Gonzaga 7
USF 27
BYU 29
St Mary’s 40
Santa Clara 87
San Diego 204
LMU 218
Portland 227
Pacific 260
Pepperdine 262
This should be Exhibit A on why we should always attempt to play a schedule at least as difficult as the one this year. Losses to decent teams just don’t hurt you that bad in the NET ratings, and wins against bad teams gain you very little. Portland, for example, is improved over last year but their wins are very weak (Willamette, Alcorn State, AR-Pine Bluff, Morgan State, SEMO, Portland St., Incarnate Word). Our schedule has been slightly more difficult than USF’s so around 25 would have been our best case scenario right now. At first glance LMU’s schedule does not appear that bad, but Tulsa and in particular Long Beach State having down years did not do them any favors.
So, we are in the bottom of the top half. Not horrible when we look at it with a macro lens. But with a micro lens on each individual game, the losses have been very frustrating to watch.
Hopefully, the return of Bediako and Vrankic will get us back on track.
I’m with you buckets. Despite being thin in the post we were still in all 4 of the losses. Split those games, then we’re 9-2 right now and feeling a little better about where we stand.
Particularly frustrating that we didn’t have answers down the stretch in several of the games…UC Irvine throws a zone at us the last 8 minutes and we can’t do much. No answer for Lofton throughout the LA Tech game, still close to a tie late but couldn’t get stops when we needed them late. Kelly killed us in the 2nd half of Cal game. Both LA Tech and Cal games begged for a zone for at least some portion of the games…would have helped Braun and our bigs and addressed those teams strengths and advantage in the post and neither of those teams are great 3pt shooting teams, I think each made 4± vs. us, not many. But Sendek seems determined to play man 99.9% of the time then try things like fronting the post, doubling the post, etc. which while legitimate approaches did not work well vs. Lofton or Cal’s interior.
Don’t know. I don’t recall much public mention or PR release of whatever previous extension he rec’d.
We’re historically very patient with coaches. I fully expect Sendek to return for at least a 7th season in 2021/22 assuming we don’t completely implode in WCC play. Based on where we stand at the moment, it’s hard to see us finishing with any less than 16 to 17 wins and 20+ is still plausible if we can manage a winning record in league play. Sendek (and his agent) will point to a decent 2021 recruiting class, and the notion that the future is bright if those guys develop as hoped plus decent success in attracting some solid transfers.
Last year was his last year, but covid pretty much forced SCU to exercise an option for 1 more year (no reason to make headlines for giving the coach a 1 year extension as that’s not exactly what you want to promote, so hush hush from the U). So, this year is it. A decision will be made.
Yes, Bob, as discussed in previous seasons grabbing 20 wins against lowly D1 teams is worthless as it gets you #125 at the end of the season. Finally this year resembles a quality schedule.
NET, KenPom, RPI are all great ranking tools, but they need a decent set of data to make real sense. Now that most teams have played around 10 games they are all taking shape. By the time most teams have played 20 games they are really good gauges. Until then take it with a grain of salt. Your point is paramount though. SCU needs a solid schedule if they have any aspirations of an NCAA or NIT appearance. Beating the D1 dregs is just window dressing.
And this year’s schedule can’t be difficult to replicate year-after-year. Quality mid-majors from the MWC and top Big West/Big Sky squads. Cal/Stanford and hopefully one other Pac-12 team most years. Then a decent OOC tournament which should yield 2-3 more decent to good games. Have your 2-3 easy games but just make them against teams that might have at least a little local interest (e.g. Cal Poly or UC Davis or even Sac State). It’s worth having 4 or 5 true road games, I think, if that’s what it takes.
If SCU plays more than 1 SWAC team per season, it’s a wasted opportunity.
We should play UC-Irvine every year until we finally beat them.
I would love to see games against frequent quality mid-major opponents like San Diego State, New Mexico, and New Mexico State, up-and-comers like Utah Valley State (yes, I have a man-crush on Coach Maddog), and let’s keep up the regular matches with Nevada. I’d also like to see annual games with Stanford, Cal, and SJSU (which I think we do with the Spartans already). Let’s throw in a late December or January game in Hawaii.