New Mexico against any of those (except Iowa State).
 
Lehigh will not be bad, Tim Kempton was the Patriot League Frosh of the year 2 yrs. ago, and they got Matt Holba this year.
 
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I don't know about playing North Carolina on an aircraft carrier in front of the President of the US like MSU did, but our non-conference schedule needs to get better. Who in the hell is Incarnate Word?
 
skfboiler said:
I don't know about playing North Carolina on an aircraft carrier in front of the President of the US like MSU did, but our non-conference schedule needs to get better. Who in the hell is Incarnate Word?
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Private school in the San Antonio area...only been D-1 for a couple of years. They also have a good pharmacy program, fwiw.
 
cprh9u said:
Yes, we should learn from MSU and build in some better teams early on.
Click to expand...

Easier said than done.

These days, the preseason tournaments that you enter are locked in pretty decently in advance. For example, people complained about our non-conference schedule last year - well, the Maui Invitational had some really good programs in it, those programs just weren't having good years (i.e. BYU has been a fairly regular NCAA team, K-State and Mizzou have both been pretty consistently good, etc.). Vandy was a team that had been pretty regularly to the NCAAs, etc.

With our tournament this year, it's of course no Maui Invitational, but Florida is a team that was a preseason top 10 team and the year before, finished #3. So you're thinking that game is one against a probable top 25 team. Obviously things have changed at Florida in a very short time.

When it comes to scheduling the bigger teams the year before, it takes a lot for a Purdue type of team. Usually really good teams only want to play other "really" good teams - particularly with home/homes. Why? Because they don't want blemishes. If Ohio State plays at Villanova and they lose, it's not going to affect them at all. If Ohio State plays at a more inconsistent team and they lose - and that team goes on to have a losing season, it's gonna be a bad loss.

We also aren't on the list of teams participating this year in the new Big Ten/Big East series - which obviously doesn't guarantee a great game if you play DePaul - but it's a major conference with some good teams. They just only have 10 teams.

So I agree that it'd be good to have more "depth" to our non-conference schedule, but I understand how difficult it is. This would be a great season to be playing in a tournament like Maui, unfortunately you can't plan that the year of when you know you want a tournament like that and have a team that could do really well. The downside is it puts a lot of pressure on you to win the few games that do stand out - like a Florida match-up, beating Butler, etc. And it also puts pressure not to have any bad losses. Michigan State had bad losses last year - but they got covered up by having a super tough schedule and some good wins.
 
our chance to play a marquee team was in the ACC/BIG challenge. We drew Pitt, like others have said UoL would have made sense considering how both teams finished conference play last year, and geographic proximity.
We need to steam roll this schedule and I honestly think this team could go undefeated going into conference play.
Conference play will be a grinder with possibly 6 teams in the top 25 this year. This team will get tested
 
PurdueCF12 said:
You will see a top-20 team in Vanderbilt.
I am not sure about who you want to bring in? Top-10 teams won't come here next year. Very few teams play big-time, marquee games at home.
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PurdueCF12 said:
Look at Duke's home schedule last year. If you were a season-ticket holder, how does that get you excited?

Michigan State's was Loyola, Santa Clara, Ark-Pine Bluff, Oakland, Eastern Michigan, Texas Southern, Citadel.
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PurdueCF12 said:
Among Big Ten teams only (best home game & outside of ACC / Big Ten Challenge):

Northwestern: North Florida or Central Michigan
Ohio State: Marquette
Penn State: George Washington
Rutgers: George Washington
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My mistake, I didn't realize Vandy was supposed to be that good this year. I thought they were more/less a .500 SEC team last year. If they are top-25, then you're right, that is a good get for a home game.

I don't think you can compare to Duke and MSU though. Like I said in my first post, in my mind I can kind of give a pass on a poor home line-up if the team is really testing themselves in an early tourney. I think Duke and MSU did the Champions event or Atlantis last year if I'm remembering right. Those events are great early season tests. It's extremely hard to do that AND schedule top teams at home too, I realize that.

And I get that it's natural to look at the rest of the B1G, but I personally don't care what Penn State, Rutgers, or Northwestern are doing. Purdue is better than that. IMO, who Rutgers basketball decides to schedule in hoops is in no way a relevant measuring stick for Purdue. Purdue's goals are to win the B1G and make a run in the NCAAs. Rutger's goal is to not be last in the conference.
 
This is the schedule whether we like it or not. Just dominate each pre-con opponent, especially freeking Butler, while developing a solid rotation, and roll in league play with confidence and poise regardless of our ranking, ready to kick some butt.
 
Major programs want way more money to play. It's not that easy to get them to come. I remember when Keady scheduled a team called Gonzaga and people had no idea who they were other than the school that produced John Stockton. Now the Zags would want major money to play road games.
 
BoilerinLouisville said:
our chance to play a marquee team was in the ACC/BIG challenge. We drew Pitt, like others have said UoL would have made sense considering how both teams finished conference play last year, and geographic proximity.
We need to steam roll this schedule and I honestly think this team could go undefeated going into conference play.
Conference play will be a grinder with possibly 6 teams in the top 25 this year. This team will get tested
Click to expand...
Don't underestimate Coach Dixon, just like don't estimate Coach Painter. Dixon need sds to figure out a few issues from last year, but the Pete is usually a tough place to play. I expect it to be a good test for the Boilers
 
kevindub said:
I think they were the team that beat OSU or MSU last year.
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Nebraska was the Big Ten team that Incarnate Word beat last season. Michigan State was beaten by Texas Southern (coached by Mike Davis). I don't think Ohio State had any really "bad losses".
 
As others have said on here, no marquee team is going to come and play at Purdue next year or even the year after in the preseason. It's all about playing lesser schools and hope you don't get burned so that you can pad your wins.
 
Statey said:
I don't think you can compare to Duke and MSU though. Like I said in my first post, in my mind I can kind of give a pass on a poor home line-up if the team is really testing themselves in an early tourney. I think Duke and MSU did the Champions event or Atlantis last year if I'm remembering right. Those events are great early season tests. It's extremely hard to do that AND schedule top teams at home too, I realize that.

And I get that it's natural to look at the rest of the B1G, but I personally don't care what Penn State, Rutgers, or Northwestern are doing. Purdue is better than that. IMO, who Rutgers basketball decides to schedule in hoops is in no way a relevant measuring stick for Purdue. Purdue's goals are to win the B1G and make a run in the NCAAs. Rutger's goal is to not be last in the conference.
Click to expand...

Maybe so, but the "Champions Classic" is Kentucky, Michigan State, Kansas, Duke. You can't really help the field of the neutral-site exempt tournaments (MSU played in the Old Spice Classic -- that we played in 2013; played Rider, Marquette, Kansas). Neither of those teams were in Atlantis since that is a preseason tournament. No one is scheduling high-profile games without it being a tournament or a "Made for TV ESPN event". To get two teams like Vanderbilt and New Mexico to come to Mackey is really impressive to me. For what it is worth, MSU played Duke, Rider, Marquette, Kansas, at Notre Dame (ACC / Big Ten) and at Navy to round out their non-conf. schedule.

And I understand your point about comparing to Rutgers, Penn State, Northwestern, etc... But I was also comparing to the Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesotas, etc.... I would put our schedule against any of theirs.
 
PurdueCF12 said:
Maybe so, but the "Champions Classic" is Kentucky, Michigan State, Kansas, Duke. You can't really help the field of the neutral-site exempt tournaments (MSU played in the Old Spice Classic -- that we played in 2013; played Rider, Marquette, Kansas). Neither of those teams were in Atlantis since that is a preseason tournament. No one is scheduling high-profile games without it being a tournament or a "Made for TV ESPN event". To get two teams like Vanderbilt and New Mexico to come to Mackey is really impressive to me. For what it is worth, MSU played Duke, Rider, Marquette, Kansas, at Notre Dame (ACC / Big Ten) and at Navy to round out their non-conf. schedule.

And I understand your point about comparing to Rutgers, Penn State, Northwestern, etc... But I was also comparing to the Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesotas, etc.... I would put our schedule against any of theirs.
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OSU will be playing Memphis, UCONN, Kentucky, and Virginia. Sorry, but Vanderbilt and New Mexico as our top opponents is not impressive at all nor exciting. Especially with the type of team we'll have next year.
 
JohnHoosierr said:
OSU will be playing Memphis, UCONN, Kentucky, and Virginia. Sorry, but Vanderbilt and New Mexico as our top opponents is not impressive at all nor exciting. Especially with the type of team we'll have next year.
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Not playing them at home though. Would you rather actually see the team play or have us play in front of 4,000 people at Madison Square Garden? Plus you forgot to add Butler (23rd last year), Florida (45th last year) and Pittsburgh on the road. Traditionally, very strong programs.

And OSU's schedule was garbage last year, but kudos to them upping the ante some. FWIW, there are UConn's (81) and Memphis' (89) RPIs from last year.

We can't control the "ESPN made-for-TV games" that about 6-8 schools get to compete in each year. So for that, I think we have compensated pretty good.
 
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