CBS Sports has Furman and UNCG in the latest 68 team Bracketology. Last 4 In

[soconjohn]

Youwouldno is correct.

[dinhead]

NC State’s non conf schedule ranks 353 out of 353 in the nation...they will be in the Dance.

Wow, that's remarkable. It just goes to show the fundamental unfairness that exists. NC State doesn't have to play tough teams non-conference because it has a dozen built in big games during conference play. Furman, meanwhile, has the opposite problem and had to almost go undefeated in non-conference and perform admirably in conference play to even sniff an at-large bid. Just can't see it changing, so I guess we just have to learn to live with it.

The unfair part is that mid-majors are forced to play on the road against power 5 schools. Of course that's a mute issue since Furman can't afford to buy home non-conference games against D-1 teams that's why we schedule so many home and home games against the Big South and pay non D-1's a small stipend to play us at home.

The solution is to replace the three non D-1 games with power 5 "money games" and use that additional $300,000 to buy home non conference games against strong mid-majors.

[dinhead]

They are forced to take games...we have no choice in non division I games...life of a mid major

Totally false. There is no requirement that we play non D-1 games. There are whole conferences of mid majors that play none of these games. Some of them even mandate that.

[ksummerlin]

As for Furman's schedule and weak OOC marks, I can see the coaches and AD looked at the roster for 2018/19 and said look we are losing several starters and primary bench players maybe take a break on the schedule. Woffy is in the opposite boat -- hey we'll have lots coming back, lets schedule some tougher opponents and see if we can steal some victories. Scheduling is a tough call when it has to be done two years ahead with fill-ins the year before. Hindsight is easy, so I'm not going to fault anyone.

As for the big conferences getting in with weak schedules...NC State for instance...you know the ACC is going to give you 10+ quadrant 1 games so you really don't have to try very hard. It is a problem NCAA basketball can't solve without using some sort of conference relegation system like European soccer leagues. Gonzaga should have been added to the PAC-12 years ago and Cal relegated to the WCC.

[apaladin]

CBS has dropped us to #2 team in the first four out. Has UNCG as last 4 in.

[apaladin]

Lunardi has Texas 16-16 as first four out. They shouldn't even be in the conversation.

[dinhead]

As for Furman's schedule and weak OOC marks, I can see the coaches and AD looked at the roster for 2018/19 and said look we are losing several starters and primary bench players maybe take a break on the schedule. Woffy is in the opposite boat -- hey we'll have lots coming back, lets schedule some tougher opponents and see if we can steal some victories. Scheduling is a tough call when it has to be done two years ahead with fill-ins the year before. Hindsight is easy, so I'm not going to fault anyone.

As for the big conferences getting in with weak schedules...NC State for instance...you know the ACC is going to give you 10+ quadrant 1 games so you really don't have to try very hard. It is a problem NCAA basketball can't solve without using some sort of conference relegation system like European soccer leagues. Gonzaga should have been added to the PAC-12 years ago and Cal relegated to the WCC.

We took a break from playing one of the weaker schedules in the country last year to playing an even weaker one. The program has turned the corner the past couple years. Time to put some skin in the game.

[ksummerlin]

As for Furman's schedule and weak OOC marks, I can see the coaches and AD looked at the roster for 2018/19 and said look we are losing several starters and primary bench players maybe take a break on the schedule. Woffy is in the opposite boat -- hey we'll have lots coming back, lets schedule some tougher opponents and see if we can steal some victories. Scheduling is a tough call when it has to be done two years ahead with fill-ins the year before. Hindsight is easy, so I'm not going to fault anyone.

As for the big conferences getting in with weak schedules...NC State for instance...you know the ACC is going to give you 10+ quadrant 1 games so you really don't have to try very hard. It is a problem NCAA basketball can't solve without using some sort of conference relegation system like European soccer leagues. Gonzaga should have been added to the PAC-12 years ago and Cal relegated to the WCC.

We took a break from playing one of the weaker schedules in the country last year to playing an even weaker one. The program has turned the corner the past couple years. Time to put some skin in the game.

I agree that we need one or two more games, but that's only good for money and maybe some recruiting bump -- needed for sure.
FU isn't going to make the NCAA tournament consistently until we win the SoCon consistently. The SoCon still hasn't gotten a non-tournament winner in the NCAA tournament -- and I really don't see it happening this year either. Too many "chalk" wins have to happen in the remainder of the tournaments. You know that some 12 win team is going to end up winning their conference to knock out UNCG and/or FU. If UNCG had beaten Woffy, then Woffy would have been the first non-auto bid from the SoCon -- but they didn't.

[dinhead]

NC State’s non conf schedule ranks 353 out of 353 in the nation...they will be in the Dance.

Yes, it's pathetically weak but no non D-1 games. Can you imagine how bad Furman's non-conference schedule would be if they added Bob Jones to our strength of schedule. Is BJU even in the top 2,000 ? North Greenville and Southern Weslyan wouldn't be in top 500. It's sad but true if you counted these games Furman's non conference schedule would be weaker than NC States.

Uh, no. Once your opponent reaches a certain level of weakness, say #500, dropping down further doesn't make any difference. An automatic win is an automatic win. Those games don't count as a positive, but neither do they have any impact on legit OOC games (i.e., playing Bob Jones has no arithmetic connection to playing Villanova).

My point is they certainly could create a metric that counts these games. Remember the old "Dick Dunkel index. You could find an arithmetic connection from every college team in the country if you wanted to.
These games do have an impact on other OOC games because they take the place of legitimate D-1 games in order to manufacture "automatic wins". Why play games against teams with no arithmetic connection to D-1 ? Automatic wins !

It's very disingenuous to play games to get automatic wins and then complain about not getting an at large bid because of a weak non conference schedule.

[dinhead]

As for Furman's schedule and weak OOC marks, I can see the coaches and AD looked at the roster for 2018/19 and said look we are losing several starters and primary bench players maybe take a break on the schedule. Woffy is in the opposite boat -- hey we'll have lots coming back, lets schedule some tougher opponents and see if we can steal some victories. Scheduling is a tough call when it has to be done two years ahead with fill-ins the year before. Hindsight is easy, so I'm not going to fault anyone.

As for the big conferences getting in with weak schedules...NC State for instance...you know the ACC is going to give you 10+ quadrant 1 games so you really don't have to try very hard. It is a problem NCAA basketball can't solve without using some sort of conference relegation system like European soccer leagues. Gonzaga should have been added to the PAC-12 years ago and Cal relegated to the WCC.

We took a break from playing one of the weaker schedules in the country last year to playing an even weaker one. The program has turned the corner the past couple years. Time to put some skin in the game.

I agree that we need one or two more games, but that's only good for money and maybe some recruiting bump -- needed for sure.
FU isn't going to make the NCAA tournament consistently until we win the SoCon consistently. The SoCon still hasn't gotten a non-tournament winner in the NCAA tournament -- and I really don't see it happening this year either. Too many "chalk" wins have to happen in the remainder of the tournaments. You know that some 12 win team is going to end up winning their conference to knock out UNCG and/or FU. If UNCG had beaten Woffy, then Woffy would have been the first non-auto bid from the SoCon -- but they didn't.

I think one more win over a major or even a strong mid- major might have gotten us a bid this year but I agree that it's all about winning the SoCon consistently. It's hard to beat top tier teams when you have to play them all on the road and counting on an at large bid in a conference that hasn't had one since 1950 is very low percentage to say the least.

[Affirm]

They are forced to take games...we have no choice in non division I games...life of a mid major

Totally false. There is no requirement that we play non D-1 games. There are whole conferences of mid majors that play none of these games. Some of them even mandate that.

Thank you .

[gman]

They are forced to take games...we have no choice in non division I games...life of a mid major

Again, absolutely a false statement.

[fufanatic]

It is a problem NCAA basketball can't solve without using some sort of conference relegation system like European soccer leagues. Gonzaga should have been added to the PAC-12 years ago and Cal relegated to the WCC.

Oh man, how fun would that be!

[DungeonRealm]

VCU lost in the A10, that's not good, will give the A10 2 bids, so basically another bid stolen (Gonzaga and VCU both choked)

[DungeonRealm]

Florida beats LSU, that's a deal breaker

We are officially toast from the NCAA tourney folks, get ready to purchase your NIT tickets