UC/Wright State Series to Begin

[BearcatRob33]

http://cincinnati.com/blogs/uc/2010/...-wright-state/

Any thoughts? I feel like Wright State is a small school, and that we shouldn't be scheduling a series with them, but they had a pretty good team last year.

[bcross]

Yuck...............................

[Lobot]

Only thing I see here is a gimme game with travel savings built in for WSU.

[nolte50uc]

i was reading some of the comments at the bottom of the article and a lot of people were asking why would we schedule a 'cupcake' game. i see the point to that, but at the same time, doesn't playing a BEast schedule kinda negate playing gimmes early on? I remember texas doing that in football. plus, every school plays no-names early on. as i say this, wsu isn't exactly a total pushover, either.

just curious to hear others' opinion on that.

[MDW79]

Why are we giving Wright St. a home game/series? Wouldn't we rather just schedule in a new team each year, to play us at 5/3rd. This doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

[1977 BearCat]

Originally Posted by MDW79

Why are we giving Wright St. a home game/series? Wouldn't we rather just schedule in a new team each year, to play us at 5/3rd. This doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me.

Don't understand the home and home aspect of this arrangement either.

[dgill2424]

Home and Home would be a bigger deal if it was a long term arrangement. I wouldnt worry too much about this.

[CroninCrazy]

Originally Posted by 1977 BearCat

Don't understand the home and home aspect of this arrangement either.

"UC has announced that it will begin a three-game men’s basketaball series with Wright State, beginning this year at Fifth Third Arena. According to the Wright State web site, this year’s game is scheduled for Dec. 1.

They’ll play at the Nutter Center in 2011-12 and then host the Raiders again in 2012-13."

UC has two home games and then travel once...so three games total.

[1977 BearCat]

Originally Posted by CroninCrazy

"UC has announced that it will begin a three-game men’s basketaball series with Wright State, beginning this year at Fifth Third Arena. According to the Wright State web site, this year’s game is scheduled for Dec. 1.

They’ll play at the Nutter Center in 2011-12 and then host the Raiders again in 2012-13."

UC has two home games and then travel once...so three games total.

I don't understand why were are playing there even once.

[MDW79]

Originally Posted by 1977 BearCat

I don't understand why were are playing there even once.

Exactly. It makes ZERO sense. Schedule three other random games, all at home, instead. And I don't care how "good" they have been playing, we have no business playing in their gym.

Wright St. won't draw anymore than Little Sisters of the Poor and we have no history with them. Heck, look at Miami, who we we do have somewhat of "rivalry" if you want to call it that. It wasn't that long ago that we put the cabash on playing at Millett Hall.

This is a very weird move, I can't make heads or tails of it. I find it hard to believe that we having that tough of a time scheduling mid majors. The only thing I can think of, is that they anticipate attendance to be so low that we can't afford to pay a Texas Southern or someone to come and fill out the schedule. Not making this a doom and gloom subject, but there is nothing good about this series. It may not be really bad but it aint good either, that's for sure.

[Ding Chavez]

I'm hoping that by giving them a return game, we didn't have to pay them as much to come down here.

[GoCats1994]

I guess I disagree. While certainly I would love to see every game played at home...there are still some positives to this.

Any UC fan knows that this team is no longer in the business of dominating its conference. It needs to be in the business of building its tournament resume. With this comes an opportunity to build its RPI (if you are going to play teams from lesser conferences, you might as well play a team that will win some of those games in that lesser conference). Plus...it gives them a chance to increase their winning percentage on the road.

I am not saying it's ideal. Merely that it's not all bad.

[JDBEARCAT]

I like it. To travel to WSU is almost like a home game. Take a bus to the game & they
are home an hour after the game ends.
It's better to play them than SELA, SEMO & the likes. We may get more fans to the game that are WSU fans.
I will be going to the away game WSU. Get to see a new arena I've never been to & see the Cats win. Just my 2cents worth.

[Mr. Bearcat]

It's another indicator of how far this program has fallen under Cronin. We built the program to the point that we were playing a lot of made for tv network and ESPN national games and we started dropping the the local teams off the schedule. Now we have Miami and Dayton back and even another one...Wright St. On top of that, we are going to go back to Millet Hall to play Miami and even visit the Nutter Center to play Wright St. Next step....return to Conference USA!

[Who Dey Time]

Originally Posted by Mr. Bearcat

It's another indicator of how far this program has fallen under Cronin. We built the program to the point that we were playing a lot of made for tv network and ESPN national games and we started dropping the the local teams off the schedule. Now we have Miami and Dayton back and even another one...Wright St. On top of that, we are going to go back to Millet Hall to play Miami and even visit the Nutter Center to play Wright St. Next step....return to Conference USA!

You couldn't be more wrong. This is exactly what most teams in the Big East are doing in the non-conference - scheduling to build up their win total to help strengthen their NCAA resume. Even with this, they are still playing in "made for TV games" with Oklahoma, Dayton and Xavier and they will still be on ESPN many times during league play.

Just go look at the OOC schedule for most Big East schools to see that this is a common thing amongst them.

[Mr. Bearcat]

Originally Posted by Who Dey Time

You couldn't be more wrong. This is exactly what most teams in the Big East are doing in the non-conference - scheduling to build up their win total to help strengthen their NCAA resume. Even with this, they are still playing in "made for TV games" with Oklahoma, Dayton and Xavier and they will still be on ESPN many times during league play.

Just go look at the OOC schedule for most Big East schools to see that this is a common thing amongst them.

We have obviously been scheduling to build up our win total the last few years. How's that worked out for us? Our resume obviously does not stack up, because we were even rejected by the NIT in 2009 with a winning record.

When you're a bottom feeder in the Big East like we are, you need to build your resume with impressive wins to catch the eye of the tournament committee. The "blue bloods" like UCONN, Syracuse, Louisville, Pitt, G-Town, etc. have proven their worthiness and can use this strategy. Our strategy needs to be different until we once again establish ourselves as one of the best.

[JDBEARCAT]

Originally Posted by Who Dey Time

You couldn't be more wrong. This is exactly what most teams in the Big East are doing in the non-conference - scheduling to build up their win total to help strengthen their NCAA resume. Even with this, they are still playing in "made for TV games" with Oklahoma, Dayton and Xavier and they will still be on ESPN many times during league play.

Just go look at the OOC schedule for most Big East schools to see that this is a common thing amongst them.

I agree with your OOC statement & if you take a look at Syracuse, one year
they only had 1 away game before the conference started & had a very soft
schedule.
I would rather see us play local teams & beat the heck out of them than
SEMO, REMO, HEMO & WHAT EVER!!!!
Just my humble opinion.

[DBSUC1982]

Not that the RPI is the "be-all-that-ends-all", but a road victory is worth 1.4 wins in the RPI formula.

[Who Dey Time]

Originally Posted by Mr. Bearcat

We have obviously been scheduling to build up our win total the last few years. How's that worked out for us? Our resume obviously does not stack up, because we were even rejected by the NIT in 2009 with a winning record.

When you're a bottom feeder in the Big East like we are, you need to build your resume with impressive wins to catch the eye of the tournament committee. The "blue bloods" like UCONN, Syracuse, Louisville, Pitt, G-Town, etc. have proven their worthiness and can use this strategy. Our strategy needs to be different until we once again establish ourselves as one of the best.

Scheduling to build up our win total the last few years? Really? We had one of the best OOC resumes in the country last year and, in years past, we have played the likes of Memphis, Mississippi State, Florida State, UAB, and UNLV. Not exactly cupcake alley.

While I disagree that we are a bottom feeder, the way you get into the NCAA is by piling up wins and then have a winning record in the Big East. That is where the team needs to improve.

[Bearcat_DF]

I think this is merely a matter of $$$. We don't have the cash to buy that many home games. Until the basketball programs turns the corner again and we get the revenue right, we will have to take a lot more of these deals.

U of Dayton won't give WSU a home game . . .