Get ready for the post season

[Cajun90]

While the types of teams on the schedule are not much of an aberration, the results are. Arkansas was not expected to be this terrible. We had no control over the teams McNeese brought to their tournament, but we normally don't play this many SWAC teams, who are normally pretty bad. You can't always know what a team will do from one year to the next. Syracuse & Connecticut had good seasons the years they came down here, Rhode Island did not. We replaced the Leadoff Classic with the Citrus Classic and Temple and Long Island, both NCAA tournament teams last year, are shadows of themselves this year.

The Sun Belt is getting better, but even with the improved records, they were not able to counterbalance the poor records of many of our non-conference opponents this year. Last year, the Cajuns faced 12 teams that were in the NCAA tournament, this year there will be at least 6, with a maximum of 8. Mike & Stef have been able to put good schedules together, but they can't make their opponents win.

The OWP is 50% of the rpi base. The OOWP is the same as your overall record, 25%. You can't base your schedule on who your opponents will play. I do expect that whoever they play will have better seasons than the ones they played this year.

Obviously you can't know for sure what a team will do from year to year but you can follow some general trends. It also doesn't take much to find out who is proposed or expected for a tournament. And just because a team makes post season doesn't mean anything in the context of OWP. There will be Pac-10, Big-12, and SEC teams who make the tourney but don't have great winning percentages and then there will be lowly teams in the weak conferences who steal bids by winning their conference tournament.

My point is that we had a LOT of teams in the OOC schedule that are going to have questionable results most years. We need to purposefully try and accomodate more teams that in most years will provide better results.

For the baseball team Southern has fit that bill. Not a strong RPI team most years but usually with a good winning percentage.

I know there is a list a mile long when working out a schedule and I am just wondering if the winning percentage factor is even on the radar screen?

Rhode Island, Maine, & Tenn. State contributed 240 losses to our OWP!

None of these programs have a history to suggest that they will help our OWP in any given year.

[GoneGolfin]

_ I can assure you the Lotiefs have studied the issue enough to know that they would not get a regional with anything outside a top 10 RPI. They played in three very good tournaments this year and hosted two at home. There are no top 25 programs lining up to come to Lafayette and play the Cajuns.

The point I have been trying to make for a couple of years is that you do not need a bunch of Top 25 games on the schedule. You simply need to play teams with decent records ... and do your best to purge the bad records from your schedule. There are ways to do this ... ways that give you a better chance of having a better schedule.

Some examples of some teams you would not want to schedule ...
#36 San Diego State
#38 Illinois
#44 Penn State
#74 South Carolina
#77 Mississippi State
#111 Arkansas

Some examples of teams that would be good to schedule ...
#148 Northwestern State
#163 Houston Baptist
#206 Marist
#233 Mississippi Valley State
#242 Jackson State
#270 Texas Southern

Replace Prairie View A&M, Arkansas, Rhode Island, Tennessee State, Maine, SFA, and Centenary with the above teams and you have a considerably improved RPI.

Centenary is an absolute killer. Not only do they give you practically the worst OWP conceivable ... with their 5-33 record, their OWP is horrible as well.

So you schedule programs that are willing to play you in week day games like those you listed. There is literally no budget for softball and they bus to every game including the West Coast. The close programs that have better RPI, like LSU, Houston and Louisiana Tech are not on the schedules this year. _

Do not think high RPI teams. Think decent W-L records. A high RPI team may be worse for your schedule than a considerably lower RPI team with a good record (because they played a weak schedule). So, if you are budget restricted, look for teams within reasonable travel distance that are not strong teams (you should get a win) that are likely to rule their conference and have a decent record. Schedule those teams and purge the true dregs of college softball. We have plenty of those this year.

Brian

[Cajun90]

I can assure you the Lotiefs have studied the issue enough to know that they would not get a regional with anything outside a top 10 RPI. They played in three very good tournaments this year and hosted two at home. There are no top 25 programs lining up to come to Lafayette and play the Cajuns. So you schedule programs that are willing to play you in week day games like those you listed. There is literally no budget for softball and they bus to every game including the West Coast. The close programs that have better RPI, like LSU, Houston and Louisiana Tech are not on the schedules this year. LSU won't play UL, UL won't play Tech, Houston and UL agreed not to play this season. Ole Miss was terrible, Miss State won't come to Lafayette and Baylor, Texas A&M and Texas aren't interested in coming to Lafayette either. So now you play SLC and SWAC programs. They are doing everything within their power to run a top 25 program, with no money. Outside of winning a few more games against top 50 RPI programs, there is nothing else they can do with the schedule, within the budget.

T your not tracking here. I understand we played some good teams and good tournaments. It is NOT about scheduling high RPI teams it is instead about not scheduling teams that you know have a history of poor performance. As gonegolfin has shown in another post this is about staying away from the dredges of college softball. It can still be SWAC or SLC programs but not the ones that are always sitting on the bottom of the conference.

I fully understand our financial limitations as well but we had six games that gave us 240 losses. I think we can do a little better than this and not break the bank.

Golfin & I will be out at the Tigue all weekend and over at softball some as well. Hope to see you out there.

[Zeebart21]

_ T your not tracking here. I understand we played some good teams and good tournaments. It is NOT about scheduling high RPI teams it is instead about not scheduling teams that you know have a history of poor performance. As gonegolfin has shown in another post this is about staying away from the dredges of college softball. It can still be SWAC or SLC programs but not the ones that are always sitting on the bottom of the conference.

I fully understand our financial limitations as well but we had six games that gave us 240 losses. I think we can do a little better than this and not break the bank.

Golfin & I will be out at the Tigue all weekend and over at softball some as well, buying beer for all of our podnuhs...and IF you're really nice, we will throw in some roasted peanuts. Hope to see you out there. _

FIFY! Thanks guys, y'all are awesome!!!

Z

[CajunT]

_ T your not tracking here. I understand we played some good teams and good tournaments. It is NOT about scheduling high RPI teams it is instead about not scheduling teams that you know have a history of poor performance. As gonegolfin has shown in another post this is about staying away from the dredges of college softball. It can still be SWAC or SLC programs but not the ones that are always sitting on the bottom of the conference.

I fully understand our financial limitations as well but we had six games that gave us 240 losses. I think we can do a little better than this and not break the bank.

Golfin & I will be out at the Tigue all weekend and over at softball some as well. Hope to see you out there. _

I understand the point clearly, but it takes two to agree to scheduling and you want a balanced schedule of home and away. Some of those programs have to be willing to come to Lamson Park and play the Cajuns. They are not lining up to do so, I'm not sure how the Lotiefs can remedy that without paying more money and that is something the program doesn't have right now.

[BirdofParadise]

_ I understand the point clearly, but it takes two to agree to scheduling and you want a balanced schedule of home and away. Some of those programs have to be willing to come to Lamson Park and play the Cajuns. They are not lining up to do so, I'm not sure how the Lotiefs can remedy that without paying more money and that is something the program doesn't have right now. _

Then you go and raise the money. For years, UL did not fund baseball except for scholarships and coaches salaries. So they went out and raised the money...and wound up in Omaha.

There are tons of excuses about the scheduling for softball.

If McNeese is going to invite the dregs of softball to their tournament....don't go.

And, there's no way you can convince me that Rhode Island and the likes were the only teams willing to come for the tournaments.

We HAVE to schedule better and schedule smarter. If that means working harder to raise money, so be it.

[CajunT]

_ Then you go and raise the money. For years, UL did not fund baseball except for scholarships and coaches salaries. So they went out and raised the money...and wound up in Omaha.

There are tons of excuses about the scheduling for softball.

If McNeese is going to invite the dregs of softball to their tournament....don't go.

And, there's no way you can convince me that Rhode Island and the likes were the only teams willing to come for the tournaments.

We HAVE to schedule better and schedule smarter. If that means working harder to raise money, so be it. _

BOP, they have done a fine job of raising money for their program. They've raised enough money to cover uniforms, equipment, travel and recruiting costs. There is no other UL athletic program that has achieved more, with less revenue. The second place program is not even close.

[GoneGolfin]

_ FIFY! Thanks guys, y'all are awesome!!!

Z _

Z, that is a mighty stiff penalty over here in Texas.

Brian