Game 11-Prairie View A&M 12/12 7 PM

[Born-a-Panther]

Interesting that Jake stuck with his main guys all the way through the final horn. Plenty of opportunity to get the end of the bench some minutes but coach left some starters on the floor. Interesting.

The bench guys struggled to score when they came in during that first half. Jake addressed it post-game. Said their lineup is really small and very active defensively... which was obvious from watching. That led to some of those lineup decisions.

I continue to be very impressed with RJ Taylor - especially as a freshman. His court awareness is strong, and for only being a freshman, he's very good defensively. He seems confident already, and that pass to Duax for the reverse layup in the second half was special.

[BCPanther]

That win was worth 16 spots in the NET. Up to 146 this morning.

However the two bad losses for the league were disasters last night. SIU fell from 72 to 119 and UIC fell from 71 to 96. Those kinds of losses can't happen especially at home.

The Valley in the NET as of today:

12. Indiana State
49. Drake
96. UIC
101. Bradley
104. Missouri State
107. Evansville
119. SIU
143. Belmont
146. UNI
197. Illinois State
218. Murray State
287. Valpo

Need as many teams in the Top 135 as possible so that road games are Q2s. We should get there with a good effort on Sunday. Chance to really rack up margin and efficiency against a really bad Alcorn team (344 NET)

[UNIpanther99]

That Valpo NET. Ouch.

[BCPanther]

That Valpo NET. Ouch.

Oddly enough, it's way better than I thought it would be this year. I expected them well into the 300s. Their schedule is hot garbage but they've at least won a few games.

[unipanthers8907]

That win was worth 16 spots in the NET. Up to 146 this morning.

However the two bad losses for the league were disasters last night. SIU fell from 72 to 119 and UIC fell from 71 to 96. Those kinds of losses can't happen especially at home.

The Valley in the NET as of today:

12. Indiana State
49. Drake
96. UIC
101. Bradley
104. Missouri State
107. Evansville
119. SIU
143. Belmont
146. UNI
197. Illinois State
218. Murray State
287. Valpo

Need as many teams in the Top 135 as possible so that road games are Q2s. We should get there with a good effort on Sunday. Chance to really rack up margin and efficiency against a really bad Alcorn team (344 NET)

This last part here I think is a big key going forward for the league as a whole as long as the NET exists. I know the full formula and all the specifics were never fully released (which has always seemed super sketchy to me, but whatever), but when it first came out it seemed like margin of victory wouldn't really be a huge emphasis as the maximum margin of victory/defeat that gets calculated is 10 points. That may very well be the case, but it appears that offensive and defensive efficiency (I think the offensive side especially) make a huge impact on the NET rankings. So, yes, your margin of victory may max out at 10 points. However, if you're up 20+ points with 10 minutes left you don't really want to be putting in your backups and young guys and just waste clock because it could really start to pull down your efficiency numbers if you essentially just blow off the last quarter of the game (which kind of sucks if you're wanting to get some of those guys some playing time that they may not otherwise get).

I think Jake really needs to take a hard look at the scheduling philosophy going forward. I understand his mentality of wanting to test the team in the non-con slate to prepare them for MVC play and the end of the year, but from a metrics standpoint it might almost be better to just do a good MTE (get 2-3 games against Top 100 teams on a neutral court), 2-3 games against decent mid-majors (Top 100-150ish), and then just pad the rest of the non-con with Q4 games that you can win by 20-30 points and really build up the efficiency numbers. I mean Indiana State is 9-1 with a NET of 12 so far and their NET strength of schedule so far ranks 287th out of 361 D1 teams in the NET. Their non-con currently has 6 Q4 games, 0 Q3 games, 3 Q2 games, and 1 Q1 game. Drake is 8-1 with a NET of 49 and so far their schedule ranks 204th. Their non-con currently has 5 Q4 games, 4 Q3 games, 1 Q2 game, and 0 Q1 games.

If the MVC can regularly have 8 or 9 of the 12 teams in the Top 135 (with maybe 2-3 of those in the Top 75) and keep the others in the Top 240 I think that would really help everybody and give the league a shot at multiple bids come March. The issue becomes, can UNI afford a bunch of buy games against Q4 opponents (5-7 a year?) and then you gotta make sure you actually do well and win games against those teams like Indiana State and D+ have both done so far.

[BCPanther]

This last part here I think is a big key going forward for the league as a whole as long as the NET exists. I know the full formula and all the specifics were never fully released (which has always seemed super sketchy to me, but whatever), but when it first came out it seemed like margin of victory wouldn't really be a huge emphasis as the maximum margin of victory/defeat that gets calculated is 10 points. That may very well be the case, but it appears that offensive and defensive efficiency (I think the offensive side especially) make a huge impact on the NET rankings. So, yes, your margin of victory may max out at 10 points. However, if you're up 20+ points with 10 minutes left you don't really want to be putting in your backups and young guys and just waste clock because it could really start to pull down your efficiency numbers if you essentially just blow off the last quarter of the game (which kind of sucks if you're wanting to get some of those guys some playing time that they may not otherwise get).

I think Jake really needs to take a hard look at the scheduling philosophy going forward. I understand his mentality of wanting to test the team in the non-con slate to prepare them for MVC play and the end of the year, but from a metrics standpoint it might almost be better to just do a good MTE (get 2-3 games against Top 100 teams on a neutral court), 2-3 games against decent mid-majors (Top 100-150ish), and then just pad the rest of the non-con with Q4 games that you can win by 20-30 points and really build up the efficiency numbers. I mean Indiana State is 9-1 with a NET of 12 so far and their NET strength of schedule so far ranks 287th out of 361 D1 teams in the NET. Their non-con currently has 6 Q4 games, 0 Q3 games, 3 Q2 games, and 1 Q1 game. Drake is 8-1 with a NET of 49 and so far their schedule ranks 204th. Their non-con currently has 5 Q4 games, 4 Q3 games, 1 Q2 game, and 0 Q1 games.

If the MVC can regularly have 8 or 9 of the 12 teams in the Top 135 (with maybe 2-3 of those in the Top 75) and keep the others in the Top 240 I think that would really help everybody and give the league a shot at multiple bids come March. The issue becomes, can UNI afford a bunch of buy games against Q4 opponents (5-7 a year?) and then you gotta make sure you actually do well and win games against those teams like Indiana State and D+ have both done so far.

Fully agree with all of it.

A top 20 schedule does nothing for us anymore and it's really bad for the game as a whole but nobody running things ever seems to care about what's good for the game.

[BrockLesnar]

Poor non-conference scheduling against low ranked teams will rack up wins and confidence but it does nothing to make the team stronger. On top of that it hurts recruiting. If I'm a recruit and saw our non-conference schedule I would sign up all day long. If I see a sup par non-conference schedule I look elsewhere. Yes, we can schedule to win all 11 non-conference games but what kid doesn't want to play at The Battle for Atlantis?

[BrockLesnar]

I would want 3 A10, 3 AAC, 1 MWC, 1 Big10, 2 SWAC, and one D3. If we play good we go 7-4 with that or better. Then we're ready for MVC play. We would continue to recruit Taylor like recruits too. If a Big 10 won't schedule us just throw in a 4th A10. Another option is to add another SWAC and not play a D3. So, play 4 A10, 3 AAC, 1 MWC, and 3 SWAC. That's 11 all D1 schedule where 7-4/8-3/9-2 is doable. With a lot of luck we win all 11.

[BrockLesnar]

We might even make it simple just go 5 A10, 3 AAC, and 3 SWAC. The 3 SWAC would always be at home and the rest would be home and home. That way we get 7 home non-conference and 10 MVC each season. That's a total of 17. I would take 17 home 14 road all day every day. Even if you want the three game tournaments instead of the 3 SWAC games it's still possible to make it even at 14 home, 14 road, and 3 neutral. That's a good schedule too with it being all 31 versus D1. There's other options too. Don't schedule the holiday tournaments and stick to 11 non-conference versus equal conferences home and home. The conferences would be MWC, A10, AAC, WCC, Conference USA, MAC, Big West, and Sun Belt. So, each season the schedule would be either 16 home 15 road or 15 home 16 road. It all takes planning and some work to do it.

[BrockLesnar]

The game has changed at all division levels, now. Gone are the days of walk it up and win with defense in 61-60 scores. Everyone wants to score 75-90 at all division levels. So, after sleeping on it I'd say not to do the expensive three game holiday tournaments versus power 6 teams and stop with the D3 and SWAC teams. We're not getting at large bids to the NCAA or the NIT. We have to win automatic berths by winning the MVC Regular season or the Arch Madness. The regular season title is automatically into the NIT and the Arch automatically gets us into the dance.So, I would think going home and home with teams from conferences ranked # 7-19 would be the best for the non-conference. In other words load up on A10, AAC, MWC, MAC, Conference USA, Sun Belt, Big West, WAC, and Big Sky type of teams for the 11 non-conference ones We would save the expense of three games in a far away tournament. We probably would win more out of league. We would end wasted time with low ranked teams too. We would play equal calibur teams all season. Each season would be either 16 home 15 road or 15 home 16 road. I'm ok with Wartburg or whoever for the exhibition game, though.

[Neighbor]

The regular season title is automatically into the NIT

Not anymore

from NCAA:
For the 2024 NIT, conference regular season champions that do not win their conference tournament or are not otherwise selected to the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship will not receive an automatic bid to the NIT. Instead, the NIT will guarantee two teams (based on the NET rankings) from each of six conferences (Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and Southeastern).

In real terms, teams from MVC, A10 et al are SOL.

But I hear what Brock is saying.

[BrockLesnar]

Not anymore

from NCAA:
For the 2024 NIT, conference regular season champions that do not win their conference tournament or are not otherwise selected to the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship will not receive an automatic bid to the NIT. Instead, the NIT will guarantee two teams (based on the NET rankings) from each of six conferences (Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and Southeastern).

In real terms, teams from MVC, A10 et al are SOL.

But I hear what Brock is saying.

Tough luck changes come too fast. They piss me off. Thirty two practice games. The exhibition plus our season.

[BobCat]

Interesting that Jake stuck with his main guys all the way through the final horn. Plenty of opportunity to get the end of the bench some minutes but coach left some starters on the floor. Interesting.

I noticed that too. So far this season, communication seems to have been a problem; guys cutting a different direction before a pass, mis-matches on defensive assignments, helping..etc. Looked much better this game, so I liked him keeping them out there the extra time to lock down the win and keep that good flow going. Especially with the next game not until Sunday, the extra minutes shouldn't hurt much.

[unipanthers8907]

Poor non-conference scheduling against low ranked teams will rack up wins and confidence but it does nothing to make the team stronger. On top of that it hurts recruiting. If I'm a recruit and saw our non-conference schedule I would sign up all day long. If I see a sup par non-conference schedule I look elsewhere. Yes, we can schedule to win all 11 non-conference games but what kid doesn't want to play at The Battle for Atlantis?

As much as I hate to say it, I think there is more than a fair share of UNI fans living in the Cedar Valley that won't bother driving to Cedar Falls this winter to see this team because they're 4-7 - most have no idea how difficult our schedule has been and most likely don't really care that much. However, if UNI was 9-2 right now against a schedule ranked in the 250s, I bet there would be an increase in attendance. Again, most casual fans don't care or follow closely enough to know how difficult of a schedule has been played or not.

As far as the impact on recruiting I'd want to hear from the players to see how big of an impact this truly made on their decision to come here before I'd jump to the conclusion of "it hurts recruiting" if we aren't playing a top 50 non-con schedule. Also, I still listed an MTE (like the Battle 4 Atlantis for example - obviously we can't go to the Bahamas every year but we can still go somewhere warm with some Top 100 tournament-caliber teams and I think most players would still be fine with that even if it is in Cancun, South Padre, Hawaii, California, etc. and not the B4A specifically) in my proposed scheduling format above.

Yes, my proposal may not make the team "stronger" in terms of going through the meat grinder all non-con before conference play starts, but who is to say that that confidence that you mention isn't just as important. Let's just use this year's Evansville team as an example. Do I think Evansville is a better team/program than UNI right now? No. Do I think they have more talent on their roster right now than UNI? No. However, I think you could probably argue that Evansville was likely pretty confident going into the game against UNI on Dec. 2 sitting at 6-1 despite the best team that they had played in the non-con up to that point being Chattanooga who is currently 214 in the NET rankings. I think it becomes a bit of a balancing act. No, you don't want a non-con schedule of all Q4 teams, but I also think we could dial it back a few notches as well.

[BCPanther]

I think we just flat need to play at home more. There's a reason nobody at our level is taking 4 true road games and it's even a worse decision when you factor in the level that B4A is at. It's tough to get into a rhythm and get playing better when you're spending so much time traveling. This year there was no need to take the North Texas game, none and especially on a night where they were going to be all jacked up (raising a banner, first year in the AAC, new coach, etc).

Ideally going forward--
MTE (2 or 3 games)
1 Bought (if it makes sense from a travel/guarantee standpoint)
3 Buys
2 Regional H-H
1 Resume H-H (AAC, CUSA, MW, A10, etc)
1 Non-DI

That way you're getting 5 or 6 home games plus enough competition to make sure you're ready for league play.

I'd LOVE to see the two early Valley games go away but access to officials makes that almost impossible. They're here to stay.