MBB Out Of Conference Schedule

[TheRealUW]

Looks like Sunny released the schedule earlier this week. Thoughts?

Personally, I'm happy to see regional foes like South Dakota, DU, and South Dakota State on the schedule. If we aren't going to get the big boys to play us, then let's focus on playing teams in our region.

Interesting that they will be playing an exhibition game up in Gillette. I don't know if that is related to Sunny being from there or maybe if he will try to rotate an exhibition game around the state moving forward.

 

[McPeachy]

Agree on the regional opponents - which makes filling the schedule easier. Wyoming, under Burman, has largely been a joke when it comes to non-conference scheduling. And they all just throw up their hands and say "nobody wants to travel to Laramie". I call bullshit on that...there are what 350 options to put on your OOC schedule? JFC.

 

[rocket city poke]

I am certain our coaching staff and athletic director and total budget will be significantly higher than any non-conference program on our schedule with the exception of Texas Tech and the only reason Tech is on the schedule is to avoid the buyout of our previous coach. If the coaches and administration are being paid this much they should be playing a schedule with similar type of salaries. I drives me crazy that this goes on and has been the basic scheduling model for most of Burman's time as athletic director. The fan base should be outraged at the level this program has sunk to.

 

[TheRealUW]

I am certain our coaching staff and athletic director and total budget will be significantly higher than any non-conference program on our schedule with the exception of Texas Tech and the only reason Tech is on the schedule is to avoid the buyout of our previous coach. If the coaches and administration are being paid this much they should be playing a schedule with similar type of salaries. I drives me crazy that this goes on and has been the basic scheduling model for most of Burman's time as athletic director. The fan base should be outraged at the level this program has sunk to.

Yeah, I'm not sure who to blame anymore.

Burman will tell you that basketball scheduling is handled by the coaches. I have no knowledge if this is true or not, but Burman has made this statement several times, and I have never heard a basketball coach push back against that claim.

A few years ago, Linder claimed that he contacted every single power 4 program in the nation and told them UW was willing to play them anytime and anywhere...and still was not able to get any takers. If that is true, I'm not sure what further steps the coaches could take to get a better schedule. Maybe offer large sums of money to convince teams to play us? But I doubt we have the cash to be offering a bunch of money to other programs just so they will be willing to put us on their non-conference basketball schedule. I truly have no idea how we got here or what the answer is at this point.

I also do not understand the Texas Tech thing and why we agreed to this over taking the cash from the buyout in Linder's contract. We didn't even get one game in Laramie. So we get to go to Lubbock twice to be slaughtered by 30+ points and that is preferable over the cash buyout? I don't get it. Maybe someone can explain why this was a good deal.

 

[McPeachy]

I am certain our coaching staff and athletic director and total budget will be significantly higher than any non-conference program on our schedule with the exception of Texas Tech and the only reason Tech is on the schedule is to avoid the buyout of our previous coach. If the coaches and administration are being paid this much they should be playing a schedule with similar type of salaries. I drives me crazy that this goes on and has been the basic scheduling model for most of Burman's time as athletic director. The fan base should be outraged at the level this program has sunk to.

I am pretty outraged. Before Burman, with McClain, we had momentum, great attendance, and were competitive. I can't say the same for the last 17 - 18 years.

 

[McPeachy]

I also do not understand the Texas Tech thing and why we agreed to this over taking the cash from the buyout in Linder's contract. We didn't even get one game in Laramie. So we get to go to Lubbock twice to be slaughtered by 30+ points and that is preferable over the cash buyout? I don't get it. Maybe someone can explain why this was a good deal.

I don't get it either, doesn't make any sense (at least right now).

 

[Bryoming]

Yeah, I'm not sure who to blame anymore.

Burman will tell you that basketball scheduling is handled by the coaches. I have no knowledge if this is true or not, but Burman has made this statement several times, and I have never heard a basketball coach push back against that claim.

A few years ago, Linder claimed that he contacted every single power 4 program in the nation and told them UW was willing to play them anytime and anywhere...and still was not able to get any takers. If that is true, I'm not sure what further steps the coaches could take to get a better schedule. Maybe offer large sums of money to convince teams to play us? But I doubt we have the cash to be offering a bunch of money to other programs just so they will be willing to put us on their non-conference basketball schedule. I truly have no idea how we got here or what the answer is at this point.

I also do not understand the Texas Tech thing and why we agreed to this over taking the cash from the buyout in Linder's contract. We didn't even get one game in Laramie. So we get to go to Lubbock twice to be slaughtered by 30+ points and that is preferable over the cash buyout? I don't get it. Maybe someone can explain why this was a good deal.

The bottom line for us is that we aren't competitive enough to be a good game for teams in the 75-125 RPI range. We'd be a quad 4 win if they beat us, and a quad 4 loss if they lose. There's no incentive for any decent teams to come to Larmie unless we get back to a respectable level consistently over the next 2-3 years.

 

[TheRealUW]

Another thing that surprised me was that we don't appear to be participating in any preseason tournaments. The last few years, that is the way we have been able to consistently face competition at our level on a neutral floor.

Maybe they just aren't announcing that part yet?

 

[Vapoke]

Linder may not be real respected in the P4 ranks when he was contacting everyone. Ohio State took a game against UW just so Nance could play in his home state. I do think that came about because of Shyatt's relationships.

I liked the Charleston tournament where fans on the east coast could make the trip relatively easily but not a real fan of destination tournaments because I am not sure they offer anything

 

[stymeman]

Not my most favorite by any stretch...but.....

 

[Wyokie]

Is it me or are in-season tournaments dying out?

 

[McPeachy]

Is it me or are in-season tournaments dying out?

I don't know - haven't really dug into that sentiment. BUT, I think they are a great way to squeeze in some quality games, in a short amount of time. If WYO were to play in 2 - 6 or so team tourney's, not only would they gain solid experience on the road, they would get 4 or more additional games under their belts before conference starts.

 

[Cowboy20]

Yeah, I'm not sure who to blame anymore.

Burman will tell you that basketball scheduling is handled by the coaches. I have no knowledge if this is true or not, but Burman has made this statement several times, and I have never heard a basketball coach push back against that claim.

A few years ago, Linder claimed that he contacted every single power 4 program in the nation and told them UW was willing to play them anytime and anywhere...and still was not able to get any takers. If that is true, I'm not sure what further steps the coaches could take to get a better schedule. Maybe offer large sums of money to convince teams to play us? But I doubt we have the cash to be offering a bunch of money to other programs just so they will be willing to put us on their non-conference basketball schedule. I truly have no idea how we got here or what the answer is at this point.

I also do not understand the Texas Tech thing and why we agreed to this over taking the cash from the buyout in Linder's contract. We didn't even get one game in Laramie. So we get to go to Lubbock twice to be slaughtered by 30+ points and that is preferable over the cash buyout? I don't get it. Maybe someone can explain why this was a good deal.

Coaches do handle the scheduling in basketball and it’s based a lot on relationships they have with other coaches. P4 schools have nothing to gain and everything to lose if they come to Laramie. Until we have winning seasons with post season success, we don’t help P4 teams in RPI or any other metric, so they look at us as a high risk, low reward gamble. Sunny needs to win, and win a lot to build confidence for the players and fan base. The arena will not fill up without winning, and he knows that. An up-tempo style where Dunktown and large margins of victory will sell tickets no matter who is the opponent. So win the games on the schedule, win in conference play, get to the tournament, make a statement, and go from there. Then, schedule away games with a P4 or 2 every year and maybe one of them makes a return trip. I’m sure there are plans to try to get some to come to town eventually, but right now, there’s really not a valid argument he can make with them to entice a deal. Linder was probably telling the truth about his hurdles, but Sunny has to ask himself, do I cry about it or do I move on and find some decent matchups for my guys? While some of the teams we consider inferior opponents make the trip to us, are we as a fan base going to not show up because of that? If your answer is yes, then you know what P4 fans say about us when they’re hosting the Pokes. The fact is, they might say that same thing about us, but they fill their arenas. We need to do the same thing and quit whining about it. It’s put up or shut up time for Cowboy basketball fans - Coach Dees term when he challenged his players to play better. It needs to be our challenge as fans to each other. I am actually really excited about basketball for the first time in a long time. I believe Sunny is building something here that all of Cowboy Nation needs to rally behind. I’ll gladly go watch them beat the tar out of anyone! I don’t care what conference they are from. Go Pokes!