One thing we can all agree on...

[ssckelley]

sportstalent, the thing is if you go on the road and lose to those average to bad teams like Virginia Tech they kill your RPI as well. The non conference should have Iowa State home/away, UNI (neutral site), the ACC/B1G challenge, and then a tournament for additional matchups. Everything else should be winnable games, at home, that pads your win total without killing your RPI.

 

[sportstalent]

sportstalent, the thing is if you go on the road and lose to those average to bad teams like Virginia Tech they kill your RPI as well. The non conference should have Iowa State home/away, UNI (neutral site), the ACC/B1G challenge, and then a tournament for additional matchups. Everything else should be winnable games, at home, that pads your win total without killing your RPI.

Don't get me wrong, I am not disagreeing with you on that, but I don't understand playing teams that are among the worst and haven't ever shown the ability to not be some of the worst schools in the history of Division 1 basketball.

What is funny is Michigan has been doing this under Belien, they have been playing Arkansas and lost there last season, nobody made a big deal of it at the end of the season and Arkansas was not good. There are multiple examples of teams doing this and it doesn't hurt them in the end. The problem is if you take a team like say, Rutgers, oh bad example.

Take teams that are not traditionally the worst in the Power Six like Oregon State, and start a series. Kanasas State is a team that would fit, although they have been very good, it is one game, just one outside of what you spoke of. The tournament Iowa played in this year certainly hasn't helped them as they lost. Every loss to a team in a mid-major hurts more than a poor Power Six conference, because of perception, unless it is Gonzaga, Creighton, Butler, or some of the other recent quality mid-majors.

I wouldn't have an issue with with Iowa's schedule if they didn't play 4 or 5 of the worst D1 schools every darn year.

 

[RocknRollface]

You bring up a good point. Sports is so interesting in that the element of chance/luck does play a big role in how things are perceived. Literally, if any of the following things occurs this season this whole argument would be framed differently:

Hollins missed the 3 for Minnesota with 11 seconds to go with Minny down 2.
Jackson's 3 at Wisky with 12 seconds left that hits the front of the rim, hits the top of the backboard, comes right back down through the net. Game over at that point if that shot doesn't go in and Iowa up 3.
Marble's clear look at a 8-footer at the end of regulation at Purdue rims out. Game goes to OT and Iowa loses.

Any of those happen and Fran is praised as knowing exactly what the team needed to gain confidence for the season. In all 3 of those instances, the odds are in Iowa's favor.

In retrospect, yes, Iowa could have helped themselves greatly just by having more teams in the 250 RPI range instead of 300+. And Iowa needs to do a better job of scheduling with RPI in mind. There is a way to do a better job of scheduling easy home wins in the non-con against teams that are merely bad instead of among the worst teams in the country. Other teams have figured it out, we should be able to do so too.

Agreed and you can add in the phantom 3pt foul on White when Iowa was up 3 on MSU with like a minuet left. That one pisses me off the most because Iowa was the home team and should get the benefit of the doubt like everyone else does at home.

I thought Iowa should have been able to make the tourney this year with the way their schedule broke down and 9 times out of 10 they would already have it secured but for some very unlikely luck.

 

[volhawk50]

I would be willing to bet the farm that I don't have that we will never see a non conference schedule like this again as long as Fran is our coach.

Well, maybe if he brings in another class of five freshmen who will immediately see action (but I doubt he'll do that again either).

 

[BryceC]

I get the schedule thing. However it's not the only thing holding iowa back. Roughly .500 against the rpi top 200, and some good but not great wins are holding you guys back.

 

[WindsorHawk]

I get the schedule thing. However it's not the only thing holding iowa back. Roughly .500 against the rpi top 200, and some good but not great wins are holding you guys back.

Serious question....not being a jerk - What makes the ISU resume better than Iowa's? Most if not all have them in and I'm wondering why and figured you would know better than me. Thanks!