What strikes me about the MAC in recent years isn't "weakness", but "mediocrity". The league hasn't had a lot of teams sub 250, but most of the teams have been in the 120 to 180 range.

I think bornacat is correct that a major reason for this is weaker non conference schedules plus an inability to defeat good teams when given the opportunity. The MAC teams have dome a good job of beating teams at their level or below , which has kept the league hovering about 12 or 13 in the various metrics.

MAC is 11th in RPI this year and 12/13 in Sagarin. Gotta keep in mind there's 32 Div I conferences so this isn't weak, but it is mediocre and lacking in excitement.

^^^^^^^^^^ What he said.

Quick Schedule Pitt.

Our two peer conferences are CUSA and the Sun Belt. Notice that they are in the same boat as the MAC...trying to be players in both football and basketball with limited budgets. Result? The leagues are mediocre in both sports.

Mountain West and American conferences have more money to work with so they are able to get away with it.

Better yet. How far the TCU program came in a very tough Big 12, from a consistent high 100s, low 200s kenpom to 29 and 21 the last 2 years.

Told ya the over under was going to be closer to 95

Fact ... Dayton, Clemson, WKU, Iona and Indiana State are a solid foundation for a non-conference schedule.

BUT ....

When you add in MEAC/SWACtion x 3 and NE Ohio ... that dead weight KILLS your schedule.

And yes ... I know that probably is due to the 8 home game rule the MAC has instituted ... but I've been harping for years to dump this SWACtion games and go play someone that will actually get you ready for the MAC season and help your OOC schedule.

One MEAC/SWACtion team is enough. Three is overkill especially when you thrown in actual non-D1 game.

The 2-for-1 deal is a no-brainer ... and why Ohio doesn't try to exercise that with some lower level P6 teams (Providence, DePaul, Nebraska, Northwestern, Auburn, Pitt, BC) is beyond me. Maybe they are? Maybe they aren't? But I know that the schedule can be better than what we get in terms of Prairie View, MVSU, Alabama A&M and Southern.

St. Bonnie and UMass both came to Athens recently. So has Temple. You can't get Rhode Island down here? Or VCU? Richmond came recently. There are better options out there ... I'd like to think Ohio is trying to find opportunities with them ... but I'm just not sure they are.

I'm reluctant to go down the schedule complaining wormhole, but I will because it's worth pointing out who those A-10 teams played on the road or on a neutral floor this year as clues that indicate how unlikely it is they're coming to Athens.

URI: Seton Hall and Virginia at MSG, at Nevada, at Alabama. Last year was similar in terms of the caliber of road/neutral games. Bottom line is, under Hurley, they ain't coming to Athens. They're essentially a power conference team right now with no incentive to come to The Convo.

VCU: at Seton Hall, then Marquette, Michigan, Cal in a holiday tournament. The rest of their non-conf was at home. Similar schedule the year before, though they did play regional mid-major's ODU and Liberty on the road. Unlikely they come to Athens anytime soon.

Temple: Now in the AAC, they have an interesting non-conf schedule because they play several teams in the Phily Big 5 in the non-conf. That's 3-4 games with Drexel, St.Joe's, Penn, La Salle. Then they play road games with power conferences, or, like Ohio this year, end up in someplace like Charleston. That doesn't leave a lot of room for a trip to Athens.

Richmond, St Bonnie, UMass: All more likely if you look at the caliber of road games they scheduled this year. Of those three, UMass is currently the worst game by quite a bit, and worse than the Iona and WKU 1 for 1's that we saw this year and last.

Bottom line with future scheduling is twofold (in my opinion): First, the folks in the MAC office in Cleveland need to ease up on this minimum required home games by a couple games, and in turn ask teams to schedule good road opponents - top 150/175 from the prior year's RPI. Second, anyone here thinking we should be getting one for one, or one off home games against the likes of the upper tier of the A10, AAC, etc, needs to consider the reality - there's nothing in it for those teams to come play on the road in Athens. It's a losing proposition whether they win or lose. Either they lose the game, or they take an RPI hit relative to who they could be playing instead. Also, they could play the home game and make money, or go play at a P6 school.

Instead, I'd rather see the type of schedule that we saw Fuss seem to aim for - which was trying to get the top third teams from those conferences on par with, or a little below the MAC. Nothing wrong with the SWAC/MEAC if you get one of the teams vying to win their conference, and a potential NCAA Tournament team.

And I'll take games against Marshall, Iona, and WKU like we had this year all day long.