socaltownie said:

---

The magic wand can not be waved and you don't KNOW how awful some of these teams will be. Again, a problem on the west coast is that it is hard to predict with clarity the teams that are going to be in the #200 sweet spot. To be snarky - didn't really work out for Cal to schedule UCSD as a cream puff. Are we on a 2 or 3 game losing streak against the Tritons. SDSU would have been a bad luck scchedule this year - likely requiring a home and home. Some years losing to them isn't bad, this year would SUCK given their struggles. You can do the same thought exercise with St. Marys or USF.

Now I will concede that I am not sure why not more San Jose States, Pacific, maybe USD, probably SaC state. Those should serve as the core. But scheduling is hard and who knows, they might not have been available OR they could have demanded home and home. The teams on our schedule are likely pay to play folks.

And I would assume 1/3 to 1/2 of those games are Fox legacy matchups. We are blaming the powers that be about Domincan - might have been a deal done 3 years ago.

---

Teams in the West with the easiest Non-conference SOS:

Hawaii (I think we can agree has a much bigger scheduling issue than anyone) - 364
Cal -338
Air Force - 327
Wyoming - 326
Grand Canyon - 320
Loyola Marymount - 306
UCLA - 288
South Dakota - 282


Major teams:

Cal - 338
UCLA - 288
Stanford - 253
Washington - 223
Colorado - 207
Utah - 198
USC - 179
Oregon - 131
Arizona - 100
Nevada - 99
Byu - 96
St. Mary's -81
Arizona State -67
SDSU - 31
Gonzaga =24

We are 50 points worse than the next major team from the west. We didn't just miss by a little. This is the common theme - we are completely incompetent and then the excuses come - "ya never know what difficulties there were" They are supposed to figure out the difficulties. And this wasn't a case where they made a slightly worse schedule than everyone. They made a much worse schedule than the next worst.

I'm not pointing a finger at any individual or "this regime" because I don't know who made the schedule. I'm saying whoever did failed. It is rare for basketball games to be scheduled 3 years in advance, it is unlikely a game like Dominican would be scheduled that far in advance, and I guarantee you if the new regime came in and said - what the hell? We are playing Dominican in 3 years - I don't think we are going to do that. It would be fixed. In any case, I'm not blaming someone specifically, but whether they did it intentionally or got stuck with it, scheduling a DII opponent at a 1700 student private school in a small town that barely knows the school exists is incompetence and never should happen. Because you guys are not from here and don't know who Dominican is, you are acting like it is Wright State or something. You aren't listening to people from the area who know Dominican and who are flabbergasted by this.

UCLA with a worse record, who lost to us, and who has a 288 nonconference strength of schedule, the second worst SOS among major teams in the west, is ranked 33 to our 73. Obviously they performed better in most games as well, but we are giving up ranking just by sheer incompetence in scheduling.

BearlyCareAnymore said:

---

socaltownie said:

---

The magic wand can not be waved and you don't KNOW how awful some of these teams will be. Again, a problem on the west coast is that it is hard to predict with clarity the teams that are going to be in the #200 sweet spot. To be snarky - didn't really work out for Cal to schedule UCSD as a cream puff. Are we on a 2 or 3 game losing streak against the Tritons. SDSU would have been a bad luck scchedule this year - likely requiring a home and home. Some years losing to them isn't bad, this year would SUCK given their struggles. You can do the same thought exercise with St. Marys or USF.

Now I will concede that I am not sure why not more San Jose States, Pacific, maybe USD, probably SaC state. Those should serve as the core. But scheduling is hard and who knows, they might not have been available OR they could have demanded home and home. The teams on our schedule are likely pay to play folks.

And I would assume 1/3 to 1/2 of those games are Fox legacy matchups. We are blaming the powers that be about Domincan - might have been a deal done 3 years ago.

---

Teams in the West with the easiest Non-conference SOS:

Hawaii (I think we can agree has a much bigger scheduling issue than anyone) - 364
Cal -338
Air Force - 327
Wyoming - 326
Grand Canyon - 320
Loyola Marymount - 306
UCLA - 288
South Dakota - 282


Major teams:

Cal - 338
UCLA - 288
Stanford - 253
Washington - 223
Colorado - 207
Utah - 198
USC - 179
Oregon - 131
Arizona - 100
Nevada - 99
Byu - 96
St. Mary's -81
Arizona State -67
SDSU - 31
Gonzaga =24

We are 50 points worse than the next major team from the west. We didn't just miss by a little. This is the common theme - we are completely incompetent and then the excuses come - "ya never know what difficulties there were" They are supposed to figure out the difficulties. And this wasn't a case where they made a slightly worse schedule than everyone. They made a much worse schedule than the next worst.

I'm not pointing a finger at any individual or "this regime" because I don't know who made the schedule. I'm saying whoever did failed. It is rare for basketball games to be scheduled 3 years in advance, it is unlikely a game like Dominican would be scheduled that far in advance, and I guarantee you if the new regime came in and said - what the hell? We are playing Dominican in 3 years - I don't think we are going to do that. It would be fixed. In any case, I'm not blaming someone specifically, but whether they did it intentionally or got stuck with it, scheduling a DII opponent at a 1700 student private school in a small town that barely knows the school exists is incompetence and never should happen. Because you guys are not from here and don't know who Dominican is, you are acting like it is Wright State or something. You aren't listening to people from the area who know Dominican and who are flabbergasted by this.

UCLA with a worse record, who lost to us, and who has a 288 nonconference strength of schedule, the second worst SOS among major teams in the west, is ranked 33 to our 73. Obviously they performed better in most games as well, but we are giving up ranking just by sheer incompetence in scheduling.

---

Grrr...Since this is your issue let me suggest the following.....

1) Why did Cal not go to an invitational tournie this year? Rules? Budget? just bad luck? I know in the past there were rules about "every other year"

2) I would focus on P4s in the Pacific Time zone. UCLA is essentially in rounding error to us.

3)_ Furd played 2 MWC schools and a WCC one. Otherwise their schedule isn't that dissimilar (2 P4s and then smattering of Big Sky schools). I would also point out that they had to play a home and home against SJSU and were 4 points away from a CRUSHING loss given likely where SJSU finishes. That saint louis 1 point win also is pretty worrisome - though the SLU isn't historically a program that will finish with 20Ls.

3) Oregon played a brutal schedule and is 7 and 6 for it. That is the Altman approach but that has to be concerning as they now go into a pretty loaded B1G.

4) Washington played 4 P4s by my count. 9 and 4 aint "bad" but especially the L to Seattle - a home and home - has to sting come March.

It is a balance. I am not going to defend Dominican but I also think there is a backstory. Makes no sense compared to, for example, scheduling Davis or a D2 from CSU so I have to figure there is SOMETHING there. Maybe BI staff can put their journalism hats on and ask. Simple question.

5) Bigger picture I am fine with THIS program at THIS TIME of playing cupcakes. My god, we had an entire roster that way new. The ONLY way we could POSSIBLY hope to compete in the mid ACC was by getting game time in against teams we had more talent than. It also is the case that our lack of depth means that practices just are not that competitive. I mean who guards Dort?

6) And finally, worrying about SOS feels like it is fairly strange THIS YEAR. I mean it would be wonderous if the Bears snuck in as the last 4 in or got the play in game. That would be a nice little note of progress. But they are not getting a 4 seed. They are not winning the ACC. They probably will NOT make the tournament. Instead, it feels, lets hope they get ONE signature upset to get fans excited, that Madsen can raise $$$ to retain some guys longer than 1 year to build some fan connection and that Y4 we have progress.

Or join my in my mild membership in "Should have hired the kicker" cause JP had a connection to a donor who at least some rumors (not all but some) was fully capable and willing of writing an 8 figure check to help him succeed. We/Knowlton chose a different route and cest la vi.

The comments above are well thought out.

A couple of my arguments against playing too soft a preconference schedule:

• You can't really evaluate how good a team (either talent or scheme) you have by the start of the ACC conference.
• Your players (particularly transfers from less competitive conferences) don't get acclimated to the pace and style of ACC teams. A Duke may not have this problem as practices are likely very competitive but Cal doesn't have bench players who can provide this competition in practice.

Without understanding all the complexities of scheduling, I'd like to see something like games 1-6 against cupcakes and games 3-12 against better UC's (SD, Irvine, SB), CSU's, local WCC teams. And I still think some kind of pre-conference tournament with local schools and maybe a former Pac12 school could be a winner.

socaltownie said:

---

BearlyCareAnymore said:

---

socaltownie said:

---

The magic wand can not be waved and you don't KNOW how awful some of these teams will be. Again, a problem on the west coast is that it is hard to predict with clarity the teams that are going to be in the #200 sweet spot. To be snarky - didn't really work out for Cal to schedule UCSD as a cream puff. Are we on a 2 or 3 game losing streak against the Tritons. SDSU would have been a bad luck scchedule this year - likely requiring a home and home. Some years losing to them isn't bad, this year would SUCK given their struggles. You can do the same thought exercise with St. Marys or USF.

Now I will concede that I am not sure why not more San Jose States, Pacific, maybe USD, probably SaC state. Those should serve as the core. But scheduling is hard and who knows, they might not have been available OR they could have demanded home and home. The teams on our schedule are likely pay to play folks.

And I would assume 1/3 to 1/2 of those games are Fox legacy matchups. We are blaming the powers that be about Domincan - might have been a deal done 3 years ago.

---

Teams in the West with the easiest Non-conference SOS:

Hawaii (I think we can agree has a much bigger scheduling issue than anyone) - 364
Cal -338
Air Force - 327
Wyoming - 326
Grand Canyon - 320
Loyola Marymount - 306
UCLA - 288
South Dakota - 282


Major teams:

Cal - 338
UCLA - 288
Stanford - 253
Washington - 223
Colorado - 207
Utah - 198
USC - 179
Oregon - 131
Arizona - 100
Nevada - 99
Byu - 96
St. Mary's -81
Arizona State -67
SDSU - 31
Gonzaga =24

We are 50 points worse than the next major team from the west. We didn't just miss by a little. This is the common theme - we are completely incompetent and then the excuses come - "ya never know what difficulties there were" They are supposed to figure out the difficulties. And this wasn't a case where they made a slightly worse schedule than everyone. They made a much worse schedule than the next worst.

I'm not pointing a finger at any individual or "this regime" because I don't know who made the schedule. I'm saying whoever did failed. It is rare for basketball games to be scheduled 3 years in advance, it is unlikely a game like Dominican would be scheduled that far in advance, and I guarantee you if the new regime came in and said - what the hell? We are playing Dominican in 3 years - I don't think we are going to do that. It would be fixed. In any case, I'm not blaming someone specifically, but whether they did it intentionally or got stuck with it, scheduling a DII opponent at a 1700 student private school in a small town that barely knows the school exists is incompetence and never should happen. Because you guys are not from here and don't know who Dominican is, you are acting like it is Wright State or something. You aren't listening to people from the area who know Dominican and who are flabbergasted by this.

UCLA with a worse record, who lost to us, and who has a 288 nonconference strength of schedule, the second worst SOS among major teams in the west, is ranked 33 to our 73. Obviously they performed better in most games as well, but we are giving up ranking just by sheer incompetence in scheduling.

---

Grrr...Since this is your issue let me suggest the following.....

1) Why did Cal not go to an invitational tournie this year? Rules? Budget? just bad luck? I know in the past there were rules about "every other year"

2) I would focus on P4s in the Pacific Time zone. UCLA is essentially in rounding error to us.

3)_ Furd played 2 MWC schools and a WCC one. Otherwise their schedule isn't that dissimilar (2 P4s and then smattering of Big Sky schools). I would also point out that they had to play a home and home against SJSU and were 4 points away from a CRUSHING loss given likely where SJSU finishes. That saint louis 1 point win also is pretty worrisome - though the SLU isn't historically a program that will finish with 20Ls.

3) Oregon played a brutal schedule and is 7 and 6 for it. That is the Altman approach but that has to be concerning as they now go into a pretty loaded B1G.

4) Washington played 4 P4s by my count. 9 and 4 aint "bad" but especially the L to Seattle - a home and home - has to sting come March.

It is a balance. I am not going to defend Dominican but I also think there is a backstory. Makes no sense compared to, for example, scheduling Davis or a D2 from CSU so I have to figure there is SOMETHING there. Maybe BI staff can put their journalism hats on and ask. Simple question.

5) Bigger picture I am fine with THIS program at THIS TIME of playing cupcakes. My god, we had an entire roster that way new. The ONLY way we could POSSIBLY hope to compete in the mid ACC was by getting game time in against teams we had more talent than. It also is the case that our lack of depth means that practices just are not that competitive. I mean who guards Dort?

6) And finally, worrying about SOS feels like it is fairly strange THIS YEAR. I mean it would be wonderous if the Bears snuck in as the last 4 in or got the play in game. That would be a nice little note of progress. But they are not getting a 4 seed. They are not winning the ACC. They probably will NOT make the tournament. Instead, it feels, lets hope they get ONE signature upset to get fans excited, that Madsen can raise $$$ to retain some guys longer than 1 year to build some fan connection and that Y4 we have progress.

Or join my in my mild membership in "Should have hired the kicker" cause JP had a connection to a donor who at least some rumors (not all but some) was fully capable and willing of writing an 8 figure check to help him succeed. We/Knowlton chose a different route and cest la vi.

---

You guys are making me bang my head against a wall. I have not suggested playing a difficult schedule at all. To the contrary, I've said we should play an easy schedule. A smart easy schedule. Do not play #361 or Dominican when you could have played #300 and #301 instead and been at no risk. You guys keep responding by saying we should play a difficult schedule. Duh.

I listed the west coast teams because you claimed that it is difficult to schedule in the West but that doesn't bear out.

Your comments about UCLA and Stanford ARE EXACTLY THE POINT. UCLA is in rounding error territory? They are 50 ranking points ahead of us. That isn't rounding error. Stanford isn't that dissimilar? They are 85 ranking points ahead of us. But that is exactly what I'm talking about. They are playing a schedule that is equally challenging yet ranked much higher. We should be playing UCLA's schedule or Stanford's schedule. You are barely upping your risk of losing and you are gaining a lot in the ranking analysis.

You should be worried about strength of schedule EVERY year in the sense that you should be maximizing the ranking within the scope of winnable games. Not saying to play Michigan. Saying, play Northern Arizona instead of Dominican, SJSU instead of Bakersfield, Eastern Washington instead of Northwestern State, San Diego instead of Morgan State, Portland instead of Presbyterian.

This is a team that MAY (yet to be seen) be good enough to barely squeak into the tourney. That would be massive for this program and really help with next year's recruiting. It would be much more than a nice little note on progress. Our non-conference schedule may be requiring us to win 2 more conference games to do that. for no reason. They don't need to win the ACC or get a 4 seed. And healthy programs don't say "yeah, but that won't matter". They maximize everything because you don't know what will matter. No one should take a lazy approach to scheduling because they don't think it will matter. If SOS knocks out of the tournament, that is a firable offense.

There is also something to be said for being at least somewhat challenged to make your team better. I don't take the same negative vibes from the Dominican performance that m2 did. The team treated it like a joke. I normally am a "treat every game with 100% importance" guy, but c'mon. It was a joke like a high school team playing a bunch of 5th graders. The team treating it like a joke for 28 minutes and then blowing their doors off might have been the appropriate response for making them play that game. We shouldn't be playing games like that.

BearlyCareAnymore said:

---

socaltownie said:

---

BearlyCareAnymore said:

---

socaltownie said:

---

The magic wand can not be waved and you don't KNOW how awful some of these teams will be. Again, a problem on the west coast is that it is hard to predict with clarity the teams that are going to be in the #200 sweet spot. To be snarky - didn't really work out for Cal to schedule UCSD as a cream puff. Are we on a 2 or 3 game losing streak against the Tritons. SDSU would have been a bad luck scchedule this year - likely requiring a home and home. Some years losing to them isn't bad, this year would SUCK given their struggles. You can do the same thought exercise with St. Marys or USF.

Now I will concede that I am not sure why not more San Jose States, Pacific, maybe USD, probably SaC state. Those should serve as the core. But scheduling is hard and who knows, they might not have been available OR they could have demanded home and home. The teams on our schedule are likely pay to play folks.

And I would assume 1/3 to 1/2 of those games are Fox legacy matchups. We are blaming the powers that be about Domincan - might have been a deal done 3 years ago.

---

Teams in the West with the easiest Non-conference SOS:

Hawaii (I think we can agree has a much bigger scheduling issue than anyone) - 364
Cal -338
Air Force - 327
Wyoming - 326
Grand Canyon - 320
Loyola Marymount - 306
UCLA - 288
South Dakota - 282


Major teams:

Cal - 338
UCLA - 288
Stanford - 253
Washington - 223
Colorado - 207
Utah - 198
USC - 179
Oregon - 131
Arizona - 100
Nevada - 99
Byu - 96
St. Mary's -81
Arizona State -67
SDSU - 31
Gonzaga =24

We are 50 points worse than the next major team from the west. We didn't just miss by a little. This is the common theme - we are completely incompetent and then the excuses come - "ya never know what difficulties there were" They are supposed to figure out the difficulties. And this wasn't a case where they made a slightly worse schedule than everyone. They made a much worse schedule than the next worst.

I'm not pointing a finger at any individual or "this regime" because I don't know who made the schedule. I'm saying whoever did failed. It is rare for basketball games to be scheduled 3 years in advance, it is unlikely a game like Dominican would be scheduled that far in advance, and I guarantee you if the new regime came in and said - what the hell? We are playing Dominican in 3 years - I don't think we are going to do that. It would be fixed. In any case, I'm not blaming someone specifically, but whether they did it intentionally or got stuck with it, scheduling a DII opponent at a 1700 student private school in a small town that barely knows the school exists is incompetence and never should happen. Because you guys are not from here and don't know who Dominican is, you are acting like it is Wright State or something. You aren't listening to people from the area who know Dominican and who are flabbergasted by this.

UCLA with a worse record, who lost to us, and who has a 288 nonconference strength of schedule, the second worst SOS among major teams in the west, is ranked 33 to our 73. Obviously they performed better in most games as well, but we are giving up ranking just by sheer incompetence in scheduling.

---

Grrr...Since this is your issue let me suggest the following.....

1) Why did Cal not go to an invitational tournie this year? Rules? Budget? just bad luck? I know in the past there were rules about "every other year"

2) I would focus on P4s in the Pacific Time zone. UCLA is essentially in rounding error to us.

3)_ Furd played 2 MWC schools and a WCC one. Otherwise their schedule isn't that dissimilar (2 P4s and then smattering of Big Sky schools). I would also point out that they had to play a home and home against SJSU and were 4 points away from a CRUSHING loss given likely where SJSU finishes. That saint louis 1 point win also is pretty worrisome - though the SLU isn't historically a program that will finish with 20Ls.

3) Oregon played a brutal schedule and is 7 and 6 for it. That is the Altman approach but that has to be concerning as they now go into a pretty loaded B1G.

4) Washington played 4 P4s by my count. 9 and 4 aint "bad" but especially the L to Seattle - a home and home - has to sting come March.

It is a balance. I am not going to defend Dominican but I also think there is a backstory. Makes no sense compared to, for example, scheduling Davis or a D2 from CSU so I have to figure there is SOMETHING there. Maybe BI staff can put their journalism hats on and ask. Simple question.

5) Bigger picture I am fine with THIS program at THIS TIME of playing cupcakes. My god, we had an entire roster that way new. The ONLY way we could POSSIBLY hope to compete in the mid ACC was by getting game time in against teams we had more talent than. It also is the case that our lack of depth means that practices just are not that competitive. I mean who guards Dort?

6) And finally, worrying about SOS feels like it is fairly strange THIS YEAR. I mean it would be wonderous if the Bears snuck in as the last 4 in or got the play in game. That would be a nice little note of progress. But they are not getting a 4 seed. They are not winning the ACC. They probably will NOT make the tournament. Instead, it feels, lets hope they get ONE signature upset to get fans excited, that Madsen can raise $$$ to retain some guys longer than 1 year to build some fan connection and that Y4 we have progress.

Or join my in my mild membership in "Should have hired the kicker" cause JP had a connection to a donor who at least some rumors (not all but some) was fully capable and willing of writing an 8 figure check to help him succeed. We/Knowlton chose a different route and cest la vi.

---

You guys are making me bang my head against a wall. I have not suggested playing a difficult schedule at all. To the contrary, I've said we should play an easy schedule. A smart easy schedule. Do not play #361 or Dominican when you could have played #300 and #301 instead and been at no risk. You guys keep responding by saying we should play a difficult schedule. Duh.

I listed the west coast teams because you claimed that it is difficult to schedule in the West but that doesn't bear out.

Your comments about UCLA and Stanford ARE EXACTLY THE POINT. UCLA is in rounding error territory? They are 50 ranking points ahead of us. That isn't rounding error. Stanford isn't that dissimilar? They are 85 ranking points ahead of us. But that is exactly what I'm talking about. They are playing a schedule that is equally challenging yet ranked much higher. We should be playing UCLA's schedule or Stanford's schedule. You are barely upping your risk of losing and you are gaining a lot in the ranking analysis.

You should be worried about strength of schedule EVERY year in the sense that you should be maximizing the ranking within the scope of winnable games. Not saying to play Michigan. Saying, play Northern Arizona instead of Dominican, SJSU instead of Bakersfield, Eastern Washington instead of Northwestern State, San Diego instead of Morgan State, Portland instead of Presbyterian.

This is a team that MAY (yet to be seen) be good enough to barely squeak into the tourney. That would be massive for this program and really help with next year's recruiting. It would be much more than a nice little note on progress. Our non-conference schedule may be requiring us to win 2 more conference games to do that. for no reason. They don't need to win the ACC or get a 4 seed. And healthy programs don't say "yeah, but that won't matter". They maximize everything because you don't know what will matter. No one should take a lazy approach to scheduling because they don't think it will matter. If SOS knocks out of the tournament, that is a firable offense.

There is also something to be said for being at least somewhat challenged to make your team better. I don't take the same negative vibes from the Dominican performance that m2 did. The team treated it like a joke. I normally am a "treat every game with 100% importance" guy, but c'mon. It was a joke like a high school team playing a bunch of 5th graders. The team treating it like a joke for 28 minutes and then blowing their doors off might have been the appropriate response for making them play that game. We shouldn't be playing games like that.

---

You know when I banged my head against the wall....when we lost to the UCSD TRITONS (that is a minor sea god for those that care)....TWICE....IN A ROW!!!!!!!!!!

It isn't obvious. It really isn't obvious for a program that has had a horrible time retaining talent for longer than 1 year. I don't think it is nearly as obvious as you make it sound....and I am especially concerned that some of these smaller schools seem to have leverage - such as Santa Clara AND St. Mary's (if memory serves) required home and home....and playing a Santa Clara on the road and LOSING is just crushing come bubble time unless they finish 1-3 in the WCC.

Didn't we also have to play a home and home against Fresno or am I confusing FB?

socaltownie said:

---

BearlyCareAnymore said:

---

socaltownie said:

---

BearlyCareAnymore said:

---

socaltownie said:

---

The magic wand can not be waved and you don't KNOW how awful some of these teams will be. Again, a problem on the west coast is that it is hard to predict with clarity the teams that are going to be in the #200 sweet spot. To be snarky - didn't really work out for Cal to schedule UCSD as a cream puff. Are we on a 2 or 3 game losing streak against the Tritons. SDSU would have been a bad luck scchedule this year - likely requiring a home and home. Some years losing to them isn't bad, this year would SUCK given their struggles. You can do the same thought exercise with St. Marys or USF.

Now I will concede that I am not sure why not more San Jose States, Pacific, maybe USD, probably SaC state. Those should serve as the core. But scheduling is hard and who knows, they might not have been available OR they could have demanded home and home. The teams on our schedule are likely pay to play folks.

And I would assume 1/3 to 1/2 of those games are Fox legacy matchups. We are blaming the powers that be about Domincan - might have been a deal done 3 years ago.

---

Teams in the West with the easiest Non-conference SOS:

Hawaii (I think we can agree has a much bigger scheduling issue than anyone) - 364
Cal -338
Air Force - 327
Wyoming - 326
Grand Canyon - 320
Loyola Marymount - 306
UCLA - 288
South Dakota - 282


Major teams:

Cal - 338
UCLA - 288
Stanford - 253
Washington - 223
Colorado - 207
Utah - 198
USC - 179
Oregon - 131
Arizona - 100
Nevada - 99
Byu - 96
St. Mary's -81
Arizona State -67
SDSU - 31
Gonzaga =24

We are 50 points worse than the next major team from the west. We didn't just miss by a little. This is the common theme - we are completely incompetent and then the excuses come - "ya never know what difficulties there were" They are supposed to figure out the difficulties. And this wasn't a case where they made a slightly worse schedule than everyone. They made a much worse schedule than the next worst.

I'm not pointing a finger at any individual or "this regime" because I don't know who made the schedule. I'm saying whoever did failed. It is rare for basketball games to be scheduled 3 years in advance, it is unlikely a game like Dominican would be scheduled that far in advance, and I guarantee you if the new regime came in and said - what the hell? We are playing Dominican in 3 years - I don't think we are going to do that. It would be fixed. In any case, I'm not blaming someone specifically, but whether they did it intentionally or got stuck with it, scheduling a DII opponent at a 1700 student private school in a small town that barely knows the school exists is incompetence and never should happen. Because you guys are not from here and don't know who Dominican is, you are acting like it is Wright State or something. You aren't listening to people from the area who know Dominican and who are flabbergasted by this.

UCLA with a worse record, who lost to us, and who has a 288 nonconference strength of schedule, the second worst SOS among major teams in the west, is ranked 33 to our 73. Obviously they performed better in most games as well, but we are giving up ranking just by sheer incompetence in scheduling.

---

Grrr...Since this is your issue let me suggest the following.....

1) Why did Cal not go to an invitational tournie this year? Rules? Budget? just bad luck? I know in the past there were rules about "every other year"

2) I would focus on P4s in the Pacific Time zone. UCLA is essentially in rounding error to us.

3)_ Furd played 2 MWC schools and a WCC one. Otherwise their schedule isn't that dissimilar (2 P4s and then smattering of Big Sky schools). I would also point out that they had to play a home and home against SJSU and were 4 points away from a CRUSHING loss given likely where SJSU finishes. That saint louis 1 point win also is pretty worrisome - though the SLU isn't historically a program that will finish with 20Ls.

3) Oregon played a brutal schedule and is 7 and 6 for it. That is the Altman approach but that has to be concerning as they now go into a pretty loaded B1G.

4) Washington played 4 P4s by my count. 9 and 4 aint "bad" but especially the L to Seattle - a home and home - has to sting come March.

It is a balance. I am not going to defend Dominican but I also think there is a backstory. Makes no sense compared to, for example, scheduling Davis or a D2 from CSU so I have to figure there is SOMETHING there. Maybe BI staff can put their journalism hats on and ask. Simple question.

5) Bigger picture I am fine with THIS program at THIS TIME of playing cupcakes. My god, we had an entire roster that way new. The ONLY way we could POSSIBLY hope to compete in the mid ACC was by getting game time in against teams we had more talent than. It also is the case that our lack of depth means that practices just are not that competitive. I mean who guards Dort?

6) And finally, worrying about SOS feels like it is fairly strange THIS YEAR. I mean it would be wonderous if the Bears snuck in as the last 4 in or got the play in game. That would be a nice little note of progress. But they are not getting a 4 seed. They are not winning the ACC. They probably will NOT make the tournament. Instead, it feels, lets hope they get ONE signature upset to get fans excited, that Madsen can raise $$$ to retain some guys longer than 1 year to build some fan connection and that Y4 we have progress.

Or join my in my mild membership in "Should have hired the kicker" cause JP had a connection to a donor who at least some rumors (not all but some) was fully capable and willing of writing an 8 figure check to help him succeed. We/Knowlton chose a different route and cest la vi.

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You guys are making me bang my head against a wall. I have not suggested playing a difficult schedule at all. To the contrary, I've said we should play an easy schedule. A smart easy schedule. Do not play #361 or Dominican when you could have played #300 and #301 instead and been at no risk. You guys keep responding by saying we should play a difficult schedule. Duh.

I listed the west coast teams because you claimed that it is difficult to schedule in the West but that doesn't bear out.

Your comments about UCLA and Stanford ARE EXACTLY THE POINT. UCLA is in rounding error territory? They are 50 ranking points ahead of us. That isn't rounding error. Stanford isn't that dissimilar? They are 85 ranking points ahead of us. But that is exactly what I'm talking about. They are playing a schedule that is equally challenging yet ranked much higher. We should be playing UCLA's schedule or Stanford's schedule. You are barely upping your risk of losing and you are gaining a lot in the ranking analysis.

You should be worried about strength of schedule EVERY year in the sense that you should be maximizing the ranking within the scope of winnable games. Not saying to play Michigan. Saying, play Northern Arizona instead of Dominican, SJSU instead of Bakersfield, Eastern Washington instead of Northwestern State, San Diego instead of Morgan State, Portland instead of Presbyterian.

This is a team that MAY (yet to be seen) be good enough to barely squeak into the tourney. That would be massive for this program and really help with next year's recruiting. It would be much more than a nice little note on progress. Our non-conference schedule may be requiring us to win 2 more conference games to do that. for no reason. They don't need to win the ACC or get a 4 seed. And healthy programs don't say "yeah, but that won't matter". They maximize everything because you don't know what will matter. No one should take a lazy approach to scheduling because they don't think it will matter. If SOS knocks out of the tournament, that is a firable offense.

There is also something to be said for being at least somewhat challenged to make your team better. I don't take the same negative vibes from the Dominican performance that m2 did. The team treated it like a joke. I normally am a "treat every game with 100% importance" guy, but c'mon. It was a joke like a high school team playing a bunch of 5th graders. The team treating it like a joke for 28 minutes and then blowing their doors off might have been the appropriate response for making them play that game. We shouldn't be playing games like that.

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You know when I banged my head against the wall....when we lost to the UCSD TRITONS (that is a minor sea god for those that care)....TWICE....IN A ROW!!!!!!!!!!

It isn't obvious. It really isn't obvious for a program that has had a horrible time retaining talent for longer than 1 year. I don't think it is nearly as obvious as you make it sound....and I am especially concerned that some of these smaller schools seem to have leverage - such as Santa Clara AND St. Mary's (if memory serves) required home and home....and playing a Santa Clara on the road and LOSING is just crushing come bubble time unless they finish 1-3 in the WCC.

Didn't we also have to play a home and home against Fresno or am I confusing FB?

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St. Mary's is #32
Santa Clara is #60
UCSD is #88.

I'm not suggesting we schedule any of them. They are obviously loseable games. Move #360 to #260-#300. I don't see why this is hard to understand. Never did I ever say to replace Morgan State with a top 100 team. This is why I'm saying I'm banging my head on a wall. Because I say replace #361 Morgan State with #194 San Diego and replace #291 Presbyterian with #230 Portland and you come back with not playing #32 St. Mary's or #60 Santa Clara. Yes. I get that. Never suggested it or would have. It would be stupid. How about #230 Portland and #194 San Diego like I said. or #289 Northern Arizona or #200 SJSU or #260 Eastern Washington. How about responding to the teams I suggested - a barely noticeable increase in degree of difficulty with a significant increase in SOS rank - instead of responding with. "No you are wrong. We shouldn't replace Dominican the Oklahoma City Thunder." Yes, I'm being sarcastic, but what is with responding to my suggestion about moving a slot from Division II team to #291 by talking about the danger of playing top 100 teams?

Cal would have easily matched its current record if it played Stanford's non-conference schedule and would be ranked much higher today. I'm not talking about it being prettier, more fun, more respected. I'm talking about pure math on Kenpom rankings. Most schools understand this.

If you can't sweep SJSU, Northern Arizona, Eastern Washington, San Diego, and Portland, then your SOS truly doesn't matter. And scheduling Dominican is nonsensical as it doesn't even count as a win and would only count if you somehow managed to lose.