USA/NFCA Softball Poll is Out

[Cajun90]

You also would have to add the monetary constaints of having to travel a lot more if you up the RPI schedule.
igeaux.mobi

I know I used RPI just to illustrate a broad point but I can assure you that the Cajuns can improve their RPI without putting out a bunch more money.

As wcd35 pointed out it has more to do with OWP. We can find schools to schedule who in a typical year have a much better OWP than those we scheduled to open the season against.

[CajunRed]

I know I used RPI just to illustrate a broad point but I can assure you that the Cajuns can improve their RPI without putting out a bunch more money.

As wcd35 pointed out it has more to do with OWP. We can find schools to schedule who in a typical year have a much better OWP than those we scheduled to open the season against.

After watching two of the teams we played in that first tournament, I told my wife that i thought Teurlings could beat them.

igeaux.mobi

[GoneGolfin]

We can go play the best tournaments in the country and it doesn't mean crap when we turn around and schedule the very pits of Div 1 softball for our tournament and agree to play the same at McNeese.

Just to clear up a misconception I have seen on this board and heard on the radio ... playing the tournament at McNeese State barely scratched the Cajuns' RPI. This tournament was not a problem with the Cajuns' schedule. In fact, if you would have replaced the two UL tournaments (10 games total) with the McNeese State tournament played twice (10 games) ... meaning we played a total of 15 games vs. the McNeese State tournament teams (and going 14-1 in those games), the increase in RPI for the Cajuns would have been dramatic. How dramatic? Try a minimum of a Top 20 RPI ranking and quite possibly a Top 16 RPI ranking. The Cajuns may have found themselves hosting instead of Texas A&M.

Simply dropping the first two tournaments from the schedule (giving the Cajuns an overall record of 39-9 instead of 49-9) would have also had the Cajuns in the Top 20 RPI rankings.

Scheduling those ten games in the UL tournaments to begin the year absolutely obliterated the Cajuns' RPI. Every single team in those tournaments was abysmal from an RPI perspective. Sam Houston State and Maine were the best to schedule from an RPI perspective among a very bad bunch. But these two were bad as well.

Brian

[CajunRed]

I attended those first two tournaments. All but one of those teams was horrible!

igeaux.mobi

[GoneGolfin]

_ You also would have to add the monetary constaints of having to travel a lot more if you up the RPI schedule.

This is emphatically false. Please read my past posts on how the Cajuns can upgrade their schedules significantly RPI-wise by playing the same caliber of competition on their current schedule. IOW, the same chances of winning these games.

Brian

[Turbine]

This is emphatically false. Please read my past posts on how the Cajuns can upgrade their schedules significantly RPI-wise by playing the same caliber of competition on their current schedule. IOW, the same chances of winning these games.

Brian

No team in the top-25 played as few games as you offered.

I don't know if a reduced schedule keeps the team as sharp, but if you need games, the travel costs will go up. I say this because not to many good teams will want to travel to UL and lose to start the season.

[GoneGolfin]

_ No team in the top-25 played as few games as you offered.

Washington did (48 games). But you missed my point. I was advocating the same number of games by tripling up on the teams in the McNeese State tournament (or teams like them).

I don't know if a reduced schedule keeps the team as sharp, but if you need games, the travel costs will go up. I say this because not to many good teams will want to travel to UL and lose to start the season. _

I made it clear that you do not need good teams to travel to UL. I illustrated how the teams in the first two UL tournaments could have been swapped with the teams in the McNeese State tournament ... and the dramatic increase in RPI the Cajuns would have experienced (same number of total games). That would not have costed more. There are many other permutations that would have worked.

Brian

[CajunRed]

Brian is not saying we have to play 30 games with the PAC-10. What he IS saying is that we scheduled several VERY poor teams...who then finished with VERY poor records...and we then paid the price for that.

If I understand correctly, we could have played McNeese 12 times and been better off.

igeaux.mobi

[GoneGolfin]

_ Brian is not saying we have to play 30 games with the PAC-10. What he IS saying is that we scheduled several VERY poor teams...who then finished with VERY poor records...and we then paid the price for that.

If I understand correctly, we could have played McNeese 12 times and been better off.

We could have played #231 Jackson State ten times (in place of the two UL tournaments) and easily had a Top 16 RPI (as an example). And again, even taking the five teams in the McNeese State tournament and playing them each two more times (instead of the ten games in the UL Tournaments) would have yielded at minimum a Top 20 RPI ranking. There are plenty of other teams and permutations that would have worked.

Brian

[jumboragncajun]

_ ESPN give Orgeron and UL a little credit / press in this link:

http://espn.go.com/ncaa/blog/_/name/...ghth-no-hitter _

They short-changed us 9 wins though!!

[CajunRed]

Note for next year: don't start the season with two sucky tournaments!


igeaux.mobi

[CajunAmos]

We could have played #231 Jackson State ten times (in place of the two UL tournaments) and easily had a Top 16 RPI (as an example). And again, even taking the five teams in the McNeese State tournament and playing them each two more times (instead of the ten games in the UL Tournaments) would have yielded at minimum a Top 20 RPI ranking. There are plenty of other teams and permutations that would have worked.

Brian

Here's a question. Do you know if coaches have access to a person like you who follows the RPI concerns while trying to complete schedules? I know schedules are done in advance (in some cases years) for some sports, but I wasn't sure about softball. I know I've heard Mke say its tough to get high profile teams to come to Lafayette for the season, but it would be nice to have a resource that would allow us to put together a list of teams we could approach a year or two in advance.