Competitive scheduling from an MVC prospective

The Salukis constantly face challenges putting together a quality schedule. The idea is to ticket up with NCAA tournament caliber teams that you have a chance to beat, and also get a few of those premium match-ups on your home floor. However, getting both of those tasks done can be difficult for any MVC team.

Mid-major teams have to get their RPI up if they want a chance at an at large bid. There are a few ways to do that. The most conventional way to do that is to schedule games against other quality mid-major teams; the Salukis have done that in the past with games vs Western Kentucky, St. Louis, Saint Mary's and others.

The bracketbuster can also help if you are playing well enough to get a good opponent. The Salukis scored a game vs nationally ranked Butler a few years back and got a return game at SIU Arena for the next season. On the flipside if you aren't playing well then you'll get a poor bracketbuster matchup and most likely an undesirable return game the next season.

Another route is taking a "one and done" vs a major conference opponent, playing an away game without getting a return visit. The upside is that major conference teams will often pay schools like SIU for these "one and dones". The Salukis will get $80,000 for their visit to University of Illinois this season.

Paul Suellenthrop of The Wichita Eagle asked RPI guru Jerry Palm about the subject of mid-major scheduling and Palms says to be careful about scheduling road games with no return matchup. "Teams don't grab one of the 34 (now 37) at-large spots by playing the role of road loser."

Later in the article Sullenthrop gets MVC commish Doug Elgin's take who says- "We can't lose sight as a league of the importance of getting NCAA-caliber teams to play in our arenas".

Then in a related blog post, he digs a bit deeper looking at scheduling from a WSU prospepective. Check out the blog for yourself, but here are some interesting notes that also apply to SIU.

-Most of those at-large teams play in tournaments, play high-profile teams at neutral sites, play home-and-homes with BCS schools when possible and play other mid-level opponents.

-When thinking about scheduling, repeat this over and over: Coaches want to win. Road teams lose.

-Bradley coach Jim Les said the MVC-MWC challenge is good deal. However, he said the BCS conferences in challenge series cuts down on the number of those schools willing to go on the road. If Auburn is forced to go to Rutgers, it often isn’t looking for another difficult game.

The Salukis staff did a nice job getting a neutral site game vs Prudue this year. It's a game in which SIU will be a huge underdog but it's hard to complain about getting a high profile game at a neutral site. In addition they'll also get Wright State or Richmond in the same tournament. If the Salukis can go at least 1-1 in these games they'll get media exposure, a higher strength of schedule and an RPI boost.

It's never going to be easy for SIU to put together an at-large bid caliber schedule but I think I would have rather seen the Salukis take a 2 for 1 deal with U of I so they could get the Illini on their home court at least once. Another home and home series with Butler would be nice, but may not be a possibility now with the recent success of the Bulldogs.

Moral of the story- getting quality home games has to be the top priority for Lowery and his staff. Getting more good teams like Butler, WKU, and an occasional major conference team like Indiana to the revamped Arena will be critical for this team to return to a level of prominence.