And as Junior Soprano once said " I'd rather bleep Angie Dickinson".

Not only that but apparently he'd rather play them on the road since those teams won't come here.

New Jersey Tech!  CLAP!  New Jersey Tech!  CLAP!  And watch out for the umbrellas...

SOS matters little.  What matters is the paint job being laid on the floor now.  That will get us into the tourney for sure.

I agree with your comment. However, Robby Mo is unlikely to continue to be that strong every year, while a team such as Virginia will be strong more often. The schedules are made a few years in advance, with some exceptions. My point is this: what do we have to lose by playing a very strong schedule? It's slim to none that we get at-large bid because the MAC has been so weak top to bottom. I would play 4 big ten teams every year on the road.

Two points.  First, in basketball, unlike football, a significant percentage of the non-conference schedule is not set years in advance.  Some of the slate will be set ahead of time, via multi-year scheduling agreements, but a lot of a hoop team's schedule is constructed in the immediately proceeding months.  So teams do have an ability to more accurately gauge how strong a particular opponent will be in the season they are scheduled, and don't need to simply schedule power conference teams in the hopes that they will be good.

Second, the harm of overscheduling is that you can kill the confidence of a young team by repeatedly getting blown out.  8 of our 11 eligible scholarship players this year will be freshmen and sophomores.  The downside of playing a murderous schedule with that type of inexperience is much greater than the upside.  I don't think that last year's team would have been better served by playing 3 more Pitt-type opponents in the non-conference schedule, and in fact could have been substantially hurt from it.

While I'd like to see one more lower level, BCS conference road game on this year's schedule, overall I think this schedule fits the experience and talent level of the team quite nicely.  If we can put up a big win total this year, with a couple of the better mid-majors on the schedule having strong years, along with a win versus Kansas or Temple, and we will be on the bubble should we fail to win the tournament in Cleveland. 

Agree with FLOMO 100%. I would have liked one more game against a high major team but too many high major teams can wear out a team for no reason. Our best shot to make the tournament is to leave that destiny in our own hands. To do that we have to be healthy and clicking by January in order to be one of the top four teams for the MAC tournament.

"young guys, young guys", blah, blah, blah. They are YOUNG and should be able to play whatever schedule is put in front of them. When I was younger and searching the playgrounds to play I didn't go to places where I could dominate. I sought out places where there were older guys, guys who played in college at that time or had played in college or pros. Sometimes they kicked my a@#, but sometimes I held my own. And you know what? I got better and more confident and was able to grow my game. I never felt good about beating inferior competition or even playing with guys my own age, because I wouldn't get better. Why does everyone want to coddle these guys???

Perimeterpost, we don't get points for just showing up and losing to the better teams on the road. But, you never can beat them if you don't play them. If you aspire to be the best, you have to play and beat the best. That's what Jim Snyder did. You can all say that it's different now, but that's what he did. And he was able to get some pretty good players to come to Athens to play. Good players aren't afraid of playing anyone.

Set 'em up and we will knock 'em down.  I think that the schedule is ok, I think it could have been a little more challenging.  Lets take a chance, play more big boys and try for an at-large just in case.  But, if you want to stay at home and play Oakland, Delaware, IUPUI and St. Francis, you better win those and win big if you want any chance of a safety net in Cleveland. 

The point of a college basketball schedule is not to show you've got the biggest cojones, it's to best position your team for a successful season.  I agree that testing yourself against better competition is important, but I also think it is important to schedule games that can teach a young team how to win, enable you to instill your system, etc.  Playing a string of games against highly ranked competition with an inexperienced team typically won't do that. 

While the Pitt game certainly served as a valuable measuring stick last year, that game didn't do much in terms of enhancing the implementation of our system, or instilling confidence in our players.  It pretty clearly took at least one player several games to regain the confidence he lost during that annihilation. 

Playing the toughest schedule possible also doesn't necessarily best position one for an at-large bid.  Historically, home teams win 67% of the time in college basketball, so the odds are you are going to have a mediocre record at best if you take on a series of top ranked teams on the road.  That doesn't get you into the Dance...if it did, Miami would be sitting on 5 or 6 consecutive invitations by now.  Good teams, even at the mid-major level, tend to play more games at home on the road, and look to schedule some quality mid-majors, not just power conference teams.  That's what we've gone, even if you don't want to look beyond the name of some of the opponents we've faced to determine just how good they actually are.

If we are still playing schedules like this in another year or two, then I'll also start to complain.  But for the time being, this schedule gives us the best chance of having a successful season and positioning us for an at-large bid.

The Love, I'm not so sure that you've accurately captured sentiment on the football board.  I think most of us would like to see something like the level of schedule for which you avidly (hee hee) advocate.  What we see as the current reality, however, is that, it's not going to happen just yet.  Financial and other barriers are much greater for bringing off a top flight football schedule--especially one with first rank home games.  There's a will there, just not so much of a way at this time.

I don't post on the football board often, if at all.  I don't really like college football anymore.  The disparity between the haves and have nots is broken and not going to be fixed anytime soon.  That is why you won't see me advocating a tough schedule there. 

I believe that in basketball it is better to challenge yourself early. I don't see the downside that many other people see.  Basically, over the last two decades of following Ohio basketball it all comes down to the MAC Tournament.  You might as well schedule Kentucky, Xavier, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Michigan State, Pitt, Penn State, etc. and take your chances.  I agree with giacomo, the only way to get better is to push yourself.  Note, I do understand the need to throw in a few "easier" games to get some things accomplished.