Ohio University is not interested in big time athletics.  Get used to it.

Miami goes sub 500 in the MAC because they exert all their energy on their overbearing schedule. I think your OOC schedule is a very minimal part of what a recruit thinks when they come to a school. They want the chance to win a lot of games, most importantly in March, and they want the chance to succeed the most at their chosen school.

Prove it!  This is an oft-repeated charge, but it's one that no one can prove.  In point of fact, Ohio's best teams played a murderous non-conference schedule.  Go look at the schedules back in the late '60s and early '70s.  In one of those years, you'll see that we beat FOUR Big Ten teams before we got to the MAC schedule.  We also played a couple of Big Ten teams in the Convo in those years.  One of these (Purdue) was nationally ranked at the time with a marquee player by the name of Rick Mount.  Better competition helps raise your game, and it also helps recruiting.  Oxford Tech is bad just because they're located in the vortex of the black hole of the Buckeye State.  No in depth analysis is required.

Edit: Also, what Monroe said.

I agree with OCF.  The 60s and 70s the bobcats played some good teams at home.  I think it is just a scheduling philosophy.  If we wanted to get some better regional teams in the Convo, I think we could.  I'd also love to hear the Athletic Administration say they try to get those good regional teams but nobody will play us at home.  I tend to think we don't try to get anybody to play us at home anymore.

Hoops, how can you say that? Recruits get pressbooks and they can see what kind of schedule we play. The coaches also say something about it in their recruiting spiel. You don't think they say "we're playing Kansas in Vegas this year"? I guess if we play a sad sack schedule they won't say " we're going to Wofford".

It's also complete balderdash to think that Miami burns their energy before the MAC schedule and that's why they go sub 500. Does anyone really think the MAC schedule is that grueling? A solid team should be able to go 12-6 or 11-7 in the MAC.

You make some good points about the schedule, and you're right, basketball doesn't schedule that far in advance as football. It's the idea that we're playing a strong schedule consistantly, which I believe helps the program long term. Apparantly, you don't.

But I take issue with your assessment that we "rested during meaningless Nov and Dec games" to gear up for the NCAA run. Really? We're not the Celtics trying to pace our veterans for the championship run. I don't think Coach Groce thinks those games are meaningless, nor do the kids. It just happened to work out that way, probably with more luck than strategy.

Let's look at the Sagarins:

79  Kent State              =  78.99   23  10   73.88( 127)    0   1  |    0   2  |   79.92   70 |   77.85   92
  98  Ohio University         =  77.00   21  15   73.04( 149)    1   1  |    1   2  |   76.47  109 |   77.26   95
110  Akron                   =  76.03   23  11   71.58( 182)    0   1  |    0   2  |   76.85  102 |   74.96  122
143  Western Michigan        =  73.70   17  15   72.31( 161)    0   1  |    0   1  |   73.56  147 |   73.55  137
145  Miami-Ohio              =  73.63   14  18   75.07(  99)    0   4  |    0   5  |   73.61  146 |   73.36  141
154  Buffalo                 =  73.25   17  12   71.76( 175)    0   1  |    0   1  |   74.58  129 |   71.67  167
188  Central Michigan        =  70.57   14  15   70.88( 200)    0   1  |    0   1  |   70.67  186 |   70.20  190
190  Eastern Michigan        =  70.40   15  15   70.18( 222)    0   1  |    0   1  |   70.45  194 |   70.07  193
192  Bowling Green           =  70.32   13  16   73.03( 150)    0   2  |    0   2  |   71.80  171 |   68.52  213
209  Ball State              =  69.01   14  15   70.67( 209)    0   4  |    0   4  |   70.46  193 |   67.21  224
245  Northern Illinois       =  65.97   10  20   71.30( 190)    0   2  |    0   3  |   65.87  245 |   65.79  241
318  Toledo                  =  59.28    3  28   73.10( 148)    0   1  |    0   2  |   59.67  313 |   58.59  316
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Do you mean to tell me that a good, solid team shouldn't go at least 12-6 or 11-7 in this league? I'm talking about a team that can play with anyone.


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Here is my question.  If we go 11-4 in non conference (losses to Kansas, Temple and two others) and go 12-4 in conference, is the rest of the schedule good enough to get us an at-large bid at 23-8?   

Would the peoples be happy with a 23-8 regular season?