Not good teams, really good teams. Many of them ranked in the top 10. So yeah the OOC games mean a lot, and they set their rotation accordingly. No committee is going to penalize that.
What they will penalize is an almost impossible 33 games against the bottom tier of D1. That can't happen if you want to be taken seriously.
I'm not happy about it either, but DBU played 22 tier 1 games, and won 13 of them. We played 4.
They also carry enormous street cred, similar to what we enjoyed with basketball during the good years. This wasn't a close call.
Bluster and barbeque don't win championships.
I don't think the committee is trying to stick it to the little guy. In fact, I saw the committee and most of it was from smaller non-power 5 schools. One could argue schools like Rutgers got the shaft while Grand Canyon snuck in.
It was a good season for SIU Baseball and the improvements under Rhodes have been amazing. I don't think they got robbed though.
SIU will get in eventually under Rhodes if they can get him to stick around.
Some head coaching positions are starting to open up. Baylor and Clemson, in particular. I don't know the college baseball landscape very well. I wonder if Rhodes would be a candidate at programs like these, or whether they'd target someone more proven, which I assume is the case.
I know it'll be hard to ever compete with the top programs, but I hope Southern can work out a little bit more lucrative contract for him after his performance so far. Maybe some big baseball donors step up. I think it's safe to say he's pretty clearly a rising star.
As far as I know Lance's entire baseball life has been in missouri and illinois. Clemson and baylor are too big of a jump but if mizzou or similar opens up he'll be on the short list. Even a gig like oral roberts is very attractive, 29 regionals now.
Bluster and barbeque don't win championships.
Here's Rhodes with Mike Reis talking all things 2022 Salukis including scheduling, Dallas Baptist, and the program's future:
Thanks for posting that, sounds like he understands the schedule must get better and I have every confidence it will.
SEMO is 45 minutes from us and managed to play a helluva schedule, it can be done.
Bluster and barbeque don't win championships.
Losing Dallas Baptist obviously sucks but I think the UIC, Belmont, and Murray State additions are all great news for baseball. SEMO did play a great schedule and 21 games of those were future or current Valley members and 3 other games were Dallas Baptist.
I'm not upset at all with Rhodes at the scheduling even though it really bit SIU in the end. As he said, these schedules were put together years in advance and who could have anticipated the giant leaps this team would take? What Rhodes has done with this program in 3 years is remarkable and I hope there's many good years to come.
It is refreshing to hear a coach who knows what he has in front of him and what he needs to do in the future to be successful hope he sticks around to see the benefits of this tremendous turnaround
I'm not upset either, we're on a good trajectory. With DBU leaving someone is going to take the mantle, might as well be us.
SEMO played Ole Miss, kentucky (cancelled) and a weekend series with oklahoma state and DBU last season. That's probably too much.
Start asking for games in your backyard with any one of these for a signature series:
vandy
louisville
kentucky
ole miss
If you manage one of those, fill in a midweek game or two with a memphis, purdue, indiana, or mizzou and you've got yourself a very respectable schedule for cheap. All less than five hours away.
Bluster and barbeque don't win championships.
As far as I know Lance's entire baseball life has been in missouri and illinois. Clemson and baylor are too big of a jump but if mizzou or similar opens up he'll be on the short list. Even a gig like oral roberts is very attractive, 29 regionals now.
Mizzou may be a problem, and as soon as next year. They announced Steve Bieser would return after going 28-23 this year, but fans aren't happy with him.
Rhodes was with him at SEMO and then jumped with him to Missouri.
You'd have to think Rhodes would be the front runner for that job if it opens up. Mizzou doesn't seem to pay as much as other SEC jobs, but I doubt we'd be able to match.
We should all be rooting hard for Mizzou baseball next year.
@saluki44 may not want someone from the same coaching tree to try and fix the problem I like our chances to keep Rhodes if that happens
Not hard to argue when the ACC and SEC get 9 teams in a piece. Over 25% of the field is from those two leagues.
Bears out my feeling on NCAA selection committees. It's about the money. The ACC and the SEC cable networks are on the Cox Cable system here in Rhode Island. I don't know if Cox has contracted them on all their systems nationwide but, if so, the potential audience and subsequent revenue generated could be sizeable.
Rhode Island is not exactly the hotbed of ACC and SEC fandom. I believe the only connection is Boston College in the ACC.
Like all Salukis fans, I am disappointed we did not get a bid but, as always, proud of our team and proud to be a Saluki.
Interesting tidbit on scheduling from here in ACC country:
Purdue had a roadtrip to Holly Springs NC, where they were officially the home team. They rented out Ting stadium, and scheduled a series with princeton. They went to UNC-charlotte for a midweek game, then back to Ting for a series with Longwood.
It was a 10-day trip, they went 7-0. I would suspect they will do it again.
Bluster and barbeque don't win championships.
@saluki44 may not want someone from the same coaching tree to try and fix the problem I like our chances to keep Rhodes if that happens
I considered that, but I suspect if Rhodes keeps winning like he has, they won't care that he's associated with Bieser. But we can hope!
Not good teams, really good teams. Many of them ranked in the top 10. So yeah the OOC games mean a lot, and they set their rotation accordingly. No committee is going to penalize that.
What they will penalize is an almost impossible 33 games against the bottom tier of D1. That can't happen if you want to be taken seriously.
I'm not happy about it either, but DBU played 22 tier 1 games, and won 13 of them. We played 4.
They also carry enormous street cred, similar to what we enjoyed with basketball during the good years. This wasn't a close call.
DBU was 21 - 16 against Quad 1 and 2. (13 - 9 against Quad 1)
We were 14 -5. Of course those numbers are arrived at by a computer, based on lots of assumptions.
To me, head to head is the only reliable and Real metric...and that's the MVC. We won the MVC. They were 3rd. We were 3 - 1 against them (at their place.)
The committee always has some reasoning to back up their prejudices. Sometimes it's the questionable RPI, sometimes it's strength of schedule, sometimes it's the last 10 games, sometimes it's margin of victory, sometimes it's the "eye test," blah blah blah.
In this case, they ignored the MVC and head to head and the eye test and the last 10 and the margin of victory. I think you're right that the street cred went a long ways. No question in my mind we are the better team, and we proved it head to head and in the MVC. I didn't have a problem with us sitting out last year. When the SEC and ACC get in 8 at-larges, I know we got robbed.
(as did teams like Rutgers)
