McCafferey says non-conference schedule to improve next year

ssckelley said:
No, you are not the only one. Iowa needs to learn how to walk before they run and right now they are still crawling.



Those kinds of games are never going away even if Iowa does start a series with an Pac14 or Big12 opponent. What you might not see is a game against Creighton. Out of your 9 to 13 OOC games you can schedule Iowa is already locked into home/away games against UNI, ISU, Drake, and an ACC opponent.

One opponent I wish they would check into is DePaul. They are in the Big East, not scary, and play in Chicago which might help with recruiting.
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Sure, there needs to be SOME cupcake games on the schedule. I didn't mean removing them from the schedule completely - just less of them.

An ACC opponent is good to have on the schedule, as the challenge usually pairs us up with another team of comparable ability. I like these games.

Personally, I'm not one who is dead set on playing EVERY in-state school every year (meaning UNI & Drake). I think Iowa & ISU should play every year, but I remember the days when Iowa didn't play either UNI or Drake, and I would be fine with going back to that, just as long as those two games aren't replaced with cupcakes. The series may be great for Drake and UNI, but playing those schools just feels to me like a lose-lose situation for Iowa. That said, UNI has been solid, so if we keep them on the schedule, that is not a bad game. Drake on the other hand.. Not so much IMO.

I agree on DePaul - they would be a decent team to play, and it makes a lot of sense geographically. We could also maybe pick up a series with St. Louis.
 
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Would have been a good year to play some Pac 12 teams. The conference record this year vs top 50 RPI non-conference oppoents? 1-32....ouch. I say we get some Pac 12 on our schedule...quick.
 
I agree with others regarding tournaments, but I hope we can get the ones that have some, if not all, games televised. The one we played in last year was either not on TV or only on some obscure channel that nobody got. Playing in front of 500 people in San Juan in a non televised game doesn't help our exposure much.
 
ssckelley said:
So which team is going to show up? Plus that was a conference game and we are discussing OOC.

This team has proven that they can beat or lose to just about anybody on any given night.
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What difference does it make if it's conference vs. non-conference?

It sounds like you're saying that in the Big Ten, Iowa can compete. But if it's an OOC game against a Big XII opponent, it's going to be an L, so don't schedule the game.

The only thing I would say is that Iowa may be a better team in January than in November or December, but you could potentially say the same thing about any of our opponents.
 
I personally wouldn't mind a similar non-conference schedule. Maybe less awful, awful teams and trade them for some bad teams with a better RPI but that's it. The amount of decent to good teams we played this year is fine with mind.
 
GhostofBTT said:
I don't care about RPI or perception, I want the young players to get used to winning.
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I want them to get used to playing good competition. Iowa St played absolutely nobody in the nonconference last year, went like 13-1, then got into the B12, and when the level of play got kicked up in the B12 they went 3-13. Playing a bunch of crappy teams does nothing to make the team better or improve our shot at any post season tourney.
 
hawkfan33 said:
I want them to get used to playing good competition. Iowa St played absolutely nobody in the nonconference last year, went like 13-1, then got into the B12, and when the level of play got kicked up in the B12 they went 3-13. Playing a bunch of crappy teams does nothing to make the team better or improve our shot at any post season tourney.
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So, using your example, would ISU have been better served playing harder teams in the non-con, and finishing with a losing record? Would that have made them better?
 
GhostofBTT said:
So, using your example, would ISU have been better served playing harder teams in the non-con, and finishing with a losing record? Would that have made them better?
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You can develop bad habits playing only teams that are at an obvious talent disadvantage. It's hard to take brief defensive lapses seriously when you're still winning by double digits every game. No matter how much the coaches yell at you about it, it just doesn't have the same effect when you're winning easily.

I don't think we need to play a ridiculously hard schedule, but playing nothing but creampuffs isn't going to improve the team like playing a few quality opponents would. We're going to have five freshman on the team next year, all who could see extensive playing time, they need to get adjusted to competing against quality D-1 teams.

And also, this is basketball, not football. There's no bowl game like reward for having a winning record. What difference does it make if you're 17-15 and played a crappy schedule or 15-17 and actually went out and challenged yourself a little in the non-conference?
 
Clemson is a bad example as Iowa had no say in that game , it was a ACC vs BT matchup, plus they finished 4th in the ACC last year, i will take a 4th place team in the ACC every year,
and even though many disreguard the injury problem Iowa had at the beginning of the year, it did have a huge impact on the losses, you really think this Iowa team would have lost to Clemson, Cambell and UNI, if Basabe,Cartwright and even Brommer had been 100%, i don't think they would have.
this next year Fran will have more talent and more experience to work with than he had the 1st 2 years.
May will be the only senior, which good in 2 ways, he will be the only player to leave, and i believe he will step up his senior year, will he be a scoring machine NO but he will bring the leadership and do the little things that don't show up in the box score.
Marble, Basabe and McCabe will be jr's and will have 3 years with Frans coaching them,
Oglesby, Olaseni and White will be sophamores, and we have seen what White and Oglesby bring to the team, we will see Fran's ability to bring players along with How Olaseni performs next season,
then you have the newcomers in Gesell and Woodbury 2 solid Top 100 players that i feel will be major contributors as they fill the
1st biggest area's of need, a center and point guard, they you have Clemmons, Ingram and Meyer fills the 2nd biggest need and that is quality depth, no one player is going to need to or have to do and that is carry this team on his back, so bring on the competition. its time to get our heads out of the sand and stop being afraid of the opponents we will face
 
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I'm not sure I buy the merit of "learning how to win" or playing a tough schedule to prepare for the non-conference year. There are plenty of examples of teams who played easier teams and struggled in the non-conference season and plenty of teams who played and beat good teams who then went on to struggle in the non-conference season.

I think the schedule for a team like Iowa should be set up to get as many wins as possible to make them look as good as possible with a couple of good teams sprinkled in just to see if they can beat them and to strengthen the RPI.
 
OOC games are nice but it is the improvement in conference play that counts in showing improvement, playing a couple cupcakes to start the OOC is a goodway to get the kinks out to start the season,
 
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