littlebittyschool
11-02-2004, 01:02 PM
Question (David Laliberte): As a TROY fan, I am looking forward to beginning our competition in the Sun Belt Conference next year in all sports. A number of fans from various schools in the Belt and other mid-major conferences have been very frustrated by weak basketball OOC home schedules in December. I personally would rather see top mid-major competition at Trojan Arena than DII or NAIA competition, but fans always hear the same story: "Nobody will play us at our place." This is the same frustration experienced at other schools as well. My solution to the problem getting more interesting home games in December for all concerned: The Commissioners of regional mid-major conferences like the Sun Belt, the OVC, the Atlantic Sun, the Southland, CUSA, etc, should have a summit with athletic directors from institutions in those conferences and work out something like an "OVC-Sun Belt Challenge". Teams in various conferences would all take turns hosting these games, played in December. In my opinion, it would improve fan interest a great deal. Is there a reason it could not be done?
Commissioner Wright Waters: David, we have been exploring the issue for almost a year. The problem is we don't want to play another conference too far down the RPI list or it will hurt our post-season chances and conferences that are about like us in the 11-15 RPI range, don't want to play. I think another option is to increase our number of conference games. In my mind 18 is a good number, which would create nine home games before you scheduled non-conference games.
Hey Dave, the good news is that there is some help on the way on this one. Coming this year actually. The RPI formula has been adjusted where road wins count more than home wins. Maybe this will be some incentive for folks to come to Troy. If not, then all of our wins on the road will pump up or RPI even higher and get us a better seed or posisition us for an at large bid. Also, we play 20 games in conference in the A-Sun. Bah!
Sincerely,
Commish Littlebitty
Commissioner Wright Waters: David, we have been exploring the issue for almost a year. The problem is we don't want to play another conference too far down the RPI list or it will hurt our post-season chances and conferences that are about like us in the 11-15 RPI range, don't want to play. I think another option is to increase our number of conference games. In my mind 18 is a good number, which would create nine home games before you scheduled non-conference games.
Hey Dave, the good news is that there is some help on the way on this one. Coming this year actually. The RPI formula has been adjusted where road wins count more than home wins. Maybe this will be some incentive for folks to come to Troy. If not, then all of our wins on the road will pump up or RPI even higher and get us a better seed or posisition us for an at large bid. Also, we play 20 games in conference in the A-Sun. Bah!
Sincerely,
Commish Littlebitty