Schedule

[Hawkbomb]

Tubby Smith turned out to be brilliant this year when selecting the non conference schedule. If you're in a major conference, schedule a good non conference schedule, then it makes no difference how you do in the regular season and tournament, then committee no longer cares how you finish. In addition, if you're in a mid-major conference, the committee doesn’t seam to care about your schedule as long as you have a good record.

If Iowa was a mid-major school and played the same teams non-conference from the big ten, we would have been a lock and all those analyst would have been drooling over our wins & near wins.

 

[bcl20]

Except for Minnesota beat good teams and Iowa didn't so it wasn't just having a hard non-conference schedule.

 

[ShadasRevenge]

Flip side is that if Iowa schedules a tougher non-con, maybe they come out of it with 4 or 5 losses instead of two.

 

[Hawkstrat]

Flip side is that if Iowa schedules a tougher non-con, maybe they come out of it with 4 or 5 losses instead of two.

Only if they schedule like idiots.

It's not about scheduling top 50 teams, it's about scheduling 175-225 ish teams instead of the very bottom teams. Still likely wins.

 

[ssckelley]

Just avoid playing low majors that end up 4-24 (S Carolina St), 5-23 (Texas A&M CC), and 6-23 (Howard). Take those games off their schedule and play teams like Morgan St (17-15) instead and I bet Iowa would have made the tournament.

 

[ShadasRevenge]

Only if they schedule like idiots.

It's not about scheduling top 50 teams, it's about scheduling 175-225 ish teams instead of the very bottom teams. Still likely wins.

That's a fair point, but I think the idea behind the non-con schedule was so that a young team got an idea of what it felt like to win. Maybe they're not able to hang tough with MSU and Indiana to start the season if they've already got 5 losses. We'll never know.

 

[bcl20]

Just avoid playing low majors that end up 4-24 (S Carolina St), 5-23 (Texas A&M CC), and 6-23 (Howard). Take those games off their schedule and play teams like Morgan St (17-15) instead and I bet Iowa would have made the tournament.

I still don't think this is true. I think it was the lack of beating anyone decent on the road. Tennessee, Maryland, Kentucky and Alabama all had RPI's around where we wanted them (and probably around where they would have been if we had the slightly better schedule and they are sitting at home.

I'm not even sure if the win against Michigan State would have done it at this point (though it would have given us 5 quality wins, more than any of those teams)

 

[ScatmanTony]

I still don't think this is true. I think it was the lack of beating anyone decent on the road. Tennessee, Maryland, Kentucky and Alabama all had RPI's around where we wanted them (and probably around where they would have been if we had the slightly better schedule and they are sitting at home.

I'm not even sure if the win against Michigan State would have done it at this point (though it would have given us 5 quality wins, more than any of those teams)

I was just thinking about that. Even if we beat Michigan State, after seeing how the bracket turned out, we still probably don't get in.

 

[ssckelley]

Bcl, you flip those games into wins against teams that finish over .500 and Iowa ends up with an RPI in the 50s. The knock on Iowa was the soft non conference they played well enough in conference to deserve a bid.

 

[bcl20]

Maybe, maybe not.

 

[Benddontbreak]

Is our schedule going to look much different next year?

 

[tm3308]

Winning on the road is apparently huge. Let's schedule MTSU's OOC schedule and play all those games on the road, see if that's good enough.

Seriously, if winning their pathetic road games is enough to get the edge, then something needs seriously rethought at the committee's next gathering.

 

[Sooby]

That's a fair point, but I think the idea behind the non-con schedule was so that a young team got an idea of what it felt like to win. Maybe they're not able to hang tough with MSU and Indiana to start the season if they've already got 5 losses. We'll never know.

Fran said something to this effect that this year's squad needed to know what it felt like to win.
Next year, with everyone virtually returning, we can't be scheduling teams with RPIs below 150.

 

[eveningnewsteam]

Had Iowa just taken care of business in the games they literally ****** away, nobody is talking about the schedule.

 

[IowaFan81]

Everybody can discuss it all they want. Fran stated exactly why the schedule was as soft as it was. I happen to agree with him. This team was very young, starting 3 true freshmen and a true soph as the beginning of the season. The team needed to experience winning and gain confidence. If they had played some tougher non-conference teams they may have lost and not gained confidence to hang with the top of the B1G. Scheduling tougher non-conference teams also has a bit of luck to it, some teams might be expected to be good but don't turn out that way and they also have to agree to play you. Almost everyone knew Iowa wasn't going to be a tournament team this year. Why complain now when it pretty much went as expected? Just be thankful that Iowa is heading in the right direction and will make even more progress next year.

 

[ssckelley]

Winning on the road is apparently huge. Let's schedule MTSU's OOC schedule and play all those games on the road, see if that's good enough.

Seriously, if winning their pathetic road games is enough to get the edge, then something needs seriously rethought at the committee's next gathering.

Winning on the road gives your win % a huge boost since they count as 1.4 wins on the weighted win total.

 

[IowaFan81]

Fran said something to this effect that this year's squad needed to know what it felt like to win.
Next year, with everyone virtually returning, we can't be scheduling teams with RPIs below 150.

Right, and I believe he's already said they will schedule tougher next year.

 

[SpecialKHawk]

It goes beyond the schedule... the committee flat out did not want to take 8 teams from a 12 team B1G. IL and Minny were not any beater in reality than Iowa but both had better non-con wins so we had no chance unless we beat Indiana, MSU, etc.

I think a lot of outsiders watch the type of basketball in the B1G that is being played and have their doubts about the quality of this conference. I have my doubts that this conference is really that good? It's really, really ugly basketball most nights. How many bricks can be tossed up from one conference on the perimeter? This tournament was supposed to be awesome. Look no further than our game with MSU - was that classic basketball or a rugby match? Heck that game featured an awful, fat post player Derrick Nix that would not play in most of the other power conferences. The sad part is I think we are one of 3 teams in this conference built for more of the wide-open, scoring nature in the tournament. I see MSU, WI, IL, Minny & possibly OSU being out early.

I think the committee recognized that this league is way over-rated also.

 

[HawkPrdatr40]

Everybody can discuss it all they want. Fran stated exactly why the schedule was as soft as it was. I happen to agree with him. This team was very young, starting 3 true freshmen and a true soph as the beginning of the season. The team needed to experience winning and gain confidence. If they had played some tougher non-conference teams they may have lost and not gained confidence to hang with the top of the B1G. Scheduling tougher non-conference teams also has a bit of luck to it, some teams might be expected to be good but don't turn out that way and they also have to agree to play you. Almost everyone knew Iowa wasn't going to be a tournament team this year. Why complain now when it pretty much went as expected? Just be thankful that Iowa is heading in the right direction and will make even more progress next year.

Yeah why complain it ended like it was suppose to folks. Nothing to see here. \

I just love these posts, that we should be so very thankful that we finished how we should have..

 

[IowaFan81]

It goes beyond the schedule... the committee flat out did not want to take 8 teams from a 12 team B1G. IL and Minny were not any beater in reality than Iowa but both had better non-con wins so we had no chance unless we beat Indiana, MSU, etc.

I think a lot of outsiders watch the type of basketball in the B1G that is being played and have their doubts about the quality of this conference. I have my doubts that this conference is really that good? It's really, really ugly basketball most nights. How many bricks can be tossed up from one conference on the perimeter? This tournament was supposed to be awesome. Look no further than our game with MSU - was that classic basketball or a rugby match? Heck that game featured an awful, fat post player Derrick Nix that would not play in most of the other power conferences. The sad part is I think we are one of 3 teams in this conference built for more of the wide-open, scoring nature in the tournament. I see MSU, WI, IL, Minny & possibly OSU being out early.

I think the committee recognized that this league is way over-rated also.

Did you watch many non-B1G games this year. Ugly, low scoring games weren't just in the B1G. At least B1G teams and Big Least teams try to play defense.