I wonder if there's another Sweet 16 team from last year that has to swallow that Richmond could be their best OOC home game on the upcoming schedule?    Like Oakland and other low-awareness teams that may actually be solid squads, you have to talk yourself and any guest you bring into it being a "big" game to come to at the Convo. 

It's obvious that we are either not capable of bringing at least one bigger name squad into the Convo a year to create a little buzz to attract fair-weathered fans who like a big game to come to, or just don't want to.  I do however see that's it's brutally evident that our philsophy is to only schedule winnable games.  And I guess you can understand this philosophy from a coaches/AD standpoint in that once the season is completed all that goes into your resume is the final record.  Few breakdows schedules after the fact to see who you actually played.  Just kind of stinks for fans such as myself who buy 5-6 extra season tickets a year just to invite friends.  Then you show them the schedule from which to pick a game to attend and other than the home games against Miami, Akron and maybe Kent State, it's blah, blah, blah and blah.

Not that they have any say, but I also wonder if the players are/will be disappointed when they see the schedule?  After the ride they had ending the season beating Big East, Big Ten and almost ACC--then unless you win the MAC tournament or have an incredible/near flawless record, you may spend the entire season back in obscurity.

And if there was ever a year to "schedule up" a bit, wouldn't this be the year?  If you don't do it after the Sweet 16 and a team full of seniors, when do you do it?  You certainly aren't doing it the year after next as we'll be back in the "we're a young team" mode. 

I've always heard we're not willing to sign 2-for-1's with the upper tier schools, though offers have been made.  But if there was ever a time to do so, sign one of them now with a team willing to our home game this year and at their place the next two years when we could be back in rebuilding mode and one loss won't be the end of the world.  I even heard on the Bob Huggins show he wanted to play OHIO in Charleston, WV.  I heard Indiana would do a 2-for-1 and while I don't think Indiana is who we want right now, how cool would that be to have IU in our house this year even if it meant a couple beat downs in Bloomington the next couple years.  Honestly, skip the Wofford, UNC-W garbage for one year and do a couple of those deals now that we're at a level we don't know exactly sure when we'll be at again. 

Okay, what if we look at this from a different angle or two:

1)  Let's supposed that Christian was 100% straight forward at caravan and most of the schedule was in place prior to him.  How likely is it that he's able to pull in a game against a Minnesota, Northwestern, or West Virginia?  I would think very unlikely.  Also, you have to remember, thus far, to other people that aren't Ohio alums or fans, we're so far just a flash in the pan the last few years.  We got in the dance through conference tournaments twice and played well on a big stage both times.  We are not a a big name opponent to most people until we win the regular season in conference and show that we're consistently one of the two best teams in the MAC.  I think winning the upcoming game at Memphis is important for the argument many on here are making about getting better home non-conference games.

2)  I know very little about scheduling, so if someone knows, what would it realistically take to get a game, at the Convo, with a mid level school from the Big 10 1/2, or Big East, ACC, etc?  A two for one?  Who knows?

The Memphis game will be on some sort of TV. I can tell by looking at their schedule at their athletics website. I hope it is picked up by one of the ESPN stations, as I think it has good viewership potential for a midweek OOC game in December.

I want a nice OOC game in Athens just as much as the next guy, but what school from a "name" conference would want to make a trip to the Convo? The big boys won't do it because they'll either bring the big time game to them, go play another big time team in their arena, or play a big time game at a big neutral site.

The mid-level teams from "name" conferences don't want to come here because theres a plethora of good kids that will come to them and they generally get enough quality games in conf that they don't need to boost their resume much.

If we're being honest, what bigger name team would want any part to coming to Athens in December when students are actually on campus, playing in "the" big game of the year, in front of a rowdy potentially packed house, against a team that went to the sweet 16 last year and returned everyone? Can't you see why it'd be such a hard sell this year? I think we'll see the home schedule improve soon, but it wasn't going to be this year.

Here's what pisses me off:

We have a real opportunity to showcase a marquee name in DJ Cooper from October thru March.  Instead, you decide to keep him a virtual secret until March roll the dice that you make National Headlines in order to get him (and the University) some publicity. It's a dis-service to the player. If I was a semi-decent recruit, don't think I wouldn't take notice of these crummy schedules.

I find it hard to believe some perennial bubble teams don't want to play us in a 1 for 1 situation.

Per a letter I just got from DJ Cooper with my OBC materials....."home slate will highlighted by games vs. mid-major powers St. Bonaventure, Oakland, and Richmond....."

WTF? When did Oakland become a power? St. Bonaventure? They were the 6th best team in the A-10 last year. Richmond didn't even make the tournament last year.

I really don't like being insulted by this stuff.

    Love, you left out the best part of DJ's letter: "We prepare to take on one of the most challenging schedules in program history."

   Of more interest to Bobcat fans, also from DJ:  "All fans who renew their tickets by Friday, August 31, will receive a commemorative 2011-12 season DVD/CD combo pack."

Richmond's schedule following their A10 Championship and Sweet 16 appearance.

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The problem with this comparison is twofold: 

1)  Richmond is in the A-10, and therefore has a much stronger ability to pull in games like this in my opinion. 

2)  Who on this board really knows about the process in scheduling?  Like I said earlier, it was said that most of the schedule was in place prior to Christian arriving, so he didn't have a lot of influence on the schedule.  Also, we don't know the in's and out's of how scheduling agreements occur, and why or why not specific teams would be willing to travel to Athens.

That said, as has been said 1000 times on here, it sure would be nice to see regional matchups against some of the better regional teams on a regular basis.  Teams like UD, Xavier, Wright State, Cleveland State, Duquesne, Butler, etc....And then try to consistently get on the schedule with the MVC on a regular basis. 

That's exactly wherein lies the varying viewpoints on scheduling. For all intents and purposes, Richmond was supposed to have a much better season than they did last year but they were also forced with replacing Justin Harper, who went in the second round of the NBA draft, and some other key SRs. Now if UR ended up doing much better then they would be praised for scheduling tough and earning a good postseason seed. However, since they didn't do so hot, then we all get to point and say "tough scheduling just gets you a well paid loss". 

Also, Richmond's schedule last year wasn't that much different than how they schedule most year's. Notable exceptions would be playing at UCLA and getting Iona at home. Almost every other OOC game they played is either an in state school they usually schedule or Wake Forest who they've seemingly played a home and home with for as long as I can remember.

Ok, I give in.  So Maryland-Eastern Shore, UNC-W, UT-Corpus Christi, Marietta College, UT-Martin, Samford, Morgan State, UNC A&T, Delaware and Norfolk State it is!