If the OOC was designed to get GW its best possible won loss record and its highest ratings, then it was great.   If the  scheduled was designed ed to prepare us for conference play or draw interest to the program, then it was pretty bad.  

"Just win baby"

Gwmayhem wrote:

The Dude wrote:

"Just win baby"

Perfectly fine if you have zero post-season aspirations.  Otherwise, there is far more nuance to this.  It's not like the committee hands the at large bids to the 36 (or whatever the number is) schools with the highest winning percentages.  Am willing to guess that most here realize this.

 
If you look at current (somewhat meaningless) Bracketology projections, you’ll see that Big 10, Big 12 and SEC are looking at 32-33 teams in the field. Another 8-9 for ACC and Big East. Throw in the 20+ AQ’s and you see the real number of available at-large slots is minuscule. Sure, there will be some teams from the Powers that fall back, but the point remains that an At-Large bid for GW, or even the A-10 itself, remains a tough putt.

Last edited by Alum1 (12/27/2024 1:04 pm)

jf wrote:

That's true. .
  Really hard to be interested in being a fan of a team that plays the worst, or second to worst strength
of schedule of all D1 teams in America.
  How excited is everyone at being 11-2?
We know the reality behind it--and the challenges that are looming.
   .

Not next to the last, but still dead last at #364, and we appear to have a bit of distance on#363 (Columbia).    On a certain level it is exciting being 11-2, but on the other hand,, hard to get too excited, especially after last season.   I understand what the school is trying to do, and we are a respectable 132 in Ken Pom (espeically considered how we have been since the NIT win), but still...shame on the university for scheduling the easiest schedule in the country.   

Here’s how the final OOC SOS ended up for the A10. While GW’s schedule is second-easiest in the entire country, it’s not like the rest of the league went out and challenged themselves outside of Dayton.

I guess we will see if teams like SLU, UMass, and La Salle are “better prepared” by playing a tougher non-con.

47. Dayton
190. Saint Louis
205. UMass
217. La Salle
233. Duquesne
258. Richmond
266. Fordham
283. VCU
288. St. Joseph's
295. Davidson
314. St. Bonaventure
318. Rhode Island
332. George Mason
345. Loyola Chicago
363. GW

Long Suffering Fan wrote:

How drematic was that.  On December 30th, we pull ahead of Columbia in the race for the second weakest schedule in the  nation.  Raise High?    Of course nobody can say for certainly how the level of competition impacts future play of individual teams, but I just can't help thinking that playing a schedule this week does not prepare us for harder competition.  Not necessarily saying play a Florida A&M schedule (yes, they had the hardest OCC in the country on the way to their 3-8 record), but at least average in the low to mid 200s, which would still give us our share of "record padders" but would also sprinkie in teams under 100 through 199 for us to grow,  Tomorrow will be a good early test, playing a team ranked a not very good 249th at their place.  Our only 2 prior road games was a loss to 238 American and a win vs. 320nd ranked ODU

 
💯💯

Speaking of OOCs, I think one of the things we’re seeing with Dayton is that their last two losses are the first true road games they’ve played all season. If Dayton wanted to earn an at large bid, they probably should’ve challenged themselves by playing in a hostile environment.

GW’s two road games weren’t against the toughest competition, and we lost the one stinker at AU, but give CC some credit for taking his team on the road.