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Rider's non-conference schedule
John Calipari's Kentucky team will host Rider Nov. 21Yes, they're still playing Monmouth.
But if Rider's RPI and reputation are in bad shape in mid-February, it won't be because of the Broncs' non-conference schedule, which the school released today.
It's hard to fully evaluate the stength of a non-conference slate until you see how the teams on it perform. If Kentucky is 18-1 in February that game will look a lot better than if non of Coach Cal's recruits work out as planned and the Cats are 13-6. But I will say this: When it comes to covering and blogging about exciting games, I'll take Mississippi State and Virginia over Lafayette and NJIT any day.
Here's the schedule, which will be finalized when the MAAC releases its conference slate next month.
November
Fri. 13 at Mississippi State
Mon. 16 LEHIGH
Thur. 19 at Virginia
Sat. 21 at Kentucky
Tue. 24 Florida A&M in Cancun
Wed. 25 Sam Houston or Oral Roberts in Cancun
Sat. 28 BINGHAMTON
Mon. 30 SAINT JOSEPH’S
December
Wed. 9 LA SALLE
Sat. 12 at UMBC
Tue. 15 at Rutgers
Sat. 19 at Monmouth
February
Wed. 20 BracketBuster
posted by Kyle Franko at
11:35 PM
8 Comments:
A bit of a disgrace it's taken this long for Rider to put some resources (travel budget) into a decent schedule. Still some dogs on that schedule that will probably wind up with 300+ RPIs that will offset the good. Better than usual. Knetucky and Miss State are good games. Virginia has struggled and has a new coach. Rutgers stinks. Looks better than it is and I suspect will be a decent schedule when looking back on it in 8 months but it won't be as good as people may think.
Doody, that's all you can say about the best schedule in the MAAC including the fact that Rider is hosting St. Joe's at the Zoo?
Really????????????????????????
Doody, that's all you can say about the best schedule in the MAAC including the fact that Rider is hosting St. Joe's at the Zoo?
Really????????????????????????
FINALLY, Rider is playing a good noncon sked. I have emailed the Rider Athletic Dept. numerous times complaining about the scheduling. The way the RPI works, losing to a Kentucky is actually better than beating an NJIT. Last year's nonconference schedule was a joke, and i'm glad we're playing Kentucky and Miss St. Virginia will have a decent RPI simply because they play in the ACC and play Caroina, Duke etc twice a year.
And yes, it is pretty awesome we got St. Joe's and an improved LaSalle at home.
Thank God we are not playing NJIT again!!!
Anon #1: Tough to call it a disgrace when they haven't always had teams that could compete against quality competition.
Anon #2: They deserve kudos, no question. It's an enormous improvement over what they had, it will help their RPI rather than hurt it (as has been the case the last few years) and it's a good and necessary step in the program's development. The Saint Joe's game will be great. Beyond that, I'm not sure what you want me to say.
As for your comment that it's the best schedule in the MAAC, I'd have to take a longer look at Siena's to evaluate that.
You can look as long as you want, Rider's schedule is tops in the MAAC. Even the mid games will be solid - Lehigh will not be a pushover, Sam Houston or Oral Roberts in Cancun are Top 100 RPI type teams. Rutgers figures to be much improved. LaSalle will be very solid and St. Joe's will be average but hosting at the Zoo make it a great game.
As for not having the talent, that's an idiotic statement. Rider's won 58 games over the past 3 seasons with a team two years that if not injured was likely the MAAC champ. They've scheduled too lightly in the past, this is the type of slate Rider should face every year.
I think you're selling this year's team short RE: past teams' talent. It's conceivable this team could upset Virginia, St. Joe's and/or La Salle. You could have said that about their teams from the last two years, but not about very many teams before that. Any of these BCS conference teams, including Rutgers, would have crushed either of Tommy's first two teams. It took a few years for the schedule strength to match the quality of the team, but that happens with a lot of programs. Look at Rutgers football, which is playing Howard this year but Penn State in 2014, UCLA in 2015, etc.
I hear what you are saying but I don't think the scheduling has been consistent with the talent level. Harnum had some good teams as well that challenged for a title and their non conference RPI was still in the bottom half of the league, though not all years.
Rider, with its location and talent level should be scheduling like this EVERY year regardless whether they start 5 frosh or 5 seniors.
Regarding the story, just some constructive criticism. You failed to mention what I did in my response, some of the mid-majors are going to be solid games as well. You came at the story like here it is, we'll see how good it is and BTW they are still playing Monmouth. You misread the whole thing and failed to build an opinion. Try to be a bit more enthusiastic and analytical in the approach. This story should have been greeted with fanfare - great schedule by Rider, they can knock someone off, etc.
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