First, would I have done some things differently ... which do not require timely knowledge? Certainly. Taking better advantage of the home/road multiplier disparity is one ... but needs to be weighed in the context of putting together a good home schedule for the fans. Some of the teams scheduled could be improved. And I am referring to the part of the schedule that gets added in months before ... not two years in advance.
But I think that some of what we are seeing is simply the schedule being back loaded a bit due to how the conference schedule came out. Some of this will resolve itself.
That said, I think there is a difference between assembling a schedule with the goal of obtaining an at-large bid ... and assembling a schedule with the goal of being a national seed. What we have in 2024 is not a national seed schedule. Making it fit as such would require winning a substantial number of games ... while not squandering Q1 opportunities. Very difficult to do ... much easier to do with a stronger schedule (allowing more losses) and more road games.
Brian
Just to be clear ... not all SWAC is bad. SWAC teams have been instrumental in good softball and baseball schedules. But you need the right ones (good programs) and do not over-schedule them. And win.
Example, Jackson State is a good opponent to have this season ... despite the #232 ranking (RPI rankings can be very misleading).
Brian
Being awarded an “at large” bid is totally different than Boeing awarded a host site.
Where is the game thread?
I’ve had mixed opinions about the RPI for years. On one hand, there are 300+ D1 schools that play baseball and I feel it is necessary to have a ranking system like this as a sort of baseline.
But we all know the RPI giveth and the RPI taketh away. This is one of those years where the RPI isn’t in our favor. Wright State was supposed to be a boost for us but that’s not the case. Tulane is meh. The Rice series is haunting us. I like the thought of playing Rice every year between Lafayette and Houston but we should stop until they can get back to a .500 record. Of course if we do what we should have done and win the series it’s not as bad.
We’re coming up on some better matchups the last few weeks of the season. Keep playing good ball and we’ll be ok. I think a host spot will likely be out of the question though.
Brian,
Several years ago, if I am remembering the events correctly, you and Michael Lotief met and discussed the fallacies in the softball rpi. You came up with improvements, presented them to the NFCA, the NFCA brought them to the NCAA and got the changes made. Would you be willing and able to get with Coach Deggs and see about doing the same thing for baseball?
Yes, the softball RPI recommendations were actually 12 years ago. But only one of the recommendations was adopted ... the recommendation to remove RPI bonuses for conference opponents (which did help ... and was a significant unfair advantage to the elite conferences). They were too reticent to rock the boat by making any further changes at that time. There were no further requests for information in subsequent years. In the 2014 season, the Cajuns finished with the #6 RPI ranking (selection time) ... but would have been #12 under the old system. The Cajuns hosted both regionals and super-regionals enroute to the WCWS.
If Deggs/baseball ever wanted advice on the matter, I would be happy to speak with them. But I think Deggs has better things to do than to lobby the NCAA for RPI changes. I think the best tact to take at this point in time is to game the heck out of a faulty system ... and if they change the system to account for this, so be it.
Brian
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)