Prairie View, Coppin State & Alabama A&M.

Nuff. Said.

Why not just go all the way and apply for SWAC membership?

This schedule is terrible. There is no justification for this crap.

You can go two different ways with this ....

Some will say, "Well, it's only four games vs. not-so-great competition"

While others (like me) will say, "It's a quarter of our out-of-conference season against teams that are either 300+ RPI dumpster fires or aren't even Division One?!?! That's over half of our home schedule in the non-conference against absolute trash!"

Are you referring specifically to the home schedule, or the whole schedule?

So yeah...it's not bad. But it ain't great.

Even if Ohio were to beat Clemson, Dayton and Maryland .... those games vs. Prairie View, Coppin and Alabama A&M will crush the RPI as well as any hope for well attended home non-conference games. Those games are awful. Period.

One ... okay. Two ... maybe (if you drop the non-D1) .... but all three AND a non-D1!??! C'mon man! That's not what a prideful mid-major schedules if they hope to turn the corner as a program and elevate themselves.

It is definitely better than last year but I just don't see the reason why you would need to schedule more than one of those 300+ teams. Are we saving tons of money by playing those teams?

Count ourselves lucky? Are you kidding me? Aren't we the premier basketball school in the MAC with the most fans per game and the highest paid coach? Yes, we can do better than that.

The schedule is fine outside of those three 300+ games. It's a shame because if you replace those three teams with teams in the 200's all of a sudden our schedule look a lot better.

Really hope we get to play Dayton, but that means we have to beat Clemson most likely.

Don't forget about the non-D1 game too!

Four worthless games.

You're right, you replace those four games and you have a good schedule.

But that's a quarter of the non-conference season vs. trash

Just playing vs. three 300+ RPI teams kills your numbers. Just kills them. Even winning those games does nothing to help your cause. It's literally a schedule killer. I couldn't agree more on your idea of adding teams from those other leagues. The Mount St. Mary's addition should be our floor for buy games. That's a good game vs. a decent low-level mid-major. Would have been nice to replace those SWAC teams with maybe a UT-Martin or a Bradley or a UW-Green Bay. Not necessarily a Top 100 team...but at least a Top 200 team or right around 200 at worst.

There is no need for Ohio, the premier program in the MAC, to be playing those 300+ trash teams. None. Zero. They shouldn't even be in the rolodex.

Mount St Marys is actually a pretty good team. They were their conference champion last year.

Next time you make it to a Caravan stop, come armed with good questions about how the scheduling of "buy games" and varied conferences they choose happens.

Like Van said, could be that the budget for these games fits the budget that year. It could also be that other, more regionally interesting schools in comparable conferences weren't willing to come on the dates that Ohio had open. Or maybe they aren't willing to play more than a home and home, and Ohio wants a 2 for 1 with a school like Murray State or Fort Wayne, or Cleveland State.

I don't know, but there's a reason out there somewhere because I'm sure that the goal isn't to produce a schedule that fans will complain about. Though with some, we could play the whole B1G in December and they'd be ticked that every game was on the road. Can't please 'em all.

There's just a touch of extremism in your response.

I don't think I'm asking Ohio to play home games vs Kentucky, Kansas & Duke. Or even play them on the road.

My point is they shouldn't be playing three games vs sh***y SWAC schools AND a non-D1.

And if Ohio wants a 2-for-1 with schools like Murray, CSU or IPFW....they should adjust their ego. Ohio isn't a mid-major powerhouse.

If you think the best Ohio can do is Ala A&M, Prairie View and Coppin... wow. Just, wow.

And if you think Saul is going to be fully honest with some chucklehead fan that shows up at a caravan and asks him why we're scheduling SWAC sisters of the poor... you're nuts! They'll always give the company line about how they're working hard to get the best schedule, blah, blah, blah.

It still doesnt answer why we played a dogs**t schedule last year with a veteran, experienced team? What was "excuse" for that?

And for someone that is tired of the scheduling griping, you spend a lot of time trying to defend it.

I know they'll never make everyone happy ... but jeez...4 SWAC/Non D1s is borderline embarrassing for this program. You mean you can't get better or challenge yourself against some other teams...even if it's hitting road for another similar mid-major?

Would you rather be 7-5 with losses to quality opponents where you were challenged or 10-2 with wins over pathetic competition? What gets you more prepared for the grueling MAC season & Cleveland?