2014-15 Mens Basketball Schedule

[goodnews]

I found the following opponents for the upcoming season.

@Robert Morris
Kent State
@Illinois State
@Eastern Michigan Round Robin with Longwood and UNC Greensboro
@Texas A&M

I assume there are 1 or 2 return games from last year (UMKC)?

[Lets_Talk]

I wish YSU would play a schedule more like that of Oakland. Yes, there likely would be few OOC wins, but the competition level would prepare YSU well for the HL, and the program could possibly generate more revenue with the payouts for the road games. Football is now expected to play 1 "blood game" (as some call them) every year. That is for an OOC schedule of 3 or 4 games, depending on if an 11-12 game schedule. That is 25% when 4 OOC games, and 33% when 3 OOC games. So, I do not see why it is asking to much for the men's basketball team to play 4 or 5 of these type games, given the OOC typically consists of 15 or 16 games.

 Away - MSU, Arizona, Maryland, Clemson, Iowa State, Pitt, Morehead State, Eastern Michigan;
Home - Western Michigan, Western Carolina, Chicago State, Georgia State, Toledo, and 2 non d-1's

[IAA Fan]

I understand your feelings and agree Lets_Talk. However, I am going to predict that Oakland's non-conference schedule will begin to change drastically as a member of the HL. This level of mid-major requires more wins. Although the non-DI schedule needs to be reduced and eliminated from our schedule ...outside of scrimmage and home-opener. For Oakland, a string of power losses will mean no at-large bid and difficulty scheduling enough home games.

[Lets_Talk]

This is the 2nd year for Oakland in the HL. Why do they need to change their schedule? This schedule is attractive to recruits. It enables Oakland to be on television several times. I watched at least 4-5 of their OOC games on TV last year, and I'm not talking HL Network or ESPN 3.

Also, it enables Oakland to have money to pay to better quality D1 teams for OOC home games. They still have 2 games against non D1 teams on the schedule. And, with Butler gone, there is not likely to be any teams from the HL making the tournament as an at-large team. Not too mention, the reason Butler was able to make tournament as an at-large team was due to playing a very strong OOC schedule, and wining some of those games.

The road to the tournament from the HL is winning the Conference Tournament. Winning the regular season gets a team a bid to NIT. Having a record of .500 or better and willingness to pay money, allows school to be in CBI or CIT, whichever tournament it was that YSU played Oakland in 2013.

Oakland had a record of 11-20 last year against D1 teams, yet their RPI was 188. Montana had record of 15-13, and RPI of 189. ETSU went 18-16 against D1 teams last year, and had RPI of 208. St. Francis(NY) was 17-14, with RPI of 187. And, there were other teams with winning records, that had lower RPI's than Oakland.

With Oakland now in the HL, their talent level ought to increase. And, as the talent level increases, they are more likely to win a few of these road games, and more of the home games against solid D1 teams.

[IAA Fan]

Let's look at a couple of factors:

1. Oakland is in Detroit ...most other schools in the HL are not. They are a quick invite for a tournament in a basketball city. That being said, UDM is traditionally a very good program, much better than Oakland & they do not have this type of schedule. You will start to see Oakland's schedule become more similar to UDM's.

2. As you said, Oakland will improve. All the more reason that major teams will stop scheduling them.

3. Mid-major schools are always going to have to play on the road for bigger programs. They need home games. No matter what sports-casters say ...it is very difficult to find home and home series again top programs. Especially now, as top schools will simply create a tournament. The challenge for OU and YSU is to be invited to these tournaments. Then we are back to location ...Detroit vs. Youngstown.


The again, YSU can sell over 200,000 football tickets on a good year ...just how many home basketball games will it take to do the same for Oakland? 40-50 games maybe?  I hope that you are right and we can schedule a few more larger teams, but not too many.

[popsicle]

IAA you talk about location.......UDM vs. Youngstown.....and then reference being invited to tournaments? Sounds like you are talking about FOLLOWING...as in fans! UDM has a bigger following than Youngstown? Location of a school is irrelevant on road trip tourneys.

[Lets_Talk]

How can YSU sell over 200,000 tickets in a football season? If YSU plays 7 games at home, and averages 15,000 per game, that is 105,000 tickets sold. Schools in FCS do NOT get to keep the money from tickets sold for playoff games. And, at this point, figuring in playoff games is irrelevant, given that YSU has made the playoffs 1 time since Tressel left at the end of 2000.

I checked the media guide, and here are the 5 seasons in which YSU sold the most tickets. They are all seasons in which YSU made the playoffs, and the total was not even close to 200,000

1994 - 161,810 for 10 games... 3 of those games were playoff games,
1999 - 150,887 for 9 games.. 2 of the 9 were playoff games
2006 - 121,209 for 8 games, including 2 playoff games
1997 - 117,766 for 8 games, including 1 playoff game

The most fans YSU has ever averaged per game was 18,109 in 2000... YSU played 6 home games, for a total attendance of 108,656. In 2002, YSU averaged 17,174 for 6 games. A total of 103,046. These are the ONLY 2 seasons YSU has averaged 17,000 or more fans per game.

As for Detroit and the OOC basketball schedule, here is their schedule for the upcoming season.

Legends Classic:
@ Oregon
@ Michigan
SOUTH ALABAMA (HOME)
Md Eastern Shore (at Toledo)
Toledo or Bucknell (at Toledo)

HOME:
Rochester (non D1)
Bowling Green
South Florida
Wichita State
Oral Roberts

AWAY:
Central Florida
Rhode Island
Arizona State

* From reading the Valpo board, there is a chance Detroit might play Belmont. Above schedule allows for 2 more OOC games. Even if both of those are Non D1 opponents, that is a damn good OOC schedule. Add Belmont, and it is even better
http://www.detroittitans.com/schedule.aspx?path=mbball

As for Detroit being a traditionally better program, you are really showing your age. Amd, Oakland has not been D1 for all that long. I would say Oakland also has a solid tradition in basketball, having made the NCAA D2 Tournament in 94,95,96,97 and D1 Tournament in 2005, 2010 and 2011. They also played in CIT in 2009, 2012 and 2013.

Oakland has been in D1 since 1997. They have played in the post-season 6 times, including 3 trips to NCAA Tournament 98, 99 and 2012. That is the SAME number of times in NCAA Tournament as Detroit over that time period. Detroit was also in NIT in 01, 02 and 2013. The trip to NCAA Tournament in 98 was their first since 1979. Trip to NIT in 01 was first since 1978. Glory years for UD in basketball were definitely the 60's and 70's, with small periods of success from 98-2014, with some really, really bad seasons strung together in between the 2-3 year bursts of success... 4 straight losing seasons from 80-81 to 83-84, including 2 with less than 10 wins. UD went 16-12 in the 1984-85 season, then reeled off 7 losing seasons in a row. This included 7 wins in 3 straight seasons (86-87 thru 88-89). And, lets not forget the span from 06-07 to 08-09, when UD was one of the worst teams in the HL.

[paladin]

Thank you, Lets_Talk.

That is EXACTLY why the cheerleaders here look so foolish. Exaggerate, embellish or simply lie. The  marrow of the situation is always to obscure reality.

Or "you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear".

[IAA Fan]

YSU has standing capacity of almost 23k x 7 home games = 161k
4 home play-off games: 23k x4 = 92k

This is a total of 253k

YSU has a seated capacity of 21k x7 home games = 147k
4 home play-off games: 21kx4 = 84k

This is a total of 231k

Even if we did not have a 7-game home season (off years or we receive a play-off bye) we would be in excess of 200k.


All fans cheer. Maybe, the only one being foolish Paladin might be those with the attitude that dooms a team. My post contains no lie, no embellishment, or exaggeration. I expect to have all post-season games at home. 12-game seasons occur once ever 3.5 years. Perhaps if you stopped worrying about the pig's gizzards ...you would see that pork loin tastes great.

Furthermore, the fact that a MBB team averages about 5k per game. 200k/5k = 40. So it would take 40 games to see that same amount of tickets, concessions, etc. I am not the one ignoring the obvious and I did not need my YSU education to do the math.

Also Lets_talk ...I am not the one assuming 15k is normal attendance for a YSU football game.

[popsicle]

WOW!? 1AA...did you write the prospectus for the guy who bought the Jacksonville Jaguars franchise? Potential and reality are not always the same......more often not! Root for all you want...that's why there are still Cub fans.

[Lets_Talk]

1AA Fan,

Turns out, I was very close by using the 15,000 per game figure. For the HISTORY of Stambaugh Stadium the avg attendance per game is 13,199..... 2,771,984 fans for 210 games
From 1982-1996 a total of 1,048,413 fans for 92 games = 11,396 per game(rounded up).
From 1997-2013(expanded capacity) a total of 1,723,571 fans for 111 games = 15,528 per game(rounded up)

Even during the amazing run from 91-2000, YSU never came close to averaging 20,000 fans per game, let alone 23,000 per game. In fact, the largest crowd ever was in the 2000 season against UNI(21,119). There are THREE other games in which attendance was 20,000 or more in the 17 seasons since Stambaugh Stadium was expanded,  and all occurred when Tressel was Head Coach:
20,519 vs Buffalo(2000).... 20,519 vs SIU(1998) and 20,380 vs Cal-Poly(1998).
*There have been 10 other games where attendance was 19,000-19,999.

Since 2003, YSU has only had 4 seasons in which avg attendance was 15,000 or more... 2003(16,004), 2006(15,159 for a team that made the playoffs), 2007(16,149) and 2010(15,110). The last 3 seasons, attendance has been 13,811, 14,038 and 13,506. The 15,110 in 2010, was sandwiched between 14,497 in 2008 and 14,054 in 2009.
***This is based off info from YSU football Media Guide***

Yet, somehow you seem to believe YSU could average 23,000 fans for an entire season? This in spite of the population of the Ytown area having decreased significantly in the last 17 seasons. Add in the number of people who used to attend games regularly, but have long since lost interest in YSU football and the thought of YSU averaging 23,000 fans per game is even more ridiculous.

As far as football outdrawing basketball for total fans per season, or even average fans per game, where did I say basketball can or would outdraw football? Even at powerhouse basketball schools with football teams that are mediocre of worse, it is common for the football team to draw more fans per year and averages more fans per game. At the very least, the football team will avg significantly more fans per game than the basketball team. So, not sure what point you were trying to make there?? 

Kentucky basketball 2013-14(played in National Title Game): total fans for 18 games 413,350/22,964 per game
Kentucky football 2013(2-10 record): total fans for 7 games 416,303/59,742 per game

UCONN basketball 2013/14(National Champs): 182,416 total fans in 18 games = 10,134 per game
UCONN football(3-9 record) 2013: 216,523 total fans for 7 games = avg 30,932

Iowa State basketball 2013/14(28-8..ended season #11) - 227,079 total fans in 16 games = 14,192
Iowa State football 2013 (3-9) 332,165 fans for 6 games = 55,361

UNC basketball(24-10...#21) - 324,458 fans for 18 games = 18,025 per game
UNC football (7-6/4-4) - 360,500 fans for 7 games = 51,500

UMASS basketball (24-9 played in NCAA Tournament) - 92,400 fans for 14 games = 6,600 per game
UMASS football(1-11/1-7 MAC) -  94,981 fans for 6 games = 15,830 per game

PITT basketball(26-10, 2nd rnd NCAA Tournament) - 198,078 fans in 18 ga,es = 11,004)
PITT football (7-6/3-5 ACC) - 348,188 fans in 7 games = 49,791

[ValleyTalk]

YSU has standing capacity of almost 23k x 7 home games = 161k
4 home play-off games: 23k x4 = 92k

This is a total of 253k

YSU has a seated capacity of 21k x7 home games = 147k
4 home play-off games: 21kx4 = 84k

This is a total of 231k

Even if we did not have a 7-game home season (off years or we receive a play-off bye) we would be in excess of 200k.


All fans cheer. Maybe, the only one being foolish Paladin might be those with the attitude that dooms a team. My post contains no lie, no embellishment, or exaggeration. I expect to have all post-season games at home. 12-game seasons occur once ever 3.5 years. Perhaps if you stopped worrying about the pig's gizzards ...you would see that pork loin tastes great.

Furthermore, the fact that a MBB team averages about 5k per game. 200k/5k = 40. So it would take 40 games to see that same amount of tickets, concessions, etc. I am not the one ignoring the obvious and I did not need my YSU education to do the math.

Also Lets_talk ...I am not the one assuming 15k is normal attendance for a YSU football game.

I would like to nominate this for worst post of the year.

We've never come close to averaging 23,000, let alone 20,000 a game in football and we definitely do not come close to 5,000 in basketball.

[goodnews]

Thiel, Wilberforce, Kennesaw State, Oberlin, Northern Kentucky......

Did an ATHLETIC DEPT intern make this schedule?  Can someone please give the AD a map so they can see the endless amount of D1 basketball schools that are within a 6 hour drive?

[IAA Fan]

Nov. 15 Saturday Kent State Beeghly Center TBA
Nov. 16 Sunday Oberlin+ Beeghly Center TBA
Nov. 18 Tuesday at Central Michigan Mount Pleasant, Mich. TBA
Nov. 21 Friday at Eastern Michigan+ Ypsilanti, Mich. TBA
Nov. 22 Saturday vs. Longwood+ Ypsilanti, Mich. TBA
Nov. 23 Sunday vs. UNC-Greensboro+ Ypsilanti, Mich. TBA
Nov. 26 Wednesday UMKC Beeghly Center TBA
Nov. 29 Saturday at Illinois State Normal, Ill. TBA
Dec. 2 Tuesday at Robert Morris Moon Township, Pa. TBA
Dec. 5 Friday at South Dakota Vermillion, S.D. TBA
Dec. 7 Sunday Thiel Beeghly Center TBA
Dec. 13 Saturday at Texas A&M College Station, Texas TBA
Dec. 17 Wednesday Kennesaw State Beeghly Center TBA
Dec. 19 Friday Wilberforce Beeghly Center TBA
Dec. 31 Wednesday Northern Kentucky Beeghly Center TBA
All times are Eastern and subject to change.
* - Horizon League contest.
+ - Eastern Michigan Exempt Tournament

[IAA Fan]

Both talks ...read what I typed. I never said we averaged 20 or 23k ...I EXPECT TO SELL OUT. Not a stretch at all ...all of those 17k to 18k figures under Tressel were with a stadium that seated 16k. So were they sell-outs? Are either of you old enough to have stood in line at one of the will-call booths? I have been attending games since the 70's Furthermore, we were discussing Oakland ...when I used the 5k figures I was giving them the benefit ...they averaged 2,400 over 3-years that had them in the NCAA tourney. So if you want to bore the crap out of readers even more ...you can do the 'more realistic' math.

In short ...it will take OAKLAND 61 HOME BASKETBALL GAMES TO MAKE UP WHAT YSU WOULD MAKE IN A SEASON THAT HAS 6 REGULAR SEASON HOME GAMES AND 2 HOME PLAY-OFF GAMES  ...AVERAGING 16k IN ATTENDANCE. This is UNDENIABLE ...so why do you keep trying to do so? I said 40 in my last post and the reality is even more.