Not to jump the gun for Ted but looking ahead, I note that CBS Sports' Matt Norlander rates Alabama A&M dead last out of 351 Division 1 basketball teams for the upcoming season. We're at 156. That said they have a preseason schedule to die for: Alabama, Minnesota, DePaul, Michigan and Georgetown. And of course Ohio University.

I understand your point however a recurring theme here is that our weak preseason schedule depresses our RPI and provides poor competition in preparation for conference games. I live in San Luis Obispo CA and Cal Poly has a band box gym and is 200 miles from any urban areas. They play big-name competition (Cal and Stanford next week) away from home year in and year out. Occasionally they have a strong team and though they always have a losing record entering conference play, they can be very competitive (they made the NCAA tournament a few years ago). And the strong preseason schedule is about the only recruiting tool they have going for them. I know the faithful would like more home games with big-name schools but you get a full schedule of conference games at home.

Just a thought.

Yep. Their recruiting classes frequently look like Division II with a lot of very raw talent. In past years they have beaten UCLA at Poly Pavilion, USC, Stanford and Oregon State. They had one player in the NBA last year. My argument is that playing top talent helps to develop your team.

I'd also say the whole RPI argument is way off base. My guess is most years Ohio's RPI is higher at the end of the non-conference schedule than it is at the end of the regular season.

Can't wait to play Alabama A&M! As a kid I always dreamed about it.

Come on guys, they're not that bad...right McKinney? Some of you act like this is already a win, sheesh.

We played at Ohio State to kick off the 1979-80 season. West Virginia a few times. Illinois Christmas tournament and Clemson IPTAY tournament. Virginia Tech, Florida, UConn, St. Bonnie. If we played any lightweights it would be Marietta or Youngstown. However we did lose to the Penguins my senior year! I would have liked to play more P5 games, even if we got killed. You always wanted to know how you stacked up.

We should be playing at least 2 (3 would be optimal) of the following every year home and away: Ohio State, WVU, Xavier, Cincy, Dayton and Butler.

LOL, good luck with that. Not one of those would even consider coming to Athens without a huge financial payout. It's a different landscape than it was even 20 years ago. The big boys have no incentive to play us on our terms. Best case scenario we get one of those guys on a neutral court. I would be ecstatic if we could get a 1-for-2 with any one of those.

Interesting

I took the time to look at the history file:///C:/Users/Doc/Downloads/ohio_mbb_1718_records(1).pdf (you'll have to scroll down to page 36 to get into the 1960s and beyond but I think that I see more Charleston WVa and WV State than I do WVU. Marietta, Ohio Dominican and Capital appear as regular season games as do Ohio and WV Weslyans. There are games on there that folks would positively howl about these days.

The assertion that the scheduling has changed is correct. The so called Power conferences will not come out of their house if they do not have to and there is no reason to. I have been beating the drum for 10+ years to mandate so many road games for all NCAA teams. Still seems to me the only way to get that done is to threaten to double the tourney field. Add one day and take it to 128 to include the one bid conference regular season champs as well. I think that would get them out on the road. Till then everyone from Indiana, NC and Kansas to Ohio and Wright is scrambling to schedule the Houston Baptists, Pres Blue Hose and SWAC teams in front of their home crowds.

EDIT try this link for record book pdf http://static.psbin.com/0/3/6j5k96ia30mtyv/ohio_mbb_1718_...